What kind of trees did your building grow from?

BarcelonaChestnut wood is characterized by its hardness, lightness, and ability to withstand the elements. Since the trunks of this tree don't grow very thick, it's not very common in the world of architecture. However, it offers many possibilities: with a machine that straightens the trunks and metal joints that hold them together to form a mesh, it's possible to construct the roof of a sports center spanning more than 20 meters, as demonstrated by architects Vicente Guallart and Daniel Ibáñez, directors of a research project. the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), whose fruits can be seen in the Oliva Artés warehouse in Barcelona until November 16 in an exhibition entitled ForestED - From forest to building"This exhibition gives ideas to other designers or city councils that want to get involved. There are other examples of these structures such as fire stations," explains Guallart, who is also the author, with Ibáñez, of a wooden apartment block on Lola Iturbe street in Barcelona that is one of the tallest in the country.

Pine is the most common wood used in architecture. The exhibition aims to demonstrate that technological innovation can expand the range of woods available. The display includes three samples of Galician wood (birch, oak, and chestnut) and three from Catalonia (chestnut, Aleppo pine, and beech). "These are hardwoods, they grow more slowly, but they are much more resistant," says Guallart. "Our proposal is quite bold because we maintain that, to protect certain forests, we must give them an economic purpose. In this way, we will want to protect them, we will want to prevent them from burning; and if we use many different types of wood, we will promote the biodiversity of our region. The worst use of wood is for it to be burned."

In Catalonia, timber construction is gaining increasing acceptance: "There is an increase in the use of wood for three reasons: the fight against climate change and the commitment to decarbonizing the construction sector; the fact that the fires have shown us that if we don't manage the forests, they burn, and that forests are burning in Catalonia, including the La Borda housing cooperative, the Pisa apartment block, and the Gabriel García Márquez Library.

In addition to the prototype of the sports center roof, the exhibition includes half a dozen more, among them the chestnut wood version of the well-known Flexbrick cladding; the Cora, a structural node made with chestnut, oak, and pine wood; an organic pavement made with oak slabs; a bench made of pine wood; a parametric birch wall; and a chaise longue Beech. "Technology and young people working with robots bring hope and a new life to all those woods that would otherwise be abandoned," says Guallart. In addition to the IAAC, the project has been carried out by the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), the Galician Forestry Association (AFG), and the Forestry Consortium of Catalonia (CFC). Funding includes grants from the Biodiversity Foundation and the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. After Barcelona, ​​the exhibition will travel to Madrid and Pontevedra.