There is a forest in my backyard, but my house is built from trees grown far away.
Mu maja pole puudest, mis kasvavad kodu taga metsas.
– Theme of Wood Works, an Estonia-Ireland architectural collaboration
Wood Works, an Estonian-Irish architectural collaboration, was initiated in 2020 and brought to fruition by curators Alder Architects, Ireland, and B210Architects, Estonia.
The project included exhibitions by Irish and Estonian architects in the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Co Meath, bookended by two seminars last January and March.
“There is a forest in my backyard but my house is built from trees grown far away” was the theme of the project, with the emphasis on local, sustainable timber sourcing in construction and design, while architects also explored timber’s afterlife when recycled.
Although little more than half the size of the island of Ireland, Estonia has 2.5m ha of forests. This represents an area more than three times the size of the Irish forest estate, north and south, so Estonian architects are much more likely to have a forest in their backyards than their Irish counterparts.
Yet, despite different forest and wood cultures, this collaboration worked creatively and functionally as the five Irish and five Estonian practices provided their own distinct visual language that never strayed from the core project objective of sustainability.
Building from locally sourced wood was the unifying aspect of all works, not least “Butterfly Building”, a partnership between Robert Bourke Architects (RBA), Dublinm and Creatomus Solutions (CS), Tallinn. The CS team are admirers of the economist Kate Raworth who is a proponent of the circular economy with the emphasis on reusing, recycling and repairing wood rather than the linear economy that favours disposal.
Wood lends itself to this approach as illustrated by RBA who sourced local timber for the main structure, as well as recycled materials for insulation and reused timber elsewhere. Traditional usage fused with the contemporary as the installation also contained a digital appliance to measure the carbon footprint during construction.
Reuse was the theme of “Conversation Piece”, a collaboration between the Ruumiringlus practice and Hannigan Cooke Architects.
The aim here was to develop “a design tool for existing and pre-used materials” through a year-long “conversation” during which both practices decided to forego conventional architectural drawings.
While Ireland has 47,000ha of birch, Estonia has some 750,000ha so it was inevitable that this species would feature in Wood Works. Wrkshop Architects and Peter Pere Architects combined to use birch in the round with plywood to create “Raw Potential”.
'Greatest potential'
While the two teams weren’t advocating using round or raw timber for all construction, they maintained that architects and specifiers should “consider to what degree material needs to be processed to leave the greatest potential for reuse”.
Timber from a disused garden shed was upcycled by OGU Architects and Studio Kuidas in their exhibition “The Bricoleurs”, while they also collaborated in exploring the place of timber flooring that “embeds in our memory” in their exhibition “I know this room – I have walked on its floor”.
“Mnemonic Wood” was the title of an installation by Kaja Pae and Paco Ulman with Joseph Mackey Architects which addresses “the memory of wear and ripening”. A drawing table used by Ulman’s great grandfather was the focal point of the exhibition. The two also combined with Mackey Architects taking the lead in re-imagining an early Christian chapel constructed in oak.
'Conversation Piece' by Hannigan Cooke Architects in collaboration with the Ruumiringlus, practice. \ Barry Cronin
The closing seminar at Wood Works included speakers who demonstrated that Irish architects are now using wood as an inherent medium in major projects, notably Bucholz McEvoy and Donaghy & Dimond Architects.
Børre Skodvin of Jensen & Skodvin Architects, Norway, discussed a range of award-winning buildings his practice has designed in wood that demonstrate how far Ireland has to go before achieving a forest and wood culture.
Skodvin is at one with the tree from its sourcing in the forest to its end use, which can be in solid and engineered form. In a current project, he’s even using whole trees.
Conscious of the continuous evolution of wood, his reply to a question about the future direction wood might take was: “You haven’t heard the whole story.”
The Wood Works project was initiated by the Estonian Association of Architects in partnership with the Estonian Centre for Architecture and the Irish Architecture Foundation
Skodvin approaches wood design and construction with the humility of one of his university lecturers when asked: “What is the best thing you can do with a tree?” His reply was “Nothing”.
The Wood Works project was initiated by the Estonian Association of Architects in partnership with the Estonian Centre for Architecture and the Irish Architecture Foundation.
March dashboard – afforestation licences remain low
An average of 98 forestry licences were issued weekly for March compared with 103 in February.
Afforestation licences remain at record low levels, with only 11 licences issued weekly, the same as February. When these licences are translated into area, 381ha were approved for March compared with 506ha for the same month last year.
The trend is also down when afforestation licences are compared for the first three months last year when 1,322ha were licensed compared with 1,132ha this year.
Only 554ha have been planted so far this year compared with 562ha in 2021. At this performance, the annual afforestation outturn will be similar to last year’s when 2,016ha were planted, which was the lowest programme achieved since 1946.
Coillte received 50 felling licences per week in March, while 33 felling licences were issued to private forest owners.
Both Coillte and private felling licences are similar to February. An average of 18 forest road licences were issued in March compared with nine in February, which was an exceptionally low rate of approvals.
There is a forest in my backyard, but my house is built from trees grown far away.
Mu maja pole puudest, mis kasvavad kodu taga metsas.
– Theme of Wood Works, an Estonia-Ireland architectural collaboration
Wood Works, an Estonian-Irish architectural collaboration, was initiated in 2020 and brought to fruition by curators Alder Architects, Ireland, and B210Architects, Estonia.
The project included exhibitions by Irish and Estonian architects in the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Co Meath, bookended by two seminars last January and March.
“There is a forest in my backyard but my house is built from trees grown far away” was the theme of the project, with the emphasis on local, sustainable timber sourcing in construction and design, while architects also explored timber’s afterlife when recycled.
Although little more than half the size of the island of Ireland, Estonia has 2.5m ha of forests. This represents an area more than three times the size of the Irish forest estate, north and south, so Estonian architects are much more likely to have a forest in their backyards than their Irish counterparts.
Yet, despite different forest and wood cultures, this collaboration worked creatively and functionally as the five Irish and five Estonian practices provided their own distinct visual language that never strayed from the core project objective of sustainability.
Building from locally sourced wood was the unifying aspect of all works, not least “Butterfly Building”, a partnership between Robert Bourke Architects (RBA), Dublinm and Creatomus Solutions (CS), Tallinn. The CS team are admirers of the economist Kate Raworth who is a proponent of the circular economy with the emphasis on reusing, recycling and repairing wood rather than the linear economy that favours disposal.
Wood lends itself to this approach as illustrated by RBA who sourced local timber for the main structure, as well as recycled materials for insulation and reused timber elsewhere. Traditional usage fused with the contemporary as the installation also contained a digital appliance to measure the carbon footprint during construction.
Reuse was the theme of “Conversation Piece”, a collaboration between the Ruumiringlus practice and Hannigan Cooke Architects.
The aim here was to develop “a design tool for existing and pre-used materials” through a year-long “conversation” during which both practices decided to forego conventional architectural drawings.
While Ireland has 47,000ha of birch, Estonia has some 750,000ha so it was inevitable that this species would feature in Wood Works. Wrkshop Architects and Peter Pere Architects combined to use birch in the round with plywood to create “Raw Potential”.
'Greatest potential'
While the two teams weren’t advocating using round or raw timber for all construction, they maintained that architects and specifiers should “consider to what degree material needs to be processed to leave the greatest potential for reuse”.
Timber from a disused garden shed was upcycled by OGU Architects and Studio Kuidas in their exhibition “The Bricoleurs”, while they also collaborated in exploring the place of timber flooring that “embeds in our memory” in their exhibition “I know this room – I have walked on its floor”.
“Mnemonic Wood” was the title of an installation by Kaja Pae and Paco Ulman with Joseph Mackey Architects which addresses “the memory of wear and ripening”. A drawing table used by Ulman’s great grandfather was the focal point of the exhibition. The two also combined with Mackey Architects taking the lead in re-imagining an early Christian chapel constructed in oak.
'Conversation Piece' by Hannigan Cooke Architects in collaboration with the Ruumiringlus, practice. \ Barry Cronin
The closing seminar at Wood Works included speakers who demonstrated that Irish architects are now using wood as an inherent medium in major projects, notably Bucholz McEvoy and Donaghy & Dimond Architects.
Børre Skodvin of Jensen & Skodvin Architects, Norway, discussed a range of award-winning buildings his practice has designed in wood that demonstrate how far Ireland has to go before achieving a forest and wood culture.
Skodvin is at one with the tree from its sourcing in the forest to its end use, which can be in solid and engineered form. In a current project, he’s even using whole trees.
Conscious of the continuous evolution of wood, his reply to a question about the future direction wood might take was: “You haven’t heard the whole story.”
The Wood Works project was initiated by the Estonian Association of Architects in partnership with the Estonian Centre for Architecture and the Irish Architecture Foundation
Skodvin approaches wood design and construction with the humility of one of his university lecturers when asked: “What is the best thing you can do with a tree?” His reply was “Nothing”.
The Wood Works project was initiated by the Estonian Association of Architects in partnership with the Estonian Centre for Architecture and the Irish Architecture Foundation.
March dashboard – afforestation licences remain low
An average of 98 forestry licences were issued weekly for March compared with 103 in February.
Afforestation licences remain at record low levels, with only 11 licences issued weekly, the same as February. When these licences are translated into area, 381ha were approved for March compared with 506ha for the same month last year.
The trend is also down when afforestation licences are compared for the first three months last year when 1,322ha were licensed compared with 1,132ha this year.
Only 554ha have been planted so far this year compared with 562ha in 2021. At this performance, the annual afforestation outturn will be similar to last year’s when 2,016ha were planted, which was the lowest programme achieved since 1946.
Coillte received 50 felling licences per week in March, while 33 felling licences were issued to private forest owners.
Both Coillte and private felling licences are similar to February. An average of 18 forest road licences were issued in March compared with nine in February, which was an exceptionally low rate of approvals.
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