University College London: The Bartlett School of Architecture

摘要

Over the next 10 years, Sweden's standing timber volume is set to increase by over 500 million cubic metres, a result of its long-standing forestry act that states an obligation to replant forest after felling. This large and growing resource is currently worth one-fifth of Sweden's GDP, but 81.6 per cent of a tree is typically wasted in the conversion of tree to timber construction. In view of the current climate crisis, the proposal advocates that growing timber demand should not be met through increased logging but through maximising the potential of every tree harnessed for construction. A timber institute is proposed in suburban Stockholm as an immersive and experiential environment to impart knowledge about timber construction.It aims to inspire a paradigm shift in attitudes and methodology towards the employment of timber and trees in architecture. Sharil's work is an intelligent and sensitive response to this year's unit brief that explored the symbiotic co-existence between buildings and ecologies in the new geological age, the Anthropocene. Sited in Stockholm's forest, his 'whole tree - nothing goes to waste' approach is a unique and smart critique on current inefficiencies in logging and explores timber technology not only as a performance-oriented design parameter, but as a holistic and sustainable process, charged with aesthetic potential, craft and culture.