HygroScope – Climate-responsive artwork in wood

(Image: achimmenges.net) This art piece illustrates nicely one of wood’s most interesting properties – its hygroscopicity. Wood attracts water from the surrounding atmosphere and binds it in its cell walls. What the artists did here was laminate an uneven number of veneers (usually a no-no in plywood production), which results in a plywood that curls […] Read more..

Interview with Hermann Kaufmann on Architecture in the Bregenzerwald / Vorarlberg, Austria

The following video interview with renowned Austrian architect Hermann Kaufmann illustrates nicely how traditional wood architecture can be honored in a modern context. Architecture in Bregenzerwald / Vorarlberg – YouTube:

How tall can we build in wood?

Recent news about a report published by the Canadian architect Michael Green “Tall Wood – The Case for Tall Wood Buildings” (which was funded by the Canadian Wood Council and co-authored by Equilibrium Consulting, LMDG and BTY Group) is currently accelerating interest in the possibility of using wood, a naturally renewable material, to replace concrete and steel […] Read more..

Project #22 in the Daddy Handbook: A Catapult

Because she saw one at her school’s science fair, last week our youngest daughter asked me to help her build a catapult. Feeling intrigued by the idea of putting together something that shoots something else but not wanting to go overboard (you never know what kids do with these), I came up with this design. As […] Read more..