Misfit wood
Challenging the norm
The forest industry favors the straightest and tallest trees as timber, while treetops, crooked, forked and small trunks are usually used as pulpwood or bioenergy. They are considered misfits and as such a low value material, but are they really?
Architect Jaakko Torvinen has experimented with irregular wood. If we are to take materials from nature, shouldn’t we make the very best out of them?
Jaakko has created prototype pillars that present a way to integrate several complex wood shapes into standard construction. A pillar can be built from e.g. three irregular beech logs salvaged from a pile of energy wood at a local sawmill.
Another prototype is an entire oak tree that has been machined by a 6-axis robot, according to a 3D digital design and then used, with branches and all. The use of such wood for long-life products is an important new application for slowing climate change, instead of burning them. But if we really want to make a change in the whole industry, it's important to reach even larger scale, that has to be the goal of research as well.
Jaakko’s prototypes also explore the aesthetics and architectural dimensions of naturally shaped wood, usually labelled as second quality. Aren’t they beautiful?
The structures have been created in collaboration with Aarhus School of Architecture. A special thank you to Kone Foundation and Asko Foundation.
