Building with Wood

Wood is more than a building material—it is a cultural, ecological, and economic medium with far-reaching implications for our built environment. Since our work on the Sports Center Sargans project, our understanding of wood as a resource has continually expanded. Over the years, a deep and multifaceted engagement has evolved, spanning the analysis of regional value chains to a curatorial reflection on the future of timber construction.

Sargans – The Beginning of an Ongoing Inquiry

Our intensive engagement with wood began with the Sports Center Sargans project (2008–2013). From the outset, we asked what it means for a landscape and a region when timber is used as a primary construction material. Given the finiteness of natural resources, it quickly became evident that architecture cannot be understood independently of material flows. In collaboration with engineers and craftspeople—integrated early in the design process—we investigated both the quantity and origin of the timber used. Particularly insightful were comparisons with the annual timber growth in Swiss forests and the mapping of distances between forest, workshop, and construction site.

“Heating and cooling of the emission-free building is controlled by a heat pump system.”

“We wanted to understand how much wood we were using, where it came from, and what impact this would have at the local level.”

This transparency yielded not only ecological insights but also valuable economic findings concerning local value creation. The resulting publication, Crafting Architecture, illustrates how technical expertise and design openness must go hand in hand to create architecture that is both sustainable and aesthetically compelling.

Touch Wood – Curating Knowledge, Making Positions Visible

Roughly a decade later, our focus on timber deepened in a new constellation: together, Thomas Hildebrand, Celina Martinez–Cañavate, and Carla Ferrer (Iter, Milan) set out to further investigate the material’s complexity. This effort led to the exhibition Touch Wood at ZAZ Bellerive in Zurich and the accompanying book Touch Wood. Material, Architecture, Future (Lars Müller Publishers)—both conceived as platforms for critical reflection, discourse, and interdisciplinary exchange.

Supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) through its Aktionsplan Holz APH (Wood Action Plan), along with numerous partners from research and industry, Touch Wood brought together a wide range of contributions from different disciplines. These served as the intellectual foundation for both the exhibition and publication—each with the goal of exploring timber’s architectural potential from a material perspective, and of fostering nuanced reflection on our built environment. At once practice-oriented and visionary, Touch Wood invites visitors and readers to immerse themselves in the complex universe of wood—offering new perspectives on an ecologically responsible architecture of the future.

A particular highlight is the interview conducted by Jørg Himmelreich with the curatorial team, which sheds light on the capacities of wood in contemporary construction—and where its natural limits lie.

MEHRwert HOLZ – Networks, Value Creation, and Architectural Culture

Our research has continued to evolve, currently taking form in the project MEHRwert HOLZ, developed in collaboration with the Institute Urban Landscape at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). Building on the pilot project schaerholzbau, this project investigates the role of Swiss timber production enterprises in fostering regenerative building cultures.

“At the heart of our inquiry is the question of how regional wood production can be shaped not only to be economically viable, but also ecologically responsible and culturally meaningful—towards a resilient and future-oriented system.”

The qualitative network analysis follows a bottom-up approach, examining the companies Schaub AG, schaerholzbau AG, and Uffer AG as case studies. The aim is to identify and make visible regional ecosystems of value creation that transcend conventional efficiency metrics and are distinguished by ecological and socio-cultural resilience.

The insights gained from this research feed directly into our architectural practice—enabling informed, forward-looking decisions that extend beyond the individual building. In our continued engagement with wood, we seek to align design ambition with ecological responsibility and societal relevance. In doing so, building with wood becomes a cultural act: an architecture rooted in local context, committed to regenerative practices, and oriented toward a resilient, livable future.