Timber is the versatile material at the very heart of many of our vernacular building traditions. Following on from our 2018 Congress ‘Everything Old is New Again’ and our recent 2019 workshops in Pakistan, INTBAU will be hosting an evening of talks on timber: the bio-based building material which is revolutionising the industry on a global scale.

Speakers will dwell on the past, present and future use of wood in architecture, focussing on topics ranging from the aesthetic and psychological impact wooden structures have on us in their multifarious forms, to the more difficult questions surrounding the future of supply and demand and material provenance. The panel will delve further into how timber is revolutionising construction, and how not to leave traditional timber craftsmanship hanging in the balance. Through specific case studies we will explore how technology: laser scanning, robotics and BIM have altered present design methods and construction techniques and how new forms and derivatives of timber, like CLT, can be used in the building of schools and public buildings as well as sky scrapers.

Where are these new technologies and the derivations of this natural material taking us form a design perspective and what are the benefits? How can timber buildings positively affect our mental health? How will shifting material limitations challenge our definitions of ‘natural’ and ‘vernacular’? These are all questions we hope to answer.