Avoiding excessive exploitation of nature is a self-evident aspect of our work. As the only regenerable building material used in architecture and design, wood is the substance of the 21st century. The life cycle of timber is practically endless, so that we, as architects, also need to be life-cycle managers today. None of us can afford to rely just on an expressive formal language any more. In the context of the furniture fair held in Milan in April this year, these ideas were central to our discussions. We can no longer afford to throw everything away as we used to do. We need more permanence. As an architect and designer, I know what I’m talking about: the built environment is responsible for roughly 50 per cent of the worldwide consumption of energy; it causes half the emissions of greenhouse gases; and it devours 50 per cent of our resources.
Technical and aesthetic durability
What fascinates me about working with wood is its raw, original quality and its innate beauty. Wood helps us to find sustainable solutions; it enables us to care for resources, to attain economically quantifiable results and at the same time to advance the cause of aesthetics and beauty. As a natural resource, wood has always played a major role in architecture, and it is an essential part of my work today.
It complies with my “triple zero” philosophy: in other words, the use of local materials that do not require more than 24 hours to be transported to the building site and that give rise to neither CO2 nor waste. Wood embodies the idea of construction in harmony with the surroundings, with the local culture and economy. But that’s not all. In view of the way it can be simply processed, using modern equipment, and its light weight in comparison with other solid materials, it is ideally suited to serial fabrication. In the early 1990s, this already manifested itself in our low-energy construction systems like the prefabricated “Heidi” timber houses we developed for Rubner and our “O Sole Mio” for GriffnerHaus. Serial production means an optimization of construction time and of building and operating costs.
Timber allows a wide range of applications. It can be worked flexibly and possesses optimum properties – structurally and in terms of building physics – for the construction of entire buildings. At the same time, the grain, coloration and irregularities of wood make it unique, and it is advantageous to human health, since it helps to maintain a balance in the indoor climate and promotes our well-being. In brief, wood is suitable for many situations, from furnishings and other objects to wall and ceiling cladding and floor finishes.
Less is more
I was born in South Tyrol (Alto Adige), an Alpine region where the respect of nature manifests itself in a concrete form. My origins have left their mark. The Walser farming people have become my undisputed idols in architecture, because they have always constructed their buildings according to the motto “less is more”. Poverty and the climatic conditions of the region made them resort to the simplest, most economical solutions. This, in turn, has led to an aesthetic that does not fall under the heading of “minimalism”, but that might be better described as “essential”. For me, architecture should primarily satisfy essential functions. Nowadays, one can commonly hear prominent architects asserting that “less is more”, when in fact this concept has always formed the basis of the craft culture of the Walser people.
Building in the Alps today means meeting essential needs and establishing a harmony between a respect for nature and tradition on the one hand and the interests of the tourist industry on the other. This, in turn, implies a continuous search for the correct balance, for new forms of construction that follow an ecologically acceptable path. From the mountain farmers, we have obtained our knowledge of microgeography, of the winds and the climate in general. From these people, we have learned how to build in harmony with nature and how to profit from and respect the natural elements. Only with respect and understanding for nature can architecture be realized in an organic form. It is never just a matter of style. It always involves a synthesis of the existing circumstances, the function and the individual site; and it is the aim of our studio to achieve such a synthesis in our projects.
The starting point should always be a holistic view of the materials. How expensive and capital-intensive are the processes involved in their production? How limited are the various raw materials? To what extent can they be reused? What is the relationship between the energy saved by the use of timber and the energy expended in production? Timber construction today has become a social obligation. We have a well-functioning forestry practice, a modern sawing industry and a dynamic timber-processing trade.
The “philosophy of zero kilometres” sounds almost like a new postulate in architecture, but the idea goes back to Vitruvius, who pleaded in ancient times for the use and transport of materials from the nearest possible locations. In Vitruvius’ case, this sounds plausible; the “zero” simply meant the distance that a team of oxen could cover in a single day: in other words, bringing materials only from places close to the location where they were to be worked. Today, the idea seems almost revolutionary. In modern terms, it would mean the distance a lorry can travel in a given time. If it takes more than a day to cover a certain distance, then one can no longer speak of “sustainability”.
Building in harmony with nature
Set amid fruit trees and vineyards, the Hotel Pergola Residence in Merano (ills. 14–16) was created in accordance with these principles in 2003. Here, the architecture almost literally adopts motifs like vineyard pergolas and the wooden trestles on which vines grow. Quoting the traditional form of timber construction of the Alto Adige, which is based on native larch, the hotel is pushed in a series of terraces into the slope of the site. Also in the Alto Adige, a luxury environmental retreat was created in the form of the Vigilius Mountain Resort some 1,500 metres above sea level (ills. 5–8). Here, an increased awareness of the environment and aesthetics coexist: everything revolves around nature and the landscape. The development can be reached only by cable car and is almost invisibly embedded in its surroundings. Constructed entirely from local larch, the resort combines old fabric with new growth.
The same applies to the residences edel:weiss on Katschberg in Austria (ill. 11) – an architectural balancing act. In order not to spoil the area with a sprawl of developments, two towers rise from the ground like pine cones, outwardly consisting of intersecting timber strips in a rhombus-shaped grid. In this way, an attempt was made to neutralize the scale of the buildings.
In the striking, lozenge-shaped timber structure that envelops the Hugo Boss Industries Strategic Business Unit building in Coldrerio, Switzerland (ill. 12), nature has the last word in every respect. The grid-like skin construction, made from local wood, provides protection against rain, sun and weathering, while nevertheless allowing the ingress of large amounts of light. Another wooden climatic enclosure of this kind can be found in the Hugo Boss Concept Store in the Meatpacking District of New York (ill. 13), although the function it houses is completely different.
When wood burns, the natural cycle comes full circle. If wood is burned properly, however, this process can be exploited to generate energy. The Schilling Bio Power Station in Schwendi, Germany, is an example of this: here, the energy that is produced covers the needs of the connected sawmill and a nearby hospital. The cylindrical larch enclosure that seems to float around the cubic core structure functions like a natural filter between inside and outside – an environmental aesthetic of transparency, lightness and clarity of form.
I believe in architecture that is able to fulfil its function, while respecting all aspects of the genius loci. I believe in the genuine sustainability of architectural concepts. In this respect, wood is an elemental building material.
Based on these principles, the new complex Tortona 37 in the street of the same name in Milan comprises five six-storey structures erected around an extensive planted courtyard. The entire energy used in the building is extracted from the groundwater. The air-conditioning and heating system is based on the use of geothermal energy. Constructed partly in wood, the facades form an additional brise-soleil. The wood was left in its original, untreated state so that it would weather in the course of time.
At present, our studio in Milan is working on a number of projects in the Alps, such as the so-called “Archilandscapes”. Two of these are located in the Valais in Switzerland – one in Zermatt at a height of 2,200 metres and built vertically into the side of a mountain. The family hotel Bella Vista, which is now being created at the foot of the Stelvio Pass (Stilfser Joch) has already been given a preliminary certification by the CasaClima agency for its environmentally friendly design. In all these projects, wood is a fundamental component, even in the interior.
Hightouch instead of Hightech
Goethe once said that we take hold of things with our eyes and see with our hands. Wood can be used to advantage to both a large and a small scale because it is multi-tactile: it tells us a lot about its genesis; it reveals its age, its wounds, its twists and deflections, but also its durability and resistance – wonderful qualities for its use in the realm of design.
In Japan, for example, ancient “water houses” in eucalyptus still exist. As soon as the wood comes in contact with water, it gives off an incredible aroma.
Wood appeals to all the senses and is the material we use at every level of our work. For the Rapsel company in Italy, we developed a process for making a wooden bathtub that is resistant to water. The wood is dried in a number of stages and then cut, shaped and assembled in a special process. Down to the plug, the bath is made of larch. The design concentrates on essential features, harmoniously uniting the form of the object and the grain of the wood (ill. 10). “Il bagno che non c’è”, (the invisible bath), also created for Rapsel, consists wholly of wood as well. Both models have been awarded a number of design prizes, which goes to show yet again that people desire materials that have a high-touch rather than a high-tech quality.
For the Zwilling concern, we designed a knife in which wood and heavy-duty steel are combined; the technology is concealed. The art of an object lies in the surface treatment. At this year’s furniture fair in Milan, for example, we presented the table “Briccole di Venezia” for the Italian manufacturer R1920. The table is made from wooden planks found in the lagoon of Venice (ill. 9). The Arba series of lamps designed for Belux meets modern needs in terms of sustainability and energy saving. Made of maple, the lamps generate a sense of intimacy, filtering the light in a harmonious way to create a strong, yet warm and comfortable source of illumination.
Conclusion
In what direction will things go from here? In response to socio-economic constraints and the needs of the environment, the key word can only be “sustainability”. The “zero kilometres” principle unites ethics and aesthetics and gives the architect the additional responsibilities of a life-cycle manager who opts not for an expressive formal language or a high recognition value, but for respect – respect for the particular location where a building is to be erected, or respect for a brand name for which a product is designed.
At this point, I should like to recall the eminent Italian writer Italo Calvino. In his unfinished book “Six Memos for the Next Millennium”, he recommended the qualities of lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity. The sixth value – and the title of the concluding talk he was to give, but which could not take place because of his death – was consistency. Applied to wood as a building material, this must mean long-term technical and aesthetic viability. Tradition and innovation, authenticity and ethics are concepts that accompany me in my work and will continue to do so in the future – preferably in conjunction with wood, of course.
