Wood Works: ‘There is a forest in my backyard but my house is built from trees grown far away’

The opening of the exhibition will take place on September 8 at 18:30 at the Põhjala factory. The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 18:00 until October 30.

As a natural building material, wood contains a unique richness which is impacted by many factors including climate and topography. Whether the building site is next to a forest or not, timber used in construction has been subjected to an industrial decision-making process that dictates its final physical properties. In this act of translation, where wood is often treated similarly to other inanimate materials, a tree’s uniqueness is sacrificed for transportability, structural consistency and usability. Focusing on the characteristics of wood, the exhibition explores the act of transformation across the life cycle of the material; from extraction to transportation, standardisation to encapsulation and eventual disassembly for potential reuse. In seeking out the unique traits of timber, we aim to question how industry and construction can learn from and be shaped by the inherent qualities of the material.

Curators: Aet Ader, Helmi Marie Langsepp and Mari Möldre (b210 Architects) and St John Walsh (Alder Architects)

Participating offices: Creatomus Solutions, Hannigan Cooke Architects, Joseph Mackey Architects, OGU Architects, Paco Ulman & Kaja Pae, Peeter Pere Architects, Studio Kuidas, Robert Bourke Architects, Ruumiringlus, Wrkshop Architects.

This exhibition is the result of the Wood Works creative exchange programme initiated by the Estonian Association of Architects in partnership with the Estonian Centre for Architecture and the Irish Architecture Foundation. The project is supported by the European Commission’s European Regional Development Fund through Enterprise Estonia, with additional support from the Arts Council of Ireland, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Enterprise Ireland, and support to tour the exhibition to TAB from Culture Ireland.