Wood Scenery — What is true is what is made
The sensibility we miss when we standardise the production process
This is a series of articles about the depth of design, the philosophy of wabi-sabi and an elergy for the lost sensibility from the age of traditional craftsmanship. It is by no means an attack on the standardized production of goods and products in the modern world. It serves as a reminder and inspiration for our future.
In the light of increasing environmental awareness, timber and its related products become an intriguing material to look into, for its recyclability, structure ability, performance and aesthetics. Its woody colour and spacial characteristics of wood provoke a feeling of warmth and home. More interest is put into these materials instead of the traditional building materials like stone, brick and concrete. We also want to build higher, bigger and more durable with wood structure. We also want easy assembly and simple building process on site. All the requirements from contemporary building process makes it harder to appreciate wood as a raw material. The application of wood in architecture has also been influenced by development of iron and steel. It develops into a rational, abstract and analytical driven understanding of construction. Tree trunk is processed into standardised, modular lumber products. Heterogeneity of timber is considered a disadvantage in construction. As a consequence, possibilities of articulating its complex material potential has been undermined.
Before industrialisation, wood had been used for various building projects around the world. In Japan, the sensitivity for wood material has been kept through woodwork shops by craftsmen around the country (image 1). Appreciations of the natural aesthetics of wood and exploration of its structural-ability has influenced the design of wooden architecture. This can be found in the record of Henrichsen’s book Japan Culture of Wood — Buildings, Objects, Techniques (2004), which reveals the characteristics of wood brought out by craftsmen in Japanese wood workshop. By research into the meaning of tectonics in architecture, available records of wood crafts and case study of artworks and buildings, I want to rediscover the sensibility for natural materials and find a better approach to design with wood in a contemporary context.
Material oriented design approach
Verum, ipsum, factum.
The phrase coined by Giambattista Vico, “What is true is what is made” (image 2), reveals the intimate relation between things we make and human knowledge of beauty. Our understanding and appreciation of things is deeply rooted in formed matter. We value things through what we experience. Is it nice to look at? What does one feel when touching it, smelling it or walking through it? Architecture, however, has a dual quality. It starts from an idea to make a place better. So how to bridge the gap between an idea and the physical environment that realise this idea? In Metamorphism — material change in architecture (2017), Ákos Moravánszky argues this realisation in architecture cannot be done exclusively through technical and economic sense of using materials without addressing the question of their meaning and sensuality. But how can we express our meaning and sentiment using materials? How can we use it in architecture?
“ […] the rock comes to bear and rest and so first becomes the rock; metal comes to glitter and shimmer, colours to glow, tones to sing, the word to speak. All this comes forth as the work sets itself back into the massiveness and heaviness of stone, into the firmness and pliancy of wood, into the hardness and lustre of metal, into the lighting and darkening of colour, into the clang of tone and into the naming power of the word.”
By describing the intrinsic qualities of materials, Heidegger points out the expression of a material cannot be separated from its form. In The Origin of the Work of Art (1950), he denies the separation between spirit and matter. He thinks the division of form and matter is an over simplified interpretation of reality. Instead, Heidegger sings for the true presence of a material. His description shows that material can carry certain knowledge, express certain value, represent certain meaning and even inherit certain spirit. The presence of a material has an overwhelming power over the thing it forms. In Studies in tectonic culture, Frampton points out the architectural use of the term Tectonics is to describe a series of art forms developed due to not only their application but also their conformity to sentiments and notion of art. (2006, p4) This term steers the discussion of materials from a technical point of view to an aesthetic point of view.
This attitude towards material is well reflected in two of Swiss artist Vincent Kohler’s artwork, Woodcut (2008) and Gregor (2010). Woodcut (image 3) is an exploding view of a log. It cuts a log into many pieces, separating the bark and the core.The cuts, when viewed in section, respect the geometry of a tree. It shows the structure potential of each piece in different parts, but also puts separate pieces of wood in the context of a whole log. It provides a good understanding of where standardised wood products are made from and a rational analysis of how we can use the tree to its maximised potential.
Through his other artwork Gregor (image 4) however, a more sentimental attitude towards wood is expressed.The wood pieces in Gregor are crooked, short, full of non-linear geometry.Wood, in this case, is not analysed for its utilitarian quality but its sculptural quality.The form of the wood pieces is a visual record of how life copes with the harsh natural environment.The spirit of resilience can be sensed through their postures. It shows the spirit of wood as a living organism.
To be continued…
