What is the significance of wood?
It is a living material that is very close to human beings. In the form of a tree, of course, but since time immemorial as a building material for boats and furniture, or particularly in architecture. Wood is something we love to touch – a material that can be used in so many ways. Smooth or rough. Straight or curved.
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In a direct comparison with concrete, wood comes out better. Did that surprise you?
Michael Ziller
No, I completed a carpentry apprenticeship and know the strengths of the material. And what is even more important: wood has a completely different emotional value from brick. But wood is not always superior: it also has its limits, for example in extreme heights and depths. For a skyscraper or an underground garage, concrete is still the material of choice. But in architecture, it’s not so much a question of ‘either-or’ but rather ‘both’.
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The building in this project is the first inner-city wooden passive house in Germany. What is different from a conventional building?
MZ
Our plans had to be much more meticulous because many elements are to be prefabricated in a workshop. So if anything goes wrong, you can’t just fix it by pouring a bit more concrete. What was particularly exciting was, when we actually began work on the building site, most of the work had already been done and all we had to do was assemble the elements. And that’s quite nice because we were working with all sorts of craftsmen, for example carpenters who really understand what they are doing.
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What interested you in particular about this project?
MZ
The chance to do urban work. It’s not a greenfield development but a question of harmonising with an existing situation, of improving something. The inner courtyard used to be full of cars, and now it’s become a habitable space. And I see wood as a material of the future. Wood is certainly not suitable for all buildings, but in the future it will grow in importance as a part of the whole.