Wood in construction and architecture
Wood – a unique building material
The qualities of woodmake it probably the most exceptional building material. As the only renewable building material, wood
is environment friendly and consumes the least amount of energy when
processed. At the same time, wood stores up carbon and has a very low carbon
footprint compared to non-wood materials.
Wood maintains the
quality of a living organism even after tree felling. It has a pleasantly fresh smell and is also capable
of absorbing unpleasant odours. The
porous surface of wood absorbs harmful vapours and gases: wood acts as a
filter that cleans and moistens the air. In a RIKO house, the
wood alone will maintain a climate that is always optimal. This is because wood breaths and provides for a
continuous natural exchange of air in living spaces, as well as for
balanced humidity.
With its unique qualities,
wood will create a pleasant feeling in your apartment. Its
qualities as a building material are fascinating because it allows for a high
degree of prefabrication, rapid installation on site and immediate
occupation because it does not require a drying time. Moreover, its
resistance against both earthquakes and fire is excellent.
Wood is good:
- for its favourable relationship
between density and strength,
- for its high surface temperature,
- for its low thermal conduction,
- for its acoustic qualities,
- for its elastic qualities.
|
Wood is healthy:
- it neither gives off harmful
substances nor causes allergies,
- it balances the humidity in the
air,
- it is antistatic,
- it is not radioactive,
- it smells nice.
|
Wood is friendly to the environment:
- wood is the only renewable
building material with an extremely clean and energy-saving lifecycle, wood grows through pure photosynthesis and assimilation having a
beneficial effect on the environment,
- the working and processing of
wood involve little energy as opposed to other building materials,
- wood contains accumulated CO2and is CO2 neutral,
- trees and wooden products can
store CO2 for decades
and centuries,
- wood can be used as in
construction and design or as an energy-generating product,
- wood is the best choice in
building materials,
- wood allows for the highest
degree of prefabrication and rapid assembly, due to its dry construction, moving in is possible immediately
eventually resulting in lower loan costs,
- wood can be shaped and installed
easily,
- wood dries quickly and has a low density or weight.
|
Wood is a natural accumulator of atmospheric carbon and is CO2 neutral. When burnt, wood produces only the amount of carbon dioxide it took from the atmosphere through photosynthesis during its growth. A cubic metre of beech wood contains 287kg of carbon or the equivalent of 1.052 tonnes of CO2! If we replace a non-renewable building material (concrete, brick) by wood, this will save another ton of CO2.
Summary of WOODEN CONSTRUCTION IN SLOVENIA 02/2010 (Lesena gradnja v Sloveniji 02/2010), Manja Kitek Kuzman
|
|