Post-mortem inosculation: Experimental architectural wood joinery utilizing living knots in small-diameter roundwood

Abstract

This thesis aims to critically study and implement the mechanical, spatial and sensoric potential of small diameter roundwood in an architectural design project. Wood in architecture is often chosen to mitigate the effects of global warming by leveraging the ability of trees to sequester carbon and use the built environments as carbon sinks. However, forest preservation efforts to prevent irreversible damage to old-growth forests and their ecosystems constrain future exploitation ambitions. The thesis aims to theoretically and physically explore how small diameter roundwood, which conventionally is used for pulp manufacturing or biofuels, could be utilized in a novel architectural construction. The research supports decision making in the development of a full scale construction which exercises the qualities native to natural properties of roundwood lost due to the limitations of conceptual understanding of wood as an organically complex composite material and the limitations of contemporary processing infrastructure. The design of the artistic component is directly informed by theoretical knowledge of the mechanical properties of small-diameter roundwood and physical experiments performed in the workshop space of the university.