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Published on Archi.ru (https://archi.ru) |
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| 23.07.2014 | |
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Werner Nussmüller: “Wood is definitely in vogue now” |
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Nina Frolova |
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Werner Nussmüller on Austrian tradition of building of wood, new fireproofing methods and homes for seniors.  None NoneArchi.ru: – Austria is famous for its tradition of wooden architecture and now as far as I understand Austrian architects are building almost everything with wood. But did this new interest in wood emerge in the last decades, during “sustainable” epoch or earlier, and did the Modernism somewhat break this tradition or did it survive without any problems? Werner Nussmüller: – Wood used to have a very bad image after the Second World War because the barracks for the poor that were usually built of wood then. Because of this the popular opinion was that wood was a material only for the poor. About 1975, after the first world oil crisis the discussion on better insulation had been started because it was important to save money and energy. One began to think of new materials and the first architects began to build with wood. One of the best architects of this time, Hubert Ries, said in a lecture: “We must unite barracks and elegancy”. He insisted that we have to innovate and rethink traditional ideas, that we have to create light modern projects in wood. At that time the first single-family houses were erected in wood. The next big step was made around 1990. The initiative of the timber companies in Styria had been launched. They demanded support from the politicians: “We employ so many people so in return you have to use our wood.” The politicians agreed bearing in mind that if there was so much wood in our county we should find good uses for it. One use was building and constructing. So the regulations were changed, they become less strict. Many tests and experiments were made in order to explore the features of wood as a building material. Since then we really know the properties of wood in case of a fire, we knew about measures concerning acoustics and so on. In 2006 we together with politicians composed a plan that in 5 years from then we should have got 25% of the new housing in wood. And now we do have exactly 25% of our social housing in wood including buildings with up to 4–5 stories high. All these changes were little steps forward, and now all the young clients who come to our office say: “I would like to have a wooden house”. So wood is definitely in vogue now. People changed their mind about wood, it’s definitely not the material for the poor anymore. People understand that it’s a fantastic material with a very pleasant smell and hundreds of other positive features.  None None– And what about the acoustics in the multi-storied wooden houses? – The acoustics are a problem. Wood as a material is very light so we have to experiment with various shapes so that we can solve this issue. If we build on a very noisy street we just don’t build in wood. Every material has its own qualities and strengths, so we choose a material that’s appropriate for this specific context. That is the way we work.  None– There is a popular opinion in Russia that wood is a risky material because it’s not fireproof and not everyone here knows of contemporary solutions for this problem… – You saw at the exhibition the cross laminates timber plate: try to burn it – it’s simply not possible. It’s too massive for it. In Germany, in Austria and in Switzerland we made so many fire experiments on real 1:1 models that we really know the burning point of wood now. Fire is not a problem. We know exactly that in 30 minutes a massive wood will burn away for 2 cm. So we just have to add to a beam or a plate a layer 2 cm thick and the problem will be solved. We also don’t use chemicals in order to make wood fireproof. – So it’s really “green” architecture. – Exactly.  None None– We’ve already talked about noisy streets. What are other constraints of wood usage? Are there types of buildings that could not be made of wood? – If you have really great spans in your home, you can use wood, but it is going to be expensive. Great dimensions are possible but they are not cheap. You always have to compare materials and their inherent properties. For one case concrete may be the best solution, and in some other case wood is the best solution. It always depends on the circumstances.  None None– We’ve already talked a little about single-family houses, but there are not any single-family houses in your portfolio. Why is that? – I refuse to build them because of the ecological aspect. You can plan fantastic, ecological one-family houses somewhere on the green slope, but then there have to be cars because children have to go to kindergarten, to school and so on… if you add all these things together you’ll understand that it’s not possible to build a really “green” single-family house.  None None– Let’s talk a little about your project Reininghaus in Graz: it will be home for seniors, it’s a very interesting theme for Russia because our society is getting older but we don’t have any projects like this one. And you have already built housing for seniors before. Why are they needed? – In the past, children lived with the parents under one roof. When the parents got older their children and grandchildren took care of them at home. Now it’s not the case anymore: children are somewhere exploring the world while their old parents stay in their own houses all by themselves. So we have to do something for them. If they live in their single-family houses with their friends and family far away, who will care for them? It’s better to design for them a fine apartment building where they can easily meet their neighbours and chat and do something together. When they move in one of those flats, perhaps at first they don’t need any assistance. But when they get older and need assistance with buying food, washing and so on, they can get this much more easily when they already live in a residential building specifically made for seniors. They can still organize their life step by step. And they still have the feeling that they are active and integrated in life. Naturally these buildings are barrier-free, they are suitable for wheel-chairs, there are no steps and so on.  None None None None |
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