Sustainability has become a major global issue. Clearly, ensuring the longevity of our planet is of vital importance to us all today.
Go back a hundred years or more and it would appear that the concept of sustainable buildings had no place in everyday discussions about construction and architecture. We still had very little sense of how the human body functioned, let alone how our planet’s ecosystem did it.
But perhaps I’m being unfair?
You might say that in the past people were more in touch with their environment than we are nowadays. Skilled craftsmen flourished in the building trades and would have been appreciated for their connection with centuries of acquired expertise and understanding of traditional reusable materials such as wood and stone.
Picking an example of a sustainable building therefore has some contextual issues to it, particularly if you want to place this example further back in time.
In the 19th century the employment of metallic-based building systems expanded with new technology and culminated in huge iron and steel structures with vast glazed surfaces. This was gradually taken over by the growing use of reinforced cement and concrete, initially invisible behind facades, then more obvious as architects adapted to the new combined materials-system. Nowadays we’ve returned back to the use of (laminated) wood because of its low carbon cost when compared to cement manufacture - we just have to ensure it’s sufficiently fire-resistant and structurally stable.
The example building is in Austria and its renovation was undertaken by architects Hermann Kaufmann and Partner in 1990. The oldest part of the hotel goes back to 1865 but the style is clearly older and typical of the Vorarlberg region in which it’s located and where timber is abundant.
© 2023 Hermann Kaufmann + Partner ZT GmbH
Interestingly there was an original, later-replaced building of 1756, which already hints at long-term sustainablity. Importantly to me, the renovation not only allowed the 19th-century facade to be shown again, but also added more up-to-date comforts within for the hotel’s guests. There was no hint of knocking it all down and restarting from scratch with concrete, steel or bricks. The architectural partnership responsible for the project is known globally for it careful approach to the sustainable use of timber, derived from years of established local practice. This enduring craft skill is being applied to new builds as much as renovation of the old, and not just in Austria.
There are many wooden buildings in the world. We should first nurture them, then consider how we can continue to construct using slowly-acquired understanding and a sympathy with our fragile planet.