WoodFactory2050

The lumber industry has become increasingly mechanized and optimized in the past 200 years, but its processes still generate a variety of material waste streams. However, the unique properties of these waste materials offer significant potential for a more circular processing model. In the harvesting of the trees, curved timbers are wasted. Before milling, bark is removed and downcycled to landscaping material. And the act of sawing lumber to create boards or other products is inherently inefficient, reducing a significant portion of wood volume to sawdust. This project interrogates each of these points in order to determine an alternate use for the waste product or an alternate process resulting in less waste, and how these redefined products or processes can be integrated into an architectural system.

Oroville area was analyzed in depth, to discover the best possible intervention scenario for the proposal of a circular wood factory in 2052. Decentralization of production, and adaptability were key aims, leading to the proposal of individual production units that would operate in a forest or riverine setting, harvesting wood and making use of its by-products.

Extensive research was conducted, looking at the different flora and fauna inhabiting the area, trying to find connections between the ecosystem and human intervention. The effects of the wood industry on the environment and their link to fire and flooding were studied through digital simulations, along with their possible prevention with the use of wood products.

The project concluded with the creation of a 1:1 scale physical installation at SPUR Urban Center in San Francisco, which demonstrated the different wood-waste and wood-minimization tectonic systems explored throughout the semester.