Book Review: 100 Contemporary Wood Buildings

100 Contemporary Wood Buildings – Discover the wooden structures of the 21st century. Not so very long ago, some might have considered wood a material of the past, long since replaced by more modern components such as concrete and steel.

The truth is radically different. Bolstered by new manufacturing techniques and ecological benefits, wood has seen a fabulous resurgence in contemporary construction.

This double-volume survey explores how architects around the world have created and invented with this elementary material. Featuring follies, very large buildings, and ambitious urban renewal schemes, it celebrates the diverse deployment of wood from architects in China, Chile, and everywhere in between. We see how wood can at once transform urban spaces, as in the Metropol Parasol in Seville by Jürgen Mayer H, and allow for sensitive interventions in natural environments, as at the Finnish Forest Research Institute by SARC Architects, or the Termas Geométricas Hot Springs Complex by Germán del Sol.

True to all Taschen architecture tomes, the book pays tribute to many emerging international talents, as well as to such renowned figures as Tadao Ando to Renzo Piano. It celebrates each of these architect’s vision and innovation, as well as investigating the techniques, trends, and principles that have informed their work with wood. It examines the computer guided milling that has allowed for novel new forms, the responsible harvesting that allows wood to align with our environmental concerns, and, above all, wood’s enduring appeal to our senses and our psyche, comforting hectic modern lives with a sense of Arcadian beauty and simplicity. Text in English, French, and German.