Editor's Letter | The Territory of Wood

With this issue of CONTEXT, we take the opportunity to explore a single building material — a ubiquitous substance that is familiar to us all. Craftspeople, carpenters, designers, and artists develop, highlight, and exploit the characteristics of wood in works of all scales. Wood is incredibly versatile: It can be a structural material or a finish material, and it can be a design element ranging in size from picture frames to high rises. The use of wood has implications for design and craft, for climate and the environment, and for building our communities.

Wood is a conventional building material, embedded in the history of design, construction, and shelter within many traditions. It is also a newly appreciated material for its wide-ranging environmental implications. In this issue, we share a few voices and perspectives on wood and present innovative examples of its use in architectural design.

The articles begin with an essay on the forests of Pennsylvania and their essential role in the natural environment and as a source of construction material. The element of carbon is then considered as it relates to the growth and harvesting of trees, climate change, and the nascent attempts to link these aspects through carbon markets. The third feature article looks at the old but new technology of mass timber construction and its potential to unite architectural expression with structural form.

The Expression section features a photo essay on raising a traditionally framed gazebo, and the Opinion piece offers wise counsel on building responsibly with wood and the importance of a thorough understanding of the nature of the material and the characteristics of the land where it grew. The innovative use of wood is the focus of projects in the Design Profiles section. As a finale, we proudly present the 2022 AIA Philadelphia Design Awards. Wood was not part of the criteria for the awards but, not surprisingly, it plays an important role in many of these excellent projects.

CONTEXT invites you to revisit your relationship with wood and consider its enormous design potential. We hope this issue contributes to an increased understanding of the various facets of this important natural resource and leads to further investigations of your own.

TIMOTHY KERNER, AIA,
Principal, Terra Studio
and CONTEXT Editor

TODD WOODWARD, AIA,
Principal, SMP Architects
and CONTEXT Editor