On the 4th of October, the temporary installation "Mass is More", a project designed by Daniel Ibáñez and Vicente Guallart, from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), together with Alan Organschi from Bauhaus Earth (BE), was presented at the Barcelona Pavilion. It was open to the general public from the 1st to the 9th of October.
The event served as a stage for the launch of MASS MADERA, a national network of pioneers in industrialized solid wood construction, led by IAAC, whose main mission is to facilitate and promote green building. In this context, the installation, made precisely with industrialized solid wood, explored the use of regenerative and decarbonizing architectural materials in the building industry.
Industrialized solid wood is one of the solutions with the greatest impact on decarbonizing the construction process. On the one hand, because it makes it possible to replace materials from fossil resources such as concrete or steel, to place the CO2 absorbed in the form of buildings, and to allow more CO2 to be sequestered in new generations of trees in the forest. On the other hand, because it can safely store carbon for a long time.
In this way, through a material transformation of the pavilion, the project called for reflection on how to regenerate our cities through the use of this type of materials, and thus achieve the EU's environmental objectives for 2050.
The project was driven through the Built by Nature (BbN) network, a philanthropic fund dedicated to accelerating the transformation of timber construction in Europe and thus radically reducing embodied carbon, storing carbon safely in our buildings for generations, and trapping carbon by promoting forest management and regeneration.
The proposal established a dialogue between the industrial modernity of the 20th century and the new low-emission buildings of the 21st century. Occurring almost a century after the original construction of the German Pavilion designed by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, the project created a dialogue between the past and the future while respecting the existing architectural language: the formal grid of the original pavilion was preserved, simultaneously creating an alternative narrative and a different way of experiencing the site.
The entrance to the space reversed the traditional circulation, offering the opportunity to first pass through the trees in the garden behind the pavilion. Then, through an elevated walkway, access was generated to a cantilever that offered unprecedented views of the pavilion. This platform, in turn, gave way to a small auditorium where meetings and talks were held.
A series of pieces constructed with cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels from local forests were used and the installation demonstrated the structural capabilities of this material and its suitability for constructing more sustainable buildings, producing a much lower environmental impact. All the pieces were produced by Xilonor, the most advanced CLT company in Spain, part of the FINSA group.
In addition to the physical installation, the exhibit featured a 4.8 meter long diorama showing the journey wood takes from its origin in the forest to the city and its carbon storage properties along the way.
Another interesting and innovative proposal was that of Bestiario, a leading data visualization company, which developed an application through which one could see a comparison between the measured environmental impacts of the 1929 Barcelona Pavilion and the new solid wood installation, considering only architectural elements such as the roof, walls, columns, and floor. The comparative analysis includes the carbon emissions embodied in each element, as well as the energy used, the kilometers traveled, and the steps taken during the different processes of extraction, manufacture, transport, and assembly.
Visitors were also able to enjoy a video installation by filmmaker Jaume Cebolla inside the pavilion. The projection showed the material transformations undergone by the wood harvested for the construction of the structure from a first-person perspective.
A 12 x 2.5 meter industrialized wood panel was installed in the pavilion's pond to illustrate the process used in the 19th century to transport the material directly from the forest to the factory via the river. On this platform, the flamenco dancer José Manuel Álvarez put his magic, offering a performance.
Inside, the pavilion's luxurious onyx central wall was reinterpreted with new textures created from a CLT panel composed of multiple wood species. Illustrating the original geometry of the marble, the panel underwent digital milling processes to create a warm and lush three-dimensional topography capable of revealing its various layers.
The intervention coincided with the central week of the Barcelona European Forest City 2022 events, organized by the European Forest Institute (EFI) in partnership with the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), the Barcelona City Council, the Diputació de Barcelona, and the Generalitat de Catalunya together with scientific centers such as IAAC, CTFC, CREAF, and Parc de Belloch.
Thus, and to conclude, the intention of the installation, responding to the series of events and activities that are happening in Barcelona throughout this 2022, was to deepen the discussion on Biocities and new ways of designing and managing urban environments, based on the principles of circular bio-economy, reflecting on our relationship with our forests and new ways of building.
