Wood

A material that evokes both the building culture of Scandinavia and the present-day turn towards environmental architecture, wood is used in various ways in 3RW’s portfolio. Structures, facades, finishes: wooden elements create beautiful, warm spaces. Our commitment to the use of greener construction products is shown in this category’s selection of projects, which use wood creatively.
With its exceptional physical and mechanical properties, wood might be the building component par excellence. We attempt to resort to wood in all forms and shapes, as often as briefs and typologies allow: its effects on the human body are beneficial, and so are its environmental features.

Most of our built works is found in Norway, a country which has a third of its land forested. 43% of these forests are composed of mature, harvestable trees; they are certified PEFC-sustainable, a label granted to socially just, ecologically sound and economically viable forest management. The close proximity of wood resources represents a true opportunity for 3RW to engage in the local sourcing of a renewable, generally non-polluting, low-energy and low-emission material – given their Nordic acclimatisation, the dense Norwegian spruce and Scots pine make for a high-quality architectural choice. The office compiles over 20 years of experience with timber construction, which is expressed throughout a range of scales and programs; we were among the first architects in Vestland to use a CLT structure, for the assembly of the Bergen-based Steiner School (2004).
The conceptualisation (and realisation) of numerous 3RW buildings takes root in the Norwegian West Coast tradition of “grindabygg” building technique: a unique manner of erecting wooden boat houses and barns, the term roughly translates to “frame building”, a reference to its assembly of post and joist beams. Roof rafters are then added as separate pieces, directly onto the frames. This general composition evokes images of simplicity, practicality, solidity and vernacular knowledge, as well as sustainability; to build in wood already means to conform to notions of versatility and long-term material performance.
In past times, the compact “grindabygg” was easy to disassemble and move, and was often sold in bulk. The modern use of wooden components in our architectural designs follows this old culture of reuse, disassembly and motion. As a flexible system, it answers both economic and environmental motivations that are emphasised at 3RW, while sacrificing nothing of scale and architectural elegance.
Wood presents many desirable properties. Good weight-to-strengh ratio; tensile, compressive and stress-bending stress; large solar energy capture; corrosion resistance, vibration dampening and the likes – these make the case for an increase in wooden architectures, a trend which 3RW is proud to support and sustain. Contemporary projects like the Student Center in Ålesund, the CNC-milled “grindabygg” in Øygarden, the houses at Nystuveien or the nursing homes of Furuset and Randaberg tell a wide-ranged story of wood use at the office.