Constructing with Discarded Wood

Throughout history, irregular tree parts and excess wood have been used for their unique properties or because of a lack of straight wood. Thus, natural tree growth has been embedded in building culture. This paper presents a design and fabrication workflow for an outdoor structure – the public outdoor learning space Tingstedet – to be realised in the fall of 2024. The structure is built from two types of waste wood: discarded crooked oak logs and offcuts from window frame production. The presented method builds from the author’s previous research into 3D scanning technology, custom digital workflows, and robotic fabrication [1]. The paper focuses on how the research can be developed and applied to work in a real-life building and construction context with craftsmen, developers, municipalities, and planning permission. In previous research, the authors developed a generalised workflow for engaging irregular logs [1]. The method described in this paper proposes a workflow where crooked tree trunks are cut into live-edge curved slabs before digital registration and subsequent manufacturing. The workflow includes camera-based registration and a processing setup assisted by projection mapping. The workflow can allow a relatively effective design-to-production and assembly process. The development and realisation of the project Tingstedet will reveal knowledge of the potential and implications of building with curved wood and waste wood. The project rethinks and optimises previously developed workflows to engage the building industry in the realisation process, thereby investigating the viability of the methods on a larger scale.