EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE USE OF WOOD THROUGH THE FOREST-LIKE SPACE OF THE WOODDEN BOOTH, ONE OF THE THEMATIC PAVILIONS AT ARCHITECT’23 DESIGNED BY PAVA ARCHITECTS
TEXT: PRATCHAYAPOL LERTWICHA
PHOTO: KETSIREE WONGWAN
(For Thai, press here)
“Using wood is no longer associated with negative environmental consequences. We hope that visitors to our exhibition booth will be able to see the entire wood cycle, from upstream to downstream, and will understand that the sustainable use of wood is definitely doable with the right approach to viable timber plantations.”
Pacharapan Ratananakorn, architect from PAVA architects, responded when asked about the design concept she created for WOODDEN’s exhibition booth at Architect Expo 2023, a Burmese brand that manufactures, processes, and distributes high-quality teak wood.
Because of its availability and functional versatility, from flooring to roofing, wood was once Thailand’s most popular building material. Nevertheless, long-term exploitation without adequate regulation and organization has devastated the country’s forest lands and this once ample natural resource. Consequently, the word ‘timber’ is frequently followed by the phrase ‘forest deterioration.’
In reality, cutting down trees and expanding forestlands can be positively associated if done as part of the “sustainable harvesting” process, in which timbers are harvested under carefully planned direction alongside appropriate regrowth. The method prevents forests from declining by allowing newly grown trees to replace those that have been cut down, thereby making the forest’s ecosystem more sustainable.
WOODDEN has always been committed to using a sustainable harvest method in the manufacturing of its teak wood products. After several discussions with the assigned design team, PAVA architects, who also wanted to get this subject matter across, the two collaborators mutually agreed that this is what they both wanted to convey through the design.
PAVA architects created two zones for the booth: the Thematic Pavilion and the Exhibitor Zone, which is actually a part of the Thematic Pavilion. A series of four-meter-high wooden walls, built in an overlapped configuration along the diagonal axis, encircle the exhibition areas. The finishing layers of the skin highlight the raw textural details of wood, transforming the zone into a lush teak wood forest.
“We want to create a forest-like atmosphere. The slant axis may be visible in the floor plan, but from a person’s average eye level, the booth will appear like the layered tree canopies of a dense forestland, creating a space that people want to spend time in. The finishing material for the walls is wood bark. The barks are typically treated as waste and are rarely used. We don’t think of them as flaws or leftovers, but as another usable material with its own aesthetic and functional merits,” Pacharapan explained.
Within the teak wood walls of the Thematic Pavilion was an exhibition space telling stories of teak wood, inviting visitors to learn about and experience the wood’s physical characteristics as well as the production cycle behind WOODDEN’s products. Visitors can ‘get to know’ and ‘appreciate’ the upstream process of teak wood production on a deeper level in this zone.
In the Exhibitor Zone, the dramatic scale and height of the towering WOODDEN walls, as well as the timber used as the walls’ finishing material, were toned down. Pacharapan refers to this particular space as the ‘downstream’ zone, where processed teak wood products are displayed.
Thanks to the WOODDEN walls with subsiding scale, visitors can casually look at and touch the products, which range from massive teak wood table tops to home solution materials such as panels for flooring, doors, and stairs, all the way to WOODDEN furniture. Visitors will be able to fully experience not only WOODDEN’s creations, but also the ability and versatility of teak wood as a material.
“With this zone, we incorporated WOODDEN’s processed wood products, such as floor panels of various widths, into the booth design. Despite their initial functions, we want to show how adaptable these products are in terms of application,” Pacharapan explained the concept behind the Exhibitor Zone design.
Stop by WOODDEN’s exhibition booth at Architect Expo 2023 to see what this stunning booth looks like in person, wandering and immersing yourself through human-made forestland, smelling the wonderful scent of wood, and experiencing WOODDEN’s products with your own eyes and hands while learning more about the cycle of sustainable teak wood production.