Wood is one of mankind’s oldest building materials and has always been considered to be inferior to stone, as it doesn’t last as long, is not as sturdy and burns easily. Therefore it is possible that even masterpieces of wooden architecture such as the Norwegian stave churches or the temple in the Forbidden City will always stand in the shadow of the large stone buildings of architectural history.
At least according to the publishers, Will Pryce has written the first comprehensive history of wooden architecture ever to be published in the entire world. His book is unusual in several ways: Pryce is not only an architect and a self-confessed connoisseur of historical and contemporary timber constructions, but also a highly gifted photographer.
From the title page to the very last footnote, ’The Art of Wooden Architecture’ is all his own work and it is impossible not to respect him for this. The book is a pleasure to read, particularly due to the photographs, which do not lose any of their brilliance and sharpness, despite the book’s double-page, 30 x 48 centimetre format. With the exception of Africa and South America, Pryce travelled all across the world in order to photograph timber constructions. However, as he states in the preface, he does not believe that his book needs to be completely comprehensive.
Instead of following a chronological or typological structure, he approaches architectural history on the basis of case studies, in which he describes the basic cultural and geographical conditions affecting each of the buildings as well as each of their peculiarities.
Even Pryce’s digression into contemporary timber architecture, in which he depicts buildings such as those by Jarmund & Vigsnaes, Thomas Herzog, Bruce Goff and Richard Leplastrier, comes across as an organic continuation of the preceding chapters. The attentive reader only misses out on the occasional design description when Pryce tries to explain something in words which would have been better depicted in a picture.
’The Art of Wooden Architecture’ impressively depicts the diversity of the shapes and surface textures of wooden building which were created in centuries past by builders who mostly remained anonymous. However, Pryce also mentions the way that wooden architecture literally changed the world. For example, it is hardly conceivable today that the word ’Holland’ actually originated from ’Holtland’ (wood country).
The task for the future of wooden architecture will be to find a balance between the destruction of resources and their ability to regenerate, as even ’renewable’ raw materials will start running out at some point.