module specification

This module equips you with a thorough overview of local and international production of timber, covering the harvesting, transport and advanced processing of timber.  The module will also investigate the untapped potential of UK-based forestry within a wider international context.  Teaching will cover sustainable forest management, timber species, biodiversity and certification of timber.  The module will also cover more detailed industry standards in terms of timber processing, timber grading, wood modification and the specification of timber.  The course will investigate the architectural implications of more advanced products and components including the manufacture of engineered wood products, pre-fabrication and modular construction.

N/A

The module syllabus will include:

• sustainable forest management and certified timber;
• timber processing, modification and treatment; timber grading and specification of local timber;
• manufacture of engineered wood products;
• prefabrication and modular construction;
• environmental impact of choices made in specification;
• knowledge of current industry conditions.

Learning Outcomes 1-6

Learning and teaching activities will be centred around an immersive 5-day visit to the Woodland Enterprise Centre. Onsite accommodation will cost approximately £50 (in 2020) per person per night. Additional expenditure may be required as investment in work you may wish to do or see as a reflection on your practice or within the breadth of your own research, such as fixings, adhesives and timber.
The WEC is an Innovation Centre for the timber sector demonstrating both wood in construction and renewable energy from local timber and comprises a large (550m²) grid shell teaching space and campus of experimental timber buildings. The centre undertakes education projects, skills training, and timber-related research and development projects, involving young people and the general public. These opportunities will offer students holistic work experience spanning timber harvesting, prototypical making with timber and the evaluation of case study timber buildings on the site. Lectures and seminars at the university will precede the WEC trip to provide a theoretical basis for many of the physical surveying, processing and making activities planned.

Opportunities for written personal reflection are provided through coursework in the ‘Construction Diary’. This diary will document each student’s process of timber-based construction with personal reflection on technical challenges over-come and design iterations as a part of a course-wide personal development plan.

Following completion of this module you will be able to:

1. understand land use and the cultivation of trees, the difference between types of forest, their history, biodiversity and economic models;
2. explain how timber is processed, the diversity of products available including modified and treated wood, and the markets that timber products supply;
3. understand how a natural material undergoes a certification and standardisation procedure and how these standards relate to the engineering and specification of timber products;
4. use your experience of forestry, managing woodland, felling, drying and processing timber to assess the physical, tactile and visual qualities of different timber species and their products;
5. have an overview of the historical and current state of the timber industry and potentials for future growth and research;
6. consider and evaluate the different processes and their environmental consequences, including use of waste wood in production of engineered products and transport.

Construction Diary
You will produce an illustrated and sequential diary of timber-based construction processes explored during the field trip to the Woodland Enterprise Centre (WEC). This may relate to surveys of pre-existing innovative timber buildings on the site and/or as a result of experimentation with wood processing of green timber felled on the site. The diary will emphasise the contrast in construction process between the variable properties of solid dimensional timber and engineered timber products. The sequential nature of the diary will allow you to reflect on a sequence of construction and compare and contrast the efficiencies of a range of timber manufacturing processes and timber-based products for the built environment.
The construction diary as an output from the WEC field trip will also offer you an opportunity to draw theoretical parallels between a holistic approach to sustainable silviculture and the processes of timber harvesting, procurement, engineering and logistics as a means of connecting the entire timber supply chain.

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