A
Wood (Un) waste(d)
Researcher
Olga Popovic Larsen
Research unit
Institute of Architecture and Technology
Too much wood is wasted. With Wood (Un)waste(d) we bring new perspectives on reuse of wood through both technical and artistic approaches to research.
Our goal is to inspire, provoke, and suggest new ways in which we can prolong the lives of material resources, structural systems, and architecture.
By using experimental work and practically oriented research the project explores new constructive uses through structural concepts, detailing, constructions, terms, and possibilities for reuse.
Our work documents the performance of the materials.
It also creates new uses for recycled wood that have the potential to give the wood more life, functionality, tactility and aesthetics.
Reclaimed timber from WoodReFramed. Photo: Xan Browne.
The reclaimed timber arrives. Photo: Xan Browne.
The material palette. Photo: Xan Browne.
Initial model studies. Student work, Architectural Technology.
Design sketches. Student work, Architectural Technology.
Structural concept. Student work, Architectural Technology.
Research Motivation
I wish to contribute to a more just and sustainable future.
As an architect and engineer I am driven by the way we can find new, better, and more efficient ways of using resources and prolong the expected lifetime of the materials that we use.
With a special focus on wood, I try to combine an aesthetic and a technical approach in my search for functionality, resilience, longevity, and beauty in architecture.
As an architect and engineer I am driven by the way we can find new, better, and more efficient ways of using resources and prolong the expected lifetime of the materials that we use.
With a special focus on wood, I try to combine an aesthetic and a technical approach in my search for functionality, resilience, longevity, and beauty in architecture.
Internal partners
Xan Browne, Kawun Ghawsi, Magnus Nilsson, and Master level students from 'Architectural Technology' who constructed the pavilion structure: Cecilie Camilla Refsgaard, Elise Irene Andreassen, Emma de Wit Clausen, Faysal Awed Jama, Jacob Buhl Jørgensen, Jacob Seidelin-Prip, Jens Lund Aaholm, Jeremi Jan Dzeidziejko, Joachim Morning Raahauge, Katrine Engelbrecht Frandsen, Laura Billeskov Wilkens, Lucas Tornvig Nordqvist, Mathilde Orheim Andersen, Sadhna Lacôte Vallicelli, Sara Louise Schnedler, Sif Kristine Haraldsson, Svante Schou, Yuri Mamero
External partners
Stijn Brancart (Assistant Professor, TU Delft, Department of Architectural Engineering & Technology), Caio Castriotto (Researcher and Developer, Missão Criativa, Brazil)
Bibliography
Bibliography
Open Access
[1]
O. Popovic Larsen and G. Filz, ‘Material: The meaning of material, materiality and the digital for Baukultur’, in BuildDigiCraft, A. Bögle and E. Popova, Eds, Hamburg: HCU - HafenCity University Hamburg, 2022, pp. 259–292. doi: 10.34712/142.37.
[2]
O. Popovic Larsen and X. Browne, Eds, Nordic Waste Wood for Good. The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://issuu.com/kadk/docs/220316_publication_digital_final_export
[3]
X. Browne and O. Popovic Larsen, ‘Prototyping New Scenarios for Fabricating Structural Components from Reclaimed Timber: FABRICATE 2024’, in Fabricate 2024: Creating Resourceful Futures, UCL Press, 2024, pp. 114–121.
[4]
X. Browne, ‘Architecture and (Waste) Wood: Integrating material traits into structural applications.’, PhD thesis, Det Kongelige Akademi, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://adk.elsevierpure.com/da/publications/architecture-and-waste-wood-integrating-material-traits-into-stru/
Not Open Access
[1]
O. Popovic Larsen, M. Nilsson, and F. Petersen, ‘Material Voices. By and Beyond Hand’, in In the Making: Artistic Methods in Architecture and Design, C. Jul and L. Dammand Lund, Eds, The Danish Architectural Press, 2025, pp. 85–92.
[2]
O. Popovic Larsen and S. L. Benner, ‘Smart Tectonics for Design of Building Structural Systems’, in The Routledge Companion to Smart Design Thinking in Architecture & Urbanism for a Sustainable, Living Planet, M. Kanaani, Ed., 2024, pp. 399–410.
[3]
O. Popovic Larsen, Physical Modelling for Architecture and Building Design: A design practice tool. Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 2020.
[4]
O. Popovic Larsen, ‘Reciprocal Timber Structures and Joints’, in Rethinking Wood: Future Dimensions of Timber Assembly, M. Hubert and S. Pfeiffer, Eds, Birkhäuser Verlag, 2019, pp. 88–100.
[5]
O. Popovic Larsen, Conceptual Structural Design: Bridging the Gap between Architects and Engineers, 2nd edn. London: Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 2016.
[6]
O. Popovic Larsen, Reciprocal frame architecture. Architectural Press, 2009.
