An article in "Detail - Zeitschrift für Architektur + Baudetail, Serie 2016 Nr.1/2" by Stefan Krötsch and Wolfgang Huß

""The basic element of contemporary timber construction is consequently the panel, no longer the beam".1 With this statement 16 years ago, Andrea Deplazes formulated the expectation that modern timber construction would develop from the familiar joining of beams to a "panel tectonics" through the introduction of panel-shaped components. In fact, timber construction changed fundamentally at the turn of the millennium and this new direction is still influential today. The new possibilities fired the imagination of planners and aroused a wide range of expectations - also with regard to the emerging ecological demands on the construction industry. The surge in technical innovation is taking place against the backdrop of a politically initiated global ecological rethink, triggered above all by global warming. In preparation for the 1997 World Climate Summit in Kyoto, Germany took on a pioneering role and committed itself to reducing greenhouse gases to a greater extent than other countries. As a result, the ecological qualities of timber construction - initially due to the good insulating properties of the lightweight construction method - became just as important as the raw material from domestic forestry, which had previously been in low demand. [...]"

Stefan Krötsch is a junior professor for "Tectonics in Timber Construction" at the department of the Technical University of Kaiserslautern and runs the architectural firm "Braun Krötsch Architekten" in Munich with his partner Florian Braun.(www.braunkroetsch.de)

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