"Timber construction is the future"

During his visit to the Landesgartenschau (State Flower Show) in Wangen on August 15, Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann was fascinated by timber construction in terms of its long-term viability and the opportunities it offers; his conclusion: timber construction is the future. The Landesgartenschau is setting standards in this field.

Michael Lang, the Lord Mayor of Wangen, accompanied Minister President Klaus Tappeser, President of the Tübingen administrative district, and a delegation of state and municipal representatives on a tour of the exhibition grounds during which Kretschmann was introduced to two cutting edge Building Demonstrators built by the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture  (IntCDC): Two of the main features of the Landesgartenschau exhibition are the Hybrid Flax Pavilion and the Wangen Tower, both of which were built by the University of Stuttgart in collaboration with the city of Wangen, the Landesgartenschau, and local project partners. 

According to Professor Achim Menges, head of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computer-Aided Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC), both projects highlight how bio-based materials and bio-inspired structures can be used to create architecture that is both sustainable and expressive. 

For the first time, the Hybrid Flax Pavilion showcases a hybrid structure that combines timber and natural fiber as an alternative to conventional construction approaches and has recently been nominated for the German Sustainability Award. The 23-meter-high observation tower, known as the Wangen Tower, is the world's first accessible tower made of curved timber components that shape themselves as the wood shrinks. Kretschmann, who climbed the 113 steps to the Wangen Tower’s viewing platform was not only impressed by the Alpine panorama, but also by the tower’s construction history: both the Wangen Tower and the Hybrid Flax Pavilion were designed in accordance with the latest digitalization and lightweight construction principles, which significantly shortened the construction phase.

As the Minister President pointed out in a keynote speech, timber construction is leading the digitalization of the construction industry as he praised the Wangen Tower and Hybrid Flax Pavilion as "technically and aesthetically magnificent. "These buildings,” he went on to say, “not only showcase new concepts and expertise, but they are also the result of many years of research and complex digital calculations." Digitalization must be pushed throughout the entire construction industry and, in this respect, Wangen has not only reinvented itself with the Landesgartenschau because the show also gives us a view of the future. In the following plenary session, Achim Menges emphasized the view that the principles that were implemented in the Wangen Tower for the first time could also be used in other applications such as wind turbines or large industrial halls.