Arkhé (arjé or arché) is a Greek term that etymologically means principle, foundation or beginning. This term was used by early philosophers in Ancient Greece and meant the primordial element from which all material reality is composed and derived.
What if taking up timber manufacturing again was the beginning of relating to the world in a different way? What if it led to an industrial and forestry revolution? What if a different technology than the conventional one was possible?
Regional
Spain
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
The reality of forestry in the Valencia region and in many other municipalities in Spain has a lot to be done. The forest is not certified, there is a lack of culture for solutions based on nature, our cities are still very disconnected with vegetation.
This project is not only born because of this disconnection with nature and the circular economy, but also because it questions the way buildings are constructed nowadays. They are still made of concrete, steel and materials that cannot be recycled and come from quarries or places that are transformed in order to extract the material.
This project tries to give a holistic solution to the whole problem. From forestry, through industry and ending in the cities. Each part of the territory has its role to play in order to transform society, the way we live and the buildings we live in.
This project is born from the vocation and the belief that there are better ways to build landscapes, cities and societies. It is born out of the dream to change the technologies we use today for more sustainable ones.
This project has four important parts. The first and main one is to demonstrate that in Spain this industry is possible because we have available land and trees that have the capacity to grow and then be transformed into a timber industry.
The second part is a small forestry factory that tries to help rural and small towns to reactivate their economy and their population. This industry will have to adapt to the forest, to the climatic conditions of each place, to future growth.
The third part of the project works on industrial estates in Spain where they are currently pure concrete. There are no places to socialise, no vegetation, no space to generate shared energy. Provide a solution through urban planning and being able to generate contact networks and a flourishing wood industry.
Last but not least, the part of the city. Wood allows this flexibility and adaptability.
Sustainable forest industry
Nature based Solutions
Circular economy
Landscape
Tecnhology
This project is based on sustainability. The reason why it was created is to work with industry, materials and architecture from a vision that is kinder to the environment. Industry, society and architecture are changing.
It may be that in the rest of Europe, when people talk about wood, they refer to it as something normal. However, in Spain, especially in the south of Spain, it is something new. We still have many beliefs that do not make us see wood as a possible alternative material. Not only wood, nature is usually expelled from the cities.
Traditional building materials (concrete, steel) generate a lot of waste both in construction and demolition.
The main objectives of this project are:
-To improve society and its relationship with nature.
-To take care of forests
-To generate ecosystems
-To provide a solution to rural depopulation
-To promote the local and rural economy
-Improve industrial parks with the introduction of vegetation and space for shared energy generation (e.g. solar energy)
-Introduce flexibility and adaptability in cities
The location of the project: Vistabella del Maestrazgo has a high risk of being depopulated. At the same time, this area coincides with the great forestry potential that exists in the whole area. This could offer the possibility of creating a forestry industry and at the same time slow down depopulation.
The capture of carbon dioxide by vegetation is a key factor in air renewal and in mitigating climate change caused by the greenhouse effect. The tree mass plays a key role.
This intervention is not only beneficial for the environment but also for the population of Vistabella del Maestrazgo and all the surrounding rural villages.
In terms of aesthetics and quality of experience, three factors have been followed to design the forestry factory in Vistabella del Maestrazgo.
The location is in a flat environment, easily accessible for felling trees and reforestation; and to create a forest and an ecosystem.
The three design factors that have been followed are these:
1.Forest within the factory. Thinking about the architectural void. The first project idea is based on introducing the forest inside the factory, where it is understood that the forestry work carried out and the forestry production are part of the same fabric. That is why the idea of working in the void came up. Instead of working from the volumes, to work from the circulations that generate voids and in these voids the forest will be found and the programme will be connected.
2. Potential for organic growth. MAT building. This way of thinking architecture from connections, emptiness and growth is conceptually known as MAT-Building. As Alison Smithson wrote, Mat-building is that architecture capable of "personalising the anonymous collective, where functions come to enrich the built, and the individual acquires new freedoms of action through a new and changing order, based on interconnectedness, dense patterns of association, and possibilities for growth, diminution and change"(2).
3. Climatic requirements. Bioclimatic prototype. Finally, the whole intervention strategy must respond to bioclimatic requirements that adapt the whole architecture to the climatic conditions of Vistabella del Maestrazgo.
All these factors will make the factory a place to live, to feel surrounded by nature, connected with the landscape and to give people a pleasant experience that generates positive feelings.
All places are connected through the forest and through the promenade.
This project is an example of nature-based solutions. It allows a large part of society to rethink how we live as a society. That is why it is essential that it is accessible and viable.
The feasibility is demonstrated by the fact that the forest factory is based on modulation. This allows the construction of each module in different space times. Not only that, but it also allows the introduction of future needs that we do not yet know within the modulation with a basic and unitary structure where all types of projects fit.
All the spaces of the project are thought from the collective and from sustainability. They are reflected in the forest factory, for example in the shared laboratory, in the co-working, in the outdoor public spaces, in the shared kitchen and in the shared rooms. The collective allows us to have a vision of other people with different needs, different ways of living that allow us as a society to be more inclusive.
All of this is added to the importance of the visuals of nature. We not only have to live in society but also respect the land we live on. Respect it, care for it and work with it.
Industrial planning tries to give a collective vision through energy and vegetation by creating these spaces in the centre. Understand energy as an engine of growth for all industries. Understand that not all industries can economically afford to purchase these materials. However, by purchasing collectively and sharing, social dialogues can be created where we help each other.
Finally, using empty spaces in the city to allow society to grow with the needs of each generation. These spaces allow us to grow as a society.
Thinking collectively helps us to be more accessible and inclusive. New business models are born from the commons. Such as cooperatives, dialogue spaces, etc.
It is inevitable that all citizens benefit when you are doing a project where you introduce nature, create forest, improve the local economy and design sustainable architecture.
This whole process is part of many parts of society.
The people who live where the project in Vistabella del Maestrazgo benefits the landscape and the economy. Not only those citizens benefit from the forestry factory, but also all the people who work in the profession or want to do so.
Companies that work with wood benefit because they no longer have to import it from far away, it can now be produced locally. New companies can emerge that work on the by-products that come out of wood.
The workers who go to the companies in that industrial estate with the urban planning of the project, benefit from the environment, the landscape, the sustainable products and the shared sustainable energy, reducing costs and generating benefits. Start-ups emerge that can solve problems from a sustainable raw material.
In general, all architectural firms and people benefit from a healthier and more sustainable architecture through wood.
From urban planning, all citizens benefit because thanks to the flexibility of wood over time and its circular economy, we can think about spaces and solve current needs and the citizens of the future can respond to theirs.
The planet benefits from the whole process as we generate less impact and allow it to regenerate while consuming the materials.
The impact is colossal in each and every area.
It is essential in any design and in any intervention to take into account all the people who are interested in or affected by the project.
In the development of the factory, the people of Vistabella del Maestrazgo have been consulted. This land was previously used and is now abandoned.
The idea of reactivating the forest land, the industry and the local economy is something they wanted and are trying to implement in the territory.
Not only the people of the village were involved, but also professionals from the world of architecture to enable construction and development.
Contact was also maintained with VET schools, CoVE to observe that there are a lot of people who get training in forestry management and they do not have as many career opportunities as in other areas of knowledge. This sector is asking for much more work to be done in forestry areas, not only to be able to obtain raw material such as wood, but also to take care of the forest and thus avoid the many forest fires that have been occurring in Spanish forests.
There are many people interested in bringing this type of project to light. The rural population, the local economy, the woodworking professions and all the citizens who benefit from well-kept forests and architecture that respects the circular economy.
The vision of this type of project requires working with architecture, sociology, urban planning, economics, anthropology, agriculture, forestry and climatology. There are multiple visions that are applied to the development of each of the parts of this project.
From anthropology to understand human relationships and the social and environmental needs of human beings. Understanding the complexity and responding to these needs. Rural depopulation is identified as one of them. Another would be to provide a professional and economic growth response.
The two combine to provide care for human beings so that they can work, have a dignified life, have sustainable work and have the opportunity to live in rural areas.
The vision of sociology, for example, is applied in industrial planning by introducing shared spaces. Considering shared spaces helps to work from the collective and to understand the human being in society. In the forestry factory it is also applied as it generates co-working, agriculture and a kitchen that is shared by all the inhabitants.
Architecture tries to respond to the needs of form, bioclimatic needs and to create experiences, visuals and landscapes in order to shape both the forestry factory, the industrial estate and the cities.
In economic values, a country must function, not only with tourism, but also with local economies and industry. This enhances the creativity and wealth of a country.
Obviously, nature and the vision of sustainability articulates the whole project. It is transversal. The project tries to give a complete, complex and holistic vision.
According to the INE (National Statistics Institute) in Spain, industry and construction are the first two sectors that generate the most waste and end up in landfill. Industry generates 31.12% and construction 26.75% of waste. The transformation of these two sectors in order to reduce the waste they generate is essential.
Waste within construction is generated by ordering extra materials and offcuts that are made during construction. Most of this surplus, instead of being returned for use on other sites, often ends up in landfill.
As for demolition, the vast majority of materials go directly to landfill without going through a recycling process. This is because many of them have a complex and costly recycling process.
What if the life cycle of materials were taken into account, opting for those that can be easily recycled and reinserted into the construction system? Many of the materials used today do not allow this process and end up in landfills, generating a negative impact on the environment. Investing in changing these processes is key for the sake of the future and to think about how we want to build in the future.
Knowing the impact that conventional construction has, we should rethink the introduction of new building materials that take more account of their life cycle. Materials that are able to close their cycle by reducing the energy they consume and the emissions and waste they generate. As shown in the graphs below, wood is a material that considerably reduces its impact on the environment. It also has a great advantage in that it can be generated by humans. Wood comes from trees, which in turn can be replanted and cut down “infinitely”. Not only would reforestation generate a possible material for construction, but it would also create jobs in forestry, capture CO2, increase evapotransporation, protect the soil and support existing ecosystems.
Wood is of greater benefit to the planet and to humans.
The idea of this project is to create a network of small sawmills that reactivate locally. The project envisages that it will be transferred to other locations, adapting the form of the architecture to climatic needs. This whole network of sawmills would be connected to another sustainable industrial network.
First of all, there would be an activation of the forest territory with the creation of sawmills and reforestation work. When this system is active, it can in turn activate the industrial sector linked to wood. Timber companies of all types will be created.
With these two networks in place, there can be connections throughout the territory according to the trees that are native to the region. For example, trees from Valencia have certain characteristics due to the climate; however, the industrial zone could order logs from other national sawmills in order to have a greater variety of products.
All this would generate local jobs and new companies linked to timber.
Timber will be an emerging sector.
The main idea of this project is to be replicated and tranferres to other places. Not only Spain, it could be any place in the world.
The global challenges to which this project responds have to do with the use of sustainable raw materials, the creation of forests and the care of existing ecosystems. In the case of the Valencian Community, Spain, there are many small villages that are at risk of depopulation and abandonment. This project aims to promote a sustainable local economy and conserve the architectural and human heritage of small villages that are richly forested.
Therefore, the activation of the local economy through industry always benefits the local population. Sustainable jobs are created, the forest land is cared as well. There is more oxygen.
As far as the population is concerned, working in the forest means getting closer to nature. Living more slowly. Be more sustainable.
