The IBOIS Notebooks–Vol. 1

A thorough and interdisciplinary look at the many aspects of wood construction over the past three hundred years.

The IBOIS Notebooks offer a societal, ecological, cultural, and political look at wood construction. Through the work and critical analyses of authors from various disciplines, these notebooks reveal the structuring, sometimes contradictory, and often underestimated role of timber construction in the architectural evolution of the last three centuries. This biannual editorial project, led by Christophe Catsaros, philosopher, journalist, and architecture critic, and Yves Weinand, architect-engineer and director of the Wood Construction Laboratory (IBOIS) at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), draws the outlines of an original and transdisciplinary account. Going beyond the established distinction between the humanities and applied sciences, the notebooks offer alternative relationships for innovative wood construction. Behind this original and cross-disciplinary panorama—where researchers, builders, and historians question the potential of a material—is the ambition of a radical change, as evidenced both by the research and the achievements of the EPFL’s Wood Construction Laboratory.