In 1991 an atrocity struck Vic in the form of a terrorist attack. Ten people died. Today, at the same site the new city library has been built, as a symbol that knowledge is one of the best pathways to understanding others.

As we already know, architecture also helps to build values. The studio BCQ Architecture wanted the new Pilarin Bayés library in Vic to be a monument to knowledge and to life, tolerance and culture, to remembrance and to the future. Also to sustainability, as one of the simplest ways to face that future.

To meet this sustainable goal, the creators have used ACCOYA@, one of the most resistant and sturdy timbers on the market.

Exterior wooden curtain wall

ACCOYA® makes it possible to build a sustainable façade with curtain wall where wood is used on the exterior. This possible thanks to acetylated wood, in other words, wood subject to a 100% natural treatment that makes the material extraordinarily resistant.

The wood obtained after this method takes on a superior dimensional stability, with good strength in the cycles of expansion and contraction. Its weather resistance also improves, as the molecular alteration of the wood after this process means that moulds and insects no longer recognise it as a source of food.

In virtue of this robustness, ACCOYA® has a written guarantee of 50 years in use classes 1, 2 and 3 (at ground level), and 25 in use class 4 (underground or submerged in fresh water).

Natural light, vegetation and remembrance

The authors proposed that all the building’s reading spaces be oriented toward the garden. The design of the façade lets in plenty of natural light. At the same time, the interior provides a perfect view of the exterior vegetation and, in particular, the trees, ten in total: one for each victim of the attack.

Each of the lights that illuminate the rooms at night have an inscription in different alphabets: knowledge illuminates life. A phrase with a metaphoric power that is transmitted every night, when the light emanating from the library bathes the surrounding streets with the design of its façade with wooden curtain wall.

(To see all the images, consult the project file.)

La entrada Knowledge illuminates life se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

The digital transformation has changed our understanding of life, relationships and work. In this regard, in the industrial sphere a true revolution is taking place. The roof tile factories that sprang up alongside our rivers are disappearing, giving way to the new forms of management and production of the so-called Industry 4.0 or Digital Industry.

Within the framework of this new reality, the AEGIS project arises within the Hazitek innovation programme backed by the Basque Government and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).

Enovos, Luxemburgo | arch: Jim Clemes | Project: VIGAM: oak glulam

Integration of state-of-the-art technology and market leaders

The IoT, or “internet of things”, refers to the connection of everyday objects with the internet, a link with the purpose of making our daily life more practical, convenient, safe and efficient. In short, this interconnection provides comprehensive knowledge about the objects themselves, their use and their context, to optimise the use we make of them.

In the case of AEGIS, the objective of people’s well-being stems from innovation in the manufacture of the various elements needed in construction and furniture, two areas in which wood, in particular quality certified, sustainable wood, plays a fundamental role.

The AEGIS project centres its efforts on integrating different technologies that make it possible to create healthy buildings and spaces by generating smart infrastructure, advanced solutions for purification and disinfection and developing hygienic surfaces.

To do this, an innovation alliance has been set up comprising leading companies in their respective areas, such as Grupo Gámiz, Orona, Irurena, Airlan, Goizper, Erreka, Ingetek and Dinycon.

Kaiserhof offices, Cologne | arch: msm Meyer Schmitz-Morkramer Rhein GmbH. | Product: VIGAM: oak glulam

The digital transformation is better if it is sustainable

Today, to achieve these safe spaces and buildings, plastic or metal elements have to be included. The day-to-day effort of Grupo Gámiz’s innovation department in the search for sustainability means that our role in this project is primarily focused on providing solutions for integrating electronics into wood so it can be reused once these electronics have reached the end of their useful life.

As the project advances, new digital transformation challenges will arise that will have to be approached from a similarly sustainable perspective. At Grupo Gámiz we are accustomed to seeing the world from this viewpoint since 1942.

La entrada Wood is the perfect solution to bring sustainability to the IoT se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

It is very likely that if you invite us to think about beams, we think of straight lines. Nevertheless, the current possibilities of glued laminated timber or glulam, allow architects let their imagination loose, beyond the limits set by traditional manufacture methods.

It is currently possible to commission and create custom curved or cylindrical beams. An increase in the creative and functional possibilities of oak glulam beams that, in addition, provides the added value of supporting sustainable architecture projects more than ever.

Curved oak beams

Two Germans, Michael Thonet and Otto Hetzer, were the pioneers of curved wood. The former, famous for his Thonet chairs, was the first, in 1841, to patent a method for curving wood using heat. Hetzer, in turn, may be considered the creator of glulam wood. In 1906 he patented the first curved beams in glulam wood.

The production technique for glulam timber has evolved to date, where the commitment to innovation by manufacturers such as Grupo Gámiz is still providing creators with solutions, especially in the area of design and sustainability.

Newsstand in Plaza Mayor in Ampuero (Cantabria). Roof constructed with curved oak glulams

Cylindrical oak beams

The curve of oak glulam beams may be longitudinal or total. The creation of cylindrical pillars or columns of glulam wood ad hoc is a resource used more and more frequently by architects seeking resistance, beauty and versatility in their restoration or new-build projects.

Refurbishment of the Santa María cathedral in Vitoria-Gasteiz | Arch: Leandro Cámara | Product: curved oak glulams

Stairways, façades, wooden curtain walling, large curved beams or curved beams for interior design or decoration are some of the proposals that are possible using oak glulam beams.

At Grupo Gámiz it is possible to order custom curved and cylindrical beams that, although they do not have the CE marking for structural use (something that their straight counterparts VIGAM do have) they are able to provide function and decoration to a multitude of timber projects that seek original and sustainable design alternatives.

La entrada The curves of innovation se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Any enthusiast knows that wine is usually aged in barrels made of oak (French or American). Nevertheless, this essential part of the art of producing wine arose by chance. The Romans, who stored wine in clay amphorae, upon arriving in Gaul, discover that the contemporaries of Asterix and Obelix preferred to do so in oak barrels. The Romans, kings of the world at the time, converted this Gaulish speciality (based on their mastery in curving wood) into standard practice, as this storage method contributed to speed and savings: the barrels could be transported by rolling and did not break.

One day, after some years, someone realised that wine that had spent time in these oak barrels tasted better. And so began oenology. This shows that the two most important things that foster progress may well be creativity and luck. There is a third thing that makes the other two more productive: everyday hard work, dedication, passion. Only then is it possible to innovate and encourage concepts such as sustainable architecture. Designing and building with respect for the environment.

VIGAM: the scent of oak covers it all

Oak has a special class. The resistance and beauty of this unique wood is the hallmark of architecture projects that aspire to permanence and elegance. Wine culture is no exception. The most highly regarded architects are consolidating the image of exquisiteness and a taste for work well done, love for detail, transmitted by the wine industry.

The legendary wineries of Vega Sicilia, for example, with the designation of origin Ribera del Duero, cover their production plants with beautiful oak roofs made with VIGAM, the only oak glulam beam in the world with the CE marking for structural use. Beauty, resistance and stability are assured. And the pleasant scent of oak is all around, in every corner.

Vega Sicilia wineries production plants | Executed with VIGAM by TRC Estructuras de madera | Product: Oak glulam

Sustainable architecture is also innovative

Many other winery projects all over the world are examples of innovation in architecture. Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, and Renzo Piano great architects who have let themselves be conquered by the possibilities of design and creativity of a culture that, like architecture, always looks to the future with creativity and sustainability.

As shown by the roofs of this winery, projects using VIGAM achieve spectacular aesthetic results thanks to the capacity for innovation in architecture and construction. In this regard, VIGAM beams are ideal for creating ecological wooden curtain walling, in other words, building lightweight façade in one hundred percent sustainable wood.

La entrada Wine and oak: inseparable se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.

Like the universe, cities tend to expand. The same thing happens to the microspaces that comprise them, the residential areas, which blend into each other, blurring limits, erasing borders, mixing origins.

Just like some specific physical spaces that are forced to extend their facilities to provide a better service. This is the case of the British school Oak House School in Barcelona, whose expansion plan included the construction of the building intended for highschool studies, with a façade clad with ACCOYA® acetylated wood.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

History and landscape

This extension was opened up on land belonging to the school that had been occupied by an ancient villa with gardens. The architectural studio Trasbordo worked with two priority ideas: to listen to the history of the space where the building was going to be built and to respect the values of the landscape.

They managed to do so, and many other things, with a decision related to the building material of the façade: they gave the building a skin made of ACCOYA® sustainable wood, whose aesthetic characteristics helped give the building the natural link to its location, the foot of the Collserola mountains.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

ACCOYA® wood: the perfect building material for sustainable architecture

Its qualities as one of the most resistant woods suitable for exteriors ended up tipping the scale. The architects used panels of ACCOYA® to promote natural ventilation, control the sunlight and reduce the noise from the outside. In addition to the façade, ACCOYA® wood is also used to clad the upper floor.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

The revolutionary ACCOYA® wood guarantees top performance in exteriors. Its durability is achieved by subjecting the wood to a natural process, without toxins of any type, that makes the wood resistant to moulds and wood-eating insects.

ACCOYA® can take any finish and, like in northern European countries, it is used without any type of treatment. This aesthetic choice creates different, totally original façades, as the effects of the passage of time and the climate vary depending on factors such as its orientation to the sun. And with no need for maintenance.

Oak House School | Arch: Trasbordo arquitectura y gerencia de construcción S.L. | Product: Ventilated façade – Accoya® tongue and groove units

All these properties enable manufacturers and distributors of ACCOYA@ to offer a 50-year written guarantee. And perhaps even more importantly, ACCOYA® acetylated wood is a building material that is more and more highly regarded by architects seeking to continue designing their projects without limiting their creativity and promoting sustainable architecture.

La entrada Education and environment se publicó primero en Grupo Gámiz.