Does mass timber prefabrication has a potential as a constructive method in the most forested country on earth?

Collage of the image illustrating the forest in Russia and prefabricated mass timber kit

This paper explores the potential of mass timber construction and why it can play a huge role in one of the most forested country on earth.

Map of regions in Russia pointing the ones that have the highest concentration of forest

Forest area in Russia is about 20% of all forests in the world. 120 thousand hectares – this is how much forest is cut down in Russia every year, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources. And the country loses another 30 thousand hectares of green spaces every year due to the transfer of forest lands to other categories.

Ecological problems as well due to deforestation are facing Russia. Nevertheless an organized and clever way of cutting the trees to apply it afterwards and sequester the carbon for as long as possible is needed to avoid a huge loss of forests due to fires provoked by old, dry trees or human activities.

Deforestation was in a much bigger scale during the Soviet Union as a consequence of industrialization, however, nowadays the number of felled trees is less than before but the biggest amount of timber is exporting to the foreign countries. The amount of timber going to the housing sector is quite small in Russia compraed to the export undustry.

Through several cases I would like to analyze the potential of mass timber construction in Russia and which actions can push the wood industry to grow.

#prefabrication #well-being #masstimber #deforestation #carbonstorage

Mass timber in Russia? is a project of IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master in Mass Timber Design in 2021/2022 by student: Veronika Kudriashova and faculty: Daniel Ibanez. Course: MMTD01 – Narratives