EVENTS
The 7 th Wood Conference draws record numbers
The seventh Wood Conference took place in Cape Town on 28 February, drawing nearly 600 professionals to this high-class event to discuss this year ' s theme – ' Wood as a sustainable, multifunctional material '.
By Ilana Koegelenberg
The Wood Conference once again took place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre( ITCC) with 564 delegates, ranging from students to architects to international suppliers. The conference, which offered delegates Continuous Professional Development( CPD) points. Once again the founder, George Kuratle, was happy to conclude the 7 th annual event which was perfectly organised by the capable Zaida Davids of HWZ International, who put in a great deal of effort to pull it all together.
Hannu Garny was tasked with the job of master of ceremonies and ensured that the day’ s proceedings stayed on time. He introduced the speakers for the day as well, firstly welcoming Roger Kuratle to the stage.
“ We have come a long way since we started the Wood Conference seven years ago,” said Roger Kuratle, head of corporate development of the Kuratle Group, during his official opening address.
Kuratle renewed their organisation’ s commitment to South Africa and their goal to support the local industry to grow and improve the wood-building sector.“ We are here to stay for the long term,” said Kuratle.
IT ' S A TRADITION
Kuratle was followed by Bernadette Hunkeler Brown, consulate general of Switzerland, who handled the welcome address.
Her talk centred on tradition, saying that just like using wood is a tradition, so this conference has become one too. She shared various examples of how wood has been used throughout the ages, highlighting remarkable structures in our history. But we’ ve come a long way since then, especially in terms of sustainability.
“ In today’ s world, it is ever more important( and quite possible) to come up with new applications through cutting edge technology,” said Brown.“ The boundaries of what is possible using wood are being pushed by those in the industry.”
TIMBER AND SOCIAL INNOVATION
Andre Eksteen, architect of Earth World Architects, addressed the fascinating topic‘ The role of the architect in the rapidly evolving technological landscape. Timber as a driver for innovation and democratic industrialisation’.
Eksteen shared some very interesting videos of groundbreaking technology that has been used across the world to develop incredible timber structures. He showed some very creative building methods for projects that are architecturally pleasing and unique, some even mimicking patterns in nature.
He looked at whether architecture still has a place in our complex social-political and technological landscape and whether it can be used as a tool to facilitate change and inspire social innovation.
18 APRIL / MAY 2017 //