Archtober is Hosting Virtual Seminars About the Role of Wood in Buildings

Archtober Festival 2021 is well underway, New York City‘s annual architecture and design festival that’s now in its eleventh year. Organized by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with over 70 partners and sponsors, the festival celebrates all things architectural design in NYC, and beyond. This year, Archtober features a range of in-person and virtual events, from daily building tours and lectures by design experts, to architecture-themed competitions and parties.

Starting tomorrow, Oct. 18, and running until Oct. 22, Swedish Design Movement and Woodlife Sweden will be hosting a week-long program that highlights the challenges of sustainable development, where wood plays a vital role as a renewable building material.

The program sees five informative seminars that span circular interior design, sustainable housing complexes, networks for innovation, system change within the building industry, and global cooperation. Each seminar will be open and accessible for all, taking place virtually.

In Sweden,  90 percent of all single-family homes are built of wood, and 14 percent of multi-family houses over two floors have a wooden frame. Forests make up 70 percent of Sweden’s area and forest products have long been one of Sweden’s largest export products. the Woodlife Sweden at Archtober program aims to educate audiences on how wood tackles the looming paradigm shift in the construction industry, and how climate impact can be greatly reduced.

On Oct. 20, the Consulate General of Sweden in New York will explore Sara kulturhus, one of the world’s tallest wood buildings. Standing almost 80 meters tall, Sara kulturhus is a 20-story building constructed from wood from the forests surrounding Skellefteå.

“I would say the main advantage of building in wood is the climate effect. It’s minimal,” says an architect from White Arkitekter in a promotional video. “When using wood, instead of emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we’re actually taking it out, putting it into the building, and locking it in.”

The five virtual seminars are as follows:

Oct. 18. Waste is not waste until you waste it. Circular design and upcycling.
Oct. 19. Where people can thrive. Botanikern, housing complex.
Oct. 20. Wood construction in focus – modular building, and innovation as motor for regional development.
Oct. 21. Togetherhood.
Oct. 22. Global Cooperations.

To learn more about the Woodlife Sweden program, and to explore more Archtober events, visit the website.