Type and Duration
FFF-Förderprojekt, January 2025 until December 2025Coordinator
Craft & StructureMain Research
Sustainable Planning and ConstructionDescription
About 41% of the principality of Liechtenstein is covered by forest. (Amt für Statistik, 2021) Three quarters of this forest are defined as protective due to an average gradient of 40% or more. (Amt für Wald, Natur und Landschaft, 2012) Nevertheless, it is one of the most important sources for raw material. However out of the wood harvested annually in Liechtenstein, about 70% are used directly as an energy source, drastically shortening up the carbon storage cycle of wood. (Amt für Statistik, 2021) Furthermore due to climate change, forest structures are changing. Predictions for the forest in Liechtenstein have stated, that in 2070 the spruce will mostly vanish in low altitudes, only being able to survive in the higher regions. (Frehner, Zischg, & Gubelmann, Chur, Sargans und Bern 2021) In contrast, hardwood species will experience a rise, resulting in a more mixed forest.Thus, the main research focus will be put upon the potential of bad quality hardwood. The aim is the prolonging of the lifespan of a timber log before ending up as an energy source. An analyzation of the local occurrence of hardwood species and their quality will serve as a tool to implement this knowledge upon constructional solutions. Furthermore, a comparison of different structural systems that can work with short timber logs in massive hardwood and offer the possibilities for resource efficiency and dissembling, serves as a starting point to research further upon the systems of Fachwerk structures. This structural system has been used massively historically but also offers potential for future uses, as it offers possibilities for the leftover hardwoods. Thus, the different participating parts of the system will be investigated upon their structural role and properties in order to find potential within the available but not used hardwood. A cataloging of imperfect hardwood such as crooked parts, short parts and thick or twisted parts is redefining the available material, with the aim to allocate these to one or multiple possibilities within the structural system of timber framing, concluding in a reinvented system.
