Groundbreaking platform for wood construction

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Go to www.opensourcewood.com

Join the initiative

Metsä Wood is calling on all architects and engineers to share their innovations in wood construction. Open Source Wood initiative is a pioneering open innovation project aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing and growth in modular wood construction.

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Open Source Wood  press releases

The only way to make construction more sustainable is by building with wood on a global scale. The world needs a Plan B.

Wood is a carbon-storing, renewable and strong construction material, yet it accounts only for a very small fraction of global construction. The wood construction industry is fragmented and local, while the construction business is dominated by two less environmentally-friendly construction materials – steel and concrete.

A successful future demands a fundamental reinvention and rethinking of how we build with wood – by developing prefabricated elements. We need to build faster, more affordably, more efficiently and more openly. That’s why we launched the Open Source Wood Initiative.

See also

Open source in wood elements

Values guide Metsä Group's operations 
 

Open source in wood construction fosters innovation and increases knowledge.

Currently, not nearly enough knowledge about modular wood design and building is shared, so wood construction remains a limited sector of the construction industry. There is plenty of innovation, but it’s often not so easy to find. By sharing our best ideas and solutions openly we will deliver significantly increased growth. All shared elements are licensed CC BY 4.0.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons licenses provide a standard way for content creators to grant someone else permission to use their work.

(CC BY 4.0) means that You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

  • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Creative Commons  

Why participate?

 

“We fundamentally need to challenge the way we build. Timber technology is now progressing so fast that knowledge transfer is often the bottleneck. Those of us who have expertise have a responsibility to share, and the fastest way is an open source approach promoting knowledge and innovation from all corners of the world.” – Eric Karsh, Equilibrium Consulting

Read what others have to say​​

 

Eric Karsh, Equilibrium Consulting

As the modular wood construction industry grows – everybody wins.

Most innovation in our sector today goes largely unacknowledged beyond its locality.

By sharing your innovations and insights with your fellow modular wood experts around the world you can build a reputation for yourself internationally, and you’ll also benefit from advice and reviews of your work by our platform’s an expert panel.  The Open Source Wood initiative also offers the chance to efficiently collaborate with your peers – wherever they are.

We are committed to working with architects who use innovative modular wood elements for building design – giving selected professionals like yourself the chance to move their designs from your desktop to actual projects.

Metsä Wood Awards

Metsä Wood is rewarding innovative element and modular designs. These awards are typically 5 000 or 10 000 €.

Criteria – Fast, Light, Green

Building element / module using Kerto® LVL (laminated veneer lumber) products as a major component:

  • Fast: The design enables fast building processes
  • Light: The design is light weight
  • Green: The design improves the CO2 balance of building.

The winners so far are:

  • Maskerade, offsite manufactured wood elements designed by Maarten van der Breggen,
  • Cliphut, modular building system designed by Thomaz Vieira, Tomas Mena and Maria Wilkens,
  • Kokoon, pre-fabricated and transportable housing modules designed by Aalto University’s Wood Program Studio


 

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Share your designs

Upload your wood element design

​​​Designs for modular building elements can be submitted. The element design must be (at minimum) 50% from wood. The submission must be a file size of 5MB or less. For more detailed information read the Q&A​

The submitted designs are uploaded in the web service called opensourcewood.com to be launched later by Metsäliitto Cooperative (Metsä Wood). The use of the service is subject to the Terms of Use available at here and you agree that  the Terms of Use apply to your designs whether or not you use the service. Especially,  you agree to license the designs under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Before sending your element please read the Terms of Use. By pressing the send button you will accept them. 

Share your desings at www.opensourcewood.com

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Fast, light & green articles

How we build now and in the future is critical to economic growth, human wellbeing, and our global climate. In the Fast, Light and Green series Metsä Wood opens up the possibilities of more sustainable, material efficient and productive construction through premium Kerto® LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber). The series provides insightful – even surprising – perspectives on why wood materials are often the superior choice over concrete or steel. We’ve also invited a diverse group of professionals who share our passion for wood to contribute their opinions and insights.

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