Jörg Finkbeiner is partner and Dipl.-Ing. Architect at Partner and Partner Architekten. At Build in Wood in Hamburg on 25-26 January 2023 you can experience him in a presentation about wood in construction, and the potential of minimizing carbon footprint.
Partner & Partner Architects has been working with sustainability as a prerequisite in their projects for many years and wood as a construction material is for them key to sustainable architecture and construction.
In this article, you can read an interview with him.
What is your background and how do you and your company work with wood?
Before our studies, my office partner and I were carpenters. Working with wood is part of our DNA, so to speak. Building with wood was not a matter of course back then, we had to explain and convince a lot. Meanwhile we are planning all our projects in timber construction.
What do you like about wood as a building material?
Wood creates several things at once! It is very versatile and can be used in almost all areas of the building. As a construction material, as insulation, and for interior design. In addition, it is a renewable building material that provides answers to the shortage of resources. And last but not least: It stores CO2 in the construction and at the same time substitutes other finite, energy-intensive building materials.
In your opinion, what are the biggest dilemmas within wood construction right now?
We’re still battling old clichés: wood burns, rots and doesn’t last. In addition, the building legislation is not adapted to building with wood and must be painstakingly adapted.
Wood construction has developed a lot over the past few years, which has brought more professional wood construction. How do we get more wood construction?
For several years now, the fight against climate change has finally been part of a broad social debate, and society and politics are willing to allow changes. Now we need good and successful built examples to change the mindset for building with wood.
What do you talk about at Build in Wood Hamburg and what do you hope the participants will get out of hearing it?
We can only manage the transformation in the building sector together. I want to encourage everyone to actively participate in this change. Technically we are able to build “differently”. We just have to do it. I look forward to talking to others about the challenges.
Do you want to hear more from Jörg Finkbeiner?
You can meet him at Build in Wood in Hamburg on 25-26 January 2023 in the Gastwerk Hotel Hamburg. Read more about the conference here and sign up here.
