LET BE WOODEN
The LIFE-BE WOODEN project NEBletter Realizzata da ART-ER |
Let's start The BE-WoodEN project aims to develop skills and promote knowledge of the use of wood in construction. In the last weeks, an experiential and a web-based communication path on the project’s topics have been created. Let's see what it is about.
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THE NEB FACTOR Experience wood with BE-WoodEN Between practical tests and digital communication Be-WoodEN continues its training and dissemination interventions on the use of wood. The intensive experiential winter school in Florence has just ended and a series of podcasts are currently available online. We talked about it with Marco Togni, associate professor of Wood Technology at the University of Florence and Ugo Terzi, head of Assolegno, member of FederlegnoArredo.
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Marco Togni, who were the participants in the Be-Wooden Winter School?
Marco: The activity was aimed at 20 professionals chosen from those who had attended the largest number of online webinars on structural wood, created by Be-Wooden, therefore a group of selected professionals, generally architects and engineers. |
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The program was very tight and was carried out by organizing the participants into small groups, both to foster a better relationship between teachers and students, and for the need to observe test pieces, use equipment and handle structural elements, activities that are less effective if carried out with the entire class at the same time. The participants were selected after following the online webinars. What value does the Winter School add for these professionals? |
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| Marco: The goal was precisely to help these people consolidate what they had already learned with the webinars, through practical activities that would allow them to verify and touch the materials, do practical tests, and perceive the characteristics of wood. Experiences of this type favor a better consolidation of theoretical learning. |
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Apart from a brief initial introduction about the place where we were (a 15th century villa), the training was very practical. Company visits were also organized and the people actively participated with questions on various aspects. The laboratory experience and direct contact with this material do not leave anyone cold, because they involve multiple senses, in addition to sight, which captures its beauty; touch to perceive the different consistencies of the woods, and smell that captures its scents, capable of fixing them in the memory. |
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What was the response of the participants to this type of educational experience? Remember that we are talking about professionals. Marco: We are talking about people who are already predisposed and interested in the topics and who have decided to invest time in training. That said, they went back to being students, caliber and lenses in hand, with the desire to get involved.
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| It was wonderful to see how the things we always tell students, and that we almost take for granted, continue to surprise. The participants of the Be-Wooden Winter School also followed the online webinars you created: did you have any feedback on them too?
Marco: Yes, we had some spontaneous positive feedback. For us it is a great satisfaction because we do not usually do this type of distance learning.
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Let's now move on to another way of spreading knowledge about the use of wood in construction, this time through the web and therefore to the FederlegnoArredo podcast series. Ugo Terzi, why was the podcast tool chosen? |
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Ugo: First of all, the choice is linked to a question of practicality. Communication today must be fast and often we do not have the time to concentrate on a screen, for example we can listen to a podcast while we travel, while we drive.
It is also a relatively cheap tool compared to, for example, the construction of a video, and this was necessary, especially because we needed to develop podcasts both in Italian and English, with foreign guests. It was easier to record only the audio.
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There are 8 podcasts in the Italian version and 8 in the English version.
Ugo: Yes, in both versions the topics are the same, with the same introductory part, the experts change, not only because of the language issue but also because they bring different perspectives on the topic, more in-depth on the local context or with an international look, with different experiences and skills. For example, among the guests there is Dieter Lechner, one of the greatest experts at an international level. |
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Let's talk about the thematic approach you have chosen. Ugo: The podcasts reflect the innovative approach we wanted to give to the topic. Wooden constructions are not a recent acquisition, so we no longer talk about statics, that is, mechanical resistance, rather than aesthetics, that is, the pleasantness, the beauty of wood. We talk about wood from the point of view of decarbonization, ease of dismantling, recovery and reuse, the design and end-of-life of the building, indoor well-being, about the Italian wood as a potential tool for relaunching the economy for the internal mountain areas of our peninsula. |
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All the topics concern sustainability, which is a very broad topic that is difficult to cover entirely. Let's think about the Green Deal policies and the latest European and national regulations, such as the CAM for construction. Let's take for example the EPDB IV, the regulation for the energy requalification of existing assets: it would seem to be a topic that has little to do with wood, but let's consider that Italy is an earthquake-prone country. Intervening on the existing heritage only to requalify energy, neglecting seismic requalification interventions essentially means throwing money away, because, unfortunately, at the first shock everything collapses and all the economic interventions that have been made are lost. In this case, wood helps a lot because, in addition to being a natural insulator, it also has, in fact, very specific mechanical characteristics and therefore, intervening with a combined seismic and energy retrofit, it would be possible to comply with both the energy requalification needs and the seismic requalification needs, something that with other materials, obviously is more complex to do. |
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What added value do podcasts have for communicating these insights, born within a European project like Be-Wooden?
Ugo: You touch on a topic that is very dear to me: it happens that during European projects a lot of work is done that then risks remaining in the drawer, a heritage that risks being lost. Communication is fundamental in transmitting knowledge of skills. Communication through podcasts aims to create an experience that leaves a trace of what has been done, instead of limiting itself to producing paper documentation or conferences. The podcast remains and is always available for consultation, with which we have tried to talk about topics that we know are important for society and that will remain so for a long time, despite there being a significant attempt to ignore the ongoing climate crisis.
Good communication is also a tool for democratizing knowledge, if it helps make topics that often remain the property of insiders more understandable to everyone
Ugo: This is a key point. There is a need to talk to the widest possible audience about important topics, but at the same time try to talk about them in a clear and understandable way, so that a trace of them remains in people's memory.. |
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| Marco Togni has a degree in Forestry Sciences, with a PhD in Wood Sciences, expert in structural wood, non-destructive testing, inspections of buildings and wood-based products. Already a freelancer, forestry doctor, since 2001 he has been an associate professor of Wood Technology at the University of Florence, in the DAGRI department. |
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| Ugo Terzi, graduated in architecture, qualified to professional practice, expert in wooden constructions and circular bioeconomy since 1998, former manager of Assolegno from 2006 to 2008 and coordinator for the introduction of wood in the NTC, returned to take on the role of manager of Assolegno in 2024 and is also general director of AFI (Italian Forestry Association). Member of CEN and UNI commissions on sustainability and structural wood. Assolegno representative in CEI Bois. Coordinator of the Advocacy table in the Timber Forward project. Member of WoodPoP. CNEL representative at the MASAF Wood table. AFI representative at the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy table.
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The study visit in Slovenia. We talked about it in the last newsletter: now you can see what happened |
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Let Be Wooden interviews published: |
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