Timber is having a renaissance as an architectural material, as more architects come to understand its properties and enjoy adding it to their repertoire of materials. With a growing crop of good new timber buildings, architects are coming to realize that this is no longer the sole preserve of the traditionalist, but a material that has an important role to play in the contemporary world. The book's introduction examines the ways in which a raw material of diminishing quality (but abundant quantity) can be stretched to perform as it has never done before using new technology and careful detailing. The 40 case studies are devoted to some of the most interesting new wood projects from around the world. The projects are grouped in seven themed chapters. Featured architects include Steven Holl, Foster and Partners, Rural Studio, Renzo Piano and Shigeru Ban.

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Ruth Slavid is Special Projects Editor for the Architects' Journal.