Log as building material is undergoing rapid technological changes due to the introduction of industrially developed lamella log. This new material expands the technological repertoire that is available to architects when designing with log. Furthermore, various societal trends relating to ecology, occupant health, and contemporary architectural expression are potentially altering the status and desirability of log as a building material. Thus, from the point of view of architectural research, the log as a building material should be re-investigated. In this paper, our aim is to scrutinise log and log construction through exploring how log is currently perceived as a material among Finnish building professionals. For this purpose, we analyse interviews conducted with 15 professionals in Finland. To gain these research materials, we utilised a method where a traditional semi-structured interview is combined with an in-situ interview in a pavilion construct built by our research team. We complement these materials with brief reviews into wood research and the history of log construction in Finland.

No abstract