Up and away with wood

Wood is taking over the cities – and not only in Austria, Switzerland and  Germany. With demand  for living space in central urban locations on the   increase and building ground in distinctly short supply, timber  construction opens up new possibilities of satisfying the growing  demand. The present and future of modern timber construction are on  display at the ROOF+TIMBER International, the specialist trade fair for  the European carpentry trade. In Hall 7 of the Cologne Exhibition Centre  on 18-21 February 2014, you will find a wide range of machines and  materials for use in timber element construction, wood facades, storey  addition, CAD planning, all types of insulation, and wooden building  renovation.  

Munich/Cologne, 31.10.2013 – New multiple-storey buildings made from  timber are still something of a rarity. Far greater potential is available from  consolidating existing constructions by building extensions, filling structural  spaces, performing modernisations and adding extra storeys, all of which  represent interesting activities for timber construction companies. As a  building material, wood offers a wide range of benefits: it allows a high level of  prefabrication and can be installed quickly without unduly disturbing the  neighbourhood; it satisfies stringent fire-safety requirements, constitutes a  small superimposed load and is sustainable.

More than 70 exhibitors will be displaying their independent and complete  overview of materials in Hall 7 – which is primarily devoted to timber – over a  space of 12,500 square metres, around the size of two football fields. These  include suppliers of timber-frame and prefabricated house elements, wood-  fibre panels (OSB, HDF and MDF), joinery machines for wood working, wood  composite elements, and prefabricated building sections and roof truss  constructions made of timber. "The range of products on offer is tailored  precisely to the requirements of carpenters and timber construction  companies. Visitors to the exhibition will obtain a complex collage of ideas for  use in their building projects from all areas of the international timber  construction market," explains Dieter Dohr, chairman of the managing board  at GHM Gesellschaft für Handwerksmessen mbH. "Our concept of what is  relevant to wood is somewhat narrower than at other trade events. We  concentrate on those products that carpenters and wood workers really need.  For this reason, you will not find such things as metal fixtures for furniture,  veneers, or surface coatings such as paints, varnishes and wood stains in the  profile of the ROOF+TIMBER International." All in all, more than 450  exhibitors1 are expected at the ROOF+TIMBER International, which will be of  interest not only to carpenters but also to roofers and metal roofers.
Prestigious companies in the field of timber construction who will be present at  the event include Ante, Binder Holz, Hundegger, Haas Fertigbau, Holzwerke  Ladenburger, Klenk Holz, KLH Massivholz GmbH, Kronoply, Merk Timber  GmbH, Pfeifer Group and Stephan Holzbau.  Wood for roofs and facades  The product depth relating to the theme of building extra storeys will reflect its  increased importance at the 2014 event. The wood construction systems on  display at the ROOF+TIMBER International are suitable for a wide area of  applications, thanks to their high level of sturdiness combined with low weight.

These range from replacing roof trusses and raising knee walls to creating a  multiple storey, overarching structure beneath which the existing building  functions as nothing more than a base. The use of wood in horizontal and  vertical extensions of existing buildings frequently necessitates modernisation  of the existing inadequate facades.
Further information about facade cladding – knowledge of which is just as  important to carpenters and woodworkers as such things as roofing materials  and lighting – of interest to wood specialists is also available at the Facade  Forum (Hall 9), whose themes include rear-ventilated facades. In addition to  the structural-physical characteristics of the facade elements, a central theme  of the daily presentations will be the structural join between the supporting  outside wall and the facade cladding, i.e. the substructure. The specialists at  the forum will receive comprehensive information about the various materials  available and the particular advantages that wood offers for substructures.

¹An updated list of exhibitors will be available online from the end of November.

Wooden facades also play an important role at the Architects Day (Thursday,  20 February 2014). Among other things, Prof. Maximilian Rimmel will present  the 'Interims Audimax' (Garching by Munich), which was designed by his  bureau, whose facade displays a silver-anthracite shimmer that varies in  intensity depending on the incidence of the light. What is special about this  timber-skeleton university building is also its sawn-edge, black-stained  rhomboid formwork made from spruce, that gives the outer shell its corrugated  appearance.
Rimmel is only one of several speakers who will be taking part in the  Architects Day, whose motto is 'wood to the power of three'. Other renowned  architects from home and abroad will also be speaking about their timber  building designs. For example, Prof. Rossi Prodi from Italy will present his four  wooden nine-storey buildings in the Via Cenni (Milan), and the Swiss Martin Antemann (Blumer Lehmann) will be talking about the buildings he designed together with the architect Shigeru Ban (e.g. the Tamedia administrative building). All presentations will be translated simultaneously to German or  English.
More news from the roof and timber industry is available now for anyone who  would like additional information. Moreover, our new Twitter-Account account:  www.twitter.com/dachundholz presents all the latest information about the  exhibition.

Press contact:
Dr Patrik Hof, Head of Press and Public Relations
P +49 (0)89 949 55-161
F +49 (0)89 949 55-169
hof@ghm.de
www.dach-holz.de