Conceived as both a research project and a teaching platform, TerraTimber challenges the linear model of extract, build and discard by proposing a circular, regenerative alternative. Designed to adapt to diverse contexts, the prototype relies on minimal technology and uses locally sourced materials. Its methods can be transferred to low-resource settings, offering affordable, energy-efficient building systems that support local economies and skill development.

The design team follows a bottom-up approach, allowing the architecture to emerge from the available materials. Each reclaimed timber element is scanned so its size, curvature and imperfections inform the design. This material-driven process produces architecture that is contextually grounded and inherently unique. Automation is used not to erase irregularities but to work with them, preserving the individuality of each timber piece while enabling precision and scalability. The result is a construction language that celebrates both imperfection and exactness.

The hybrid system combines digital logic with manual craftsmanship, creating a layered sensory experience where texture, light and acoustics deepen spatial perception. It embodies an honest architecture – one that reveals how it is made. Material logic and structural form become intertwined, yielding a spatial and aesthetic quality that is both technically refined and ecologically sensitive.

TerraTimber functions as an adaptable prototype. Its modular structure can be scaled or reconfigured for different programs and user needs – from pavilions and classrooms to small housing units. It demonstrates how local materials and simple digital tools can enable flexible, low-carbon construction responsive to place and context.

At its core lies an innovative hybrid of wood and earth. Waste timber is 3D scanned to optimize its use in structural assemblies. Combined with earth, it forms a composite that relies on friction and geometric interlocking for strength and stability. Earth serves as both structural filler and thermal buffer, regulating temperature and humidity while remaining repairable and reusable. All connections use wooden nails, allowing the building to be disassembled and recycled without waste. This glue-free, demountable construction ensures full material recovery at the end of its life.

TerraTimber places ecological responsibility at the centre of its design. It demonstrates circularity through material efficiency, low carbon emissions and adaptability. By reusing leftover and rejected wood, the team extends carbon sequestration and reduces reliance on virgin resources, helping preserve increasingly scarce softwood forests.

The project’s social dimension is equally important. Students were involved in every stage – from research and prototyping to hands-on construction – turning the project into an educational tool for future architects. Participants learned how digital tools can amplify, rather than replace, craftsmanship. TerraTimber also challenges perceptions of waste materials, showing how irregularity can become a source of architectural beauty and identity. By combining design, research and education, it demonstrates how academia can contribute directly to the transition to a circular economy.