Hello Wood : Crafting Inspiring Milestones in Timber While Exploring Sustainable Design

Article by Pooja Wahane – We explore the incredible event that is Hello Wood , a hub of ideas, creativity and sustainable design practices coming together to offer a unique experience.  Has this question ever crossed your mind; how would it feel to see your crazy design ideas in reality, be it architectural or interior design? To create something tangible, which you thought was a no-win proposition. Well, Hello Wood is the answer! Hello Wood is an internationally-acclaimed award-winning summer program for designers with its studio based in Budapest, Hungary. It is a design platform cherished by many budding architects and the existing international minds in the field. Founded in 2010 as a creative camp for students who hail from various design principles, it focuses on creating design through intense team effort. It has been 6 years since and there is no stopping it at all.

It is curious to know that the material used in realizing the designs is only timber. Hello Wood believes in an amalgamation of art and design through means of experimentation which is entirely based on innovation and development. This helps with staying original and thus, contributes to bringing social impact at various levels through improving quality of life by means of architecture and design.

Hello Wood

Creating Ripples in the Field of Architecture

Hello Wood is best known for its main event, a week-long art camp which takes place every summer. It is all knowledge when gained through experience and they make sure you learn through experience. This program exposes the participants to an exclusive opportunity which gives hands-on training in the craft of building and inventing. Hundreds of students volunteer each year to enroll in this unique program.

The camp currently works with more than 20 universities from 30 countries. Volunteers from various backgrounds and fields are divided into teams lead by professionals practicing in the field. They together work on their ideas, shape their concepts and share their information. The creative approach pushes the limits by challenging the students and group leaders to create a new architecture. The resulting wooden structures make use of various formal types, drawing inspiration from the landscape and variety of architectural typologies. It encourages talent. It motivates the young creative minds to step out of their urban, modern, digital environment. The team also organized a junior art camp in 2013 in cooperation with Demo team, for kids and teenagers as well. The program also provides scholarships for the volunteers.

Timber as the Sole Material of Innovation

Hello Wood practices material constraints and enforces a time limit to execute an idea in reality. Timber, being economically available and exceptionally strong relative to its weight, is the ideal choice for this program. It is easily manageable, amenable to fabrication into an infinite variety of sizes and shapes using simple on-site building techniques.

Usually pine wood is used, but Bent wood is also a favorite. It basically depends on the needs of the project. Pine wood is a soft wood, light in weight and resistant to shrinking and swelling. It is mostly used in high-value carpentry works like furniture, window frames, roofs etc. Hello Wood believes in taking a green approach. Therefore, most of the materials used are recycled into the next project. Collaboration and Teamwork Leaves a Mark on History Hello Wood has been collaborating with the Sziget festival since 2011, one of the leading festival companies in Europe. Together, extraordinary sights are developed through principles of architecture, art and social impact. Hellowood won the 2015 A+Awards, Jury’s Choice, for the Architecture + Learning Category with Hello Wood International Architecture Camp. Recently, the team published their first book “HW 1_5”. This book summarizes the first five years of Hello Wood quite subjectively. Besides the installations and constructions, it presents those phenomena and processes that shaped the character, scale, goals and methods of this camp, and still do so today. Hello Wood’s second book “BUILDERS” is also out. It discuses socially-engaged architecture from Hungary.

Following are the 5 Promising Years of Most Lauded Installations Done by Hello Wood :

1. Project Village 2016:

In the second year of Hello Wood’s Project Village, architects reflected on the themes of arrival and settling. Participants were asked to construct a place of arrival, permanence, and connection. They explored the first architectural acts of settling, while debating current and historical precedents on the topic during the symposium and roundtable discussions, examining what subtle cues and territorial definitions make the roles of host and guest change or interchange.

2. Project Village 2015:

In 2015, Hello Wood worked on the concept of reversed urbanization. It was co-curated by Johanna Muszbek, architect and lecturer at the University of Liverpool, and by the team at Hello Wood. With a goal of redefining the concept of a village community, architects and students arrived from more than 30 countries to Hello Wood’s summer workshop to create an architectural experiment. A whole new village was created with a holistic approach and real-time master-planning which consisted of numerous installations. The major elements included those of a traditional village; community space, dwellings, a market, a school, a barn, and so on.

3. Charity Christmas tree installation in Budapest:

The “tree” form of this installation is primarily made from timber and the structure is filled with 33,000 pounds of stacked, sawn logs that will be distributed as firewood to families in need once the tree is taken down on Twelfth Night, after Christmas. It was created with the hope that it would become a symbol of the power of community-building during the Christmas holidays, and later on, 100% of the building material will be recycled. The tree reaches a height of 36 feet.

4. Balance, 2014:

A total of 14 installations played with balance at Hello Wood. The theme was “play with balance” in an attempt to question stability and equilibrium in architecture.

5. Step Closer:

Set in the countryside north of Lake Balaton, this year’s motto was “Step Closer”. Following a holistic design approach, designers focused on the senses, resulting in an intimate environment. We need more Hello Wood, to learn the basics from and the use of the interplay of ideas to create something extraordinary out of the ordinary, which stays for the long term. Hello Wood is a possibility for learning based on making. It is a great opportunity to break down the walls between different generations, to connect in ways that are beyond the walls of universities. Why not take the chance and learn something new in this ultra-digital modern world while keeping social impact in mind? Check out the Team’s dream work here

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Full Project Credits For Hello Wood :

Founders’ names: Péter Pozsár, András Huszár, and Dávid Ráday Firm name: Hello Wood Ltd. Location: Hello Wood,Budapest, lorinc papter 3,1088 Hungary Awards Won: A+Awards, Architecture + Learning Category Recommended Reading:

• Becoming an Urban Planner: A Guide to Careers in Planning and Urban Design by Michael Bayer
• Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature by Douglas Farrs
• eBooks by Landscape Architects Network

Article by Pooja Wahane

Published in Blog