Wood is becoming a decorative trend and one of the most admired materials by architects. Why? In this post we tell you.
Nordic, classic, oriental or rustic design has been a trend this in the world of interior design. But can you tell us what these four styles have in common? The answer lies in the material that predominates in all of them: wood.
A material that has become the king of decoration because it is organic, aesthetic, very resistant, easy to combine and thermal as it helps to naturally warm the rooms in which it is placed.
In this post we are willing to tell you about the revolution of this element not only in the ornamentation of interior designs, but also in the architecture and exterior design.
Wood in interior design
Nowadays it is very difficult to find an interior designer who does not bet on wood as an outstanding material in his installations. You only have to look at Instagram or Pinterest, the two most visual social networks in existence, to discover the style of decoration you are wearing.
Natural materials are the absolute protagonists: wood in light shades such as maple or pine combines with both parquet floors and furniture lacquered in neutral colours such as white, beige or grey. This is the so-called Nordic style and it is hitting hard in interior design.
So much so, that it is already starting to opt for walls covered by wooden boards that provide a natural inspiration and bring nature inside homes, offices and shops.
The rustic style, although it also has wood as its protagonist, combines it in another way and gives it different uses. In the rustic decoration, noble woods prevail, aged, combined with vintage elements such as tools of yesteryear and with stone walls.
Of course, the predominant tones are dark browns or ochre tones since we are in front of another type of wood such as teak or oak that tries to evoke a country atmosphere without leaving home.
But if the Nordic or rustic style is not your thing, you can always bet on the Oriental style, a trend that is gaining strength in the national interior design to create calm and relaxing environments in an increasingly stressed society.
Coming home and feeling like a place of tranquility is possible by adding decorative elements such as wood in natural and white tones combined with other soft tones such as lavender or mint green. Candles and incense will do the rest to create a Zen atmosphere.
The classic style also has wood as a protagonist and, although it seems an outdated style, nothing is further from the truth. It will return and it will do so with more strength by combining fine wood furniture that reflects opulence with marble floors, plaster ceilings and leather or fabric upholstery.
This style shows us that wood has always been in fashion, only now it has been reinvented and adapted to new environments and a younger public.
Wood in outdoor design
A chapel built entirely of wood was revolutionizing the architectural sector. It is Helsinki’s Chapel of Silence or Kamppi Chapel of Silence. Its 11.5 meters high and its 270 square meters all made of wood from different trees, have made this chapel a tourist attraction that is already capable of attracting attention from the outside.
The internal walls of the chapel are made of thick, oiled alder wood planks, the furniture is also made of solid wood and, finally, the extraordinary facade is built with spruce wood planks, sawn horizontally and joined together, and treated with a mixture of tar and linseed oil. It’s like finding a giant tree trunk in the middle of an urban square in the centre of the Finnish capital.
Perhaps this architectural project was already a visionary project four years ago and we are not talking about it setting a precedent in current constructions, but that it could have done so in buildings designed for the future.
It seems crazy to talk about skyscrapers built with wood and an Allen key but some architects like Michael Green, who became a guru of solid wood, have already talked about it in different talks about architecture.
Although Canada and Austria were the pioneers in building with wood, they only did so in single-family homes and small buildings, but not in large skyscrapers. However, it seems unrealistic to discover that the record for the tallest wooden building in the world is held by the Yingxian Pagoda (67 meters high), built no less than 960 years ago without a single nail.
The human being follows the race to build higher and higher skyscrapers but this time the race is declining to do it in the most sustainable way. There is still much to be discovered because the resistance of wood to fire and the capacity of the planet to generate so much wood without ending up in a dramatic and complete deforestation is still in doubt.
For the moment, without such high aspirations, we can incorporate this material into our lives by going to our nearest furniture store, choosing the wood that best suits our living room and following the interior design advice that we have offered in this post.