For the twelfth time, the Estonian Woodhouse Association has selected the best graduation theses in the field of factory-produced prefabricated timber buildings.
This year’s winning entry in the timber construction research competition is EKA student Joosep Pärn’s master’s thesis, “From Topology to Typology – Utilizing Non-standard Natural Wood for Architecture through Digital Fabrication.” The thesis explores whether the potential of natural timber—with its branching limbs and irregular forms—could be utilised in architecture rather than artificially imitated. As a solution, the thesis proposes a method in which branching pieces of timber are cut at different angles to create uniform elements, with precise fitting ensured through 3D scanning and 3D-printed connection components. The result is a building prototype based on natural timber—a library with office spaces and a workshop.
The thesis was supervised by Martin Melioranski, Ingmar Melioranski, and Eik Hermann.
The Estonian Woodhouse Association’s evaluation committee praised the originality and international potential of the thesis. “It opens up new perspectives for the sector on the use of timber and creates opportunities for shaping future directions,” commented evaluation committee member Elar Vilt on the award-winning thesis.
You can find all the award-winning projects on the Woodhouse Estonia website.
Through this award competition, Woodhouse Estonia contributes to promoting broad-based cooperation between companies in the sector and higher education institutions, while encouraging young students to conduct research specifically on timber construction and industrialised production and building methods. The awards were first presented in 2015, and students from all Estonian higher education institutions may participate at bachelor’s, master’s, and professional higher education levels. The student’s graduation thesis must either address a current challenge related to the production, development, marketing, or another aspect of prefabricated buildings, or provide significant added value to the Estonian timber construction sector.