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The study found that exposure to wooden panels significantly decreased the blood pressure of subjects, whilst exposure to steel panels significantly increased it.
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Although wood has ancient roots and has been used in every culture in the world from before the Stone Age it is experiencing a revival in use. In part this is because of the newly discovered health and wellbeing benefits of exposure to wood, which produce similar effects to those created by spending time in nature.
Wooden furniture and funereal items have been found in the pyramids of Egypt and some structures built centuries ago are still standing today. These include the Horyuji temple in Japan built in 700 CE, Greensted Church in England built in 1053 CE and Westminster Hall in London built in 1399 CE.
Figure 1. (a) Murray River Cypress-pine (b) Bunya pine (c) Alpine ash (d) Australian blackwood /// Horyuji Temple, Japan
Although wood has ancient roots it is experiencing a revival in use. Wood is one of the oldest materials used by humans, including its use as a building material. ... including species, geographic area where the tree grew, growth conditions, size of the tree at harvest, sawing and other manufacturing processes.
Make it Wood
Wood comes from trees and is a natural, renewable resource, with no two pieces being the same. Its uniqueness is due to the final appearance of wood being dependent on a number of variables, ... Naturally Better. program. The research and report writing was undertaken by Planet Ark staff member Amanda Cameron, with advice, research and editing assistance by Brad Gray, Sean O’Malley, Chris Philpot and Sara McGregor.
1003 Australians aged 14-64 years old and nationally representative in terms of age, gender and location were surveyed online.
Acknowledgements Planet Ark’s Make It Wood program has developed this report with support from Forest and Wood Products Australia’s Wood. and conducted by research consultancy Pollinate in September 2014 on the current opinions and attitudes of Australians towards wood along with their exposure to it at home, work and school.
About This Report
The aim of this report is to examine current literature and empirical studies assessing the benefits of using wood in an indoor environment. The report will also present and discuss the results of a survey commissioned by Planet Ark ... Since evidence shows viewing nature in both outdoor and indoor settings has health and wellbeing benefits for people, it is logical to examine whether wood, a natural material, produces similar effects.
EBD works on the notion that the design of the built environment fundamentally impacts the people within it. Of particular interest are designs of physical features that can lead to stress-reduction, productivity and general wellbeing.
Evidence-based design (EBD) is an area of study that focuses on incorporating the results of empirical research into the quality of the built environment. Originating from the field of environmental psychology, ...
Not surprisingly the presence of indoor plants has also been shown to have benefits, such as improved cognitive functioning in office environments, increased tolerance of pain in hospital and lowered blood pressure and heart rate.
Studies have demonstrated that simply having a view of nature from a window can have significant positive effects, such as shorter postoperative hospital stays, induced feelings of relaxation in patients at rehabilitation centres and improved comfort levels of employees in offices.
As it is not always possible to increase our time spent outside, particularly in areas like workplaces, schools and hospitals, understanding how to incorporate the physiological and psychological benefits of nature into our indoor environments is an increasingly important area of research.
The knowledge gained through the building process is currently being further developed. The aim is that in future projects the staircase core will also be made of wood. It is also hoped that the floor and ceiling elements can be developed in order to achieve larger spans and lower construction costs.
This has resulted in a system component that brings sustainability, fire safety, and favourable energy properties together in synergy, while maintaining the strict single-material approach. This saves resources while ensuring a high level of efficiency.
This split up the partitioning required for fire spread into several sections.
The load-bearing wall components were optimized so as to comply with all of the requirements. New construction principles were established for the façades, and these also comply with fire safety requirements without detriment to the single-material nature of the construction: the façades were developed with ventilated cavities in small-scale sections.
This was the first time that an unencapsulated, solid timber construction has been implemented for a class 4 building. Experts advised on the heating system design, burn-up approach and risk assessment of fire loads and smoke build-up.
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