the forest,
the tree,
the 2×6
Travel down any road in Alabama, and you will inevitably find a pine tree or two. This has been true for centuries, though that tree and that forest have been transformed several times over the course of the last several hundred years. When European settlers arrived to this continent, the pine savanna – sparse pines with a blanket of biodiverse grasses and forbs and absent a mid-story – dominated the southern landscape, and the coastal plain in particular. Since then, the tree and the forest have been shaped and shuffled by economy and industry: turpentine, then timber. Today, when we look see the Alabama forest, we see most a patchwork of pines grown and managed for commercial timber production: poles, 2×4’s, pulpwood, etc. Though in many ways reminiscent of historic forest forms like the savanna, these plantations are artificial, their rhythms governed by a set of anthropogenic processes related to optimized planting, growing and harvesting of timber.
In the last several decades, mass timber has emerged as a new and compelling timber based building technology. Architects, engineers, foresters and builders pronounce it the way of the future. The material checks many boxes: it is strong,
very point: emerging mass timber technology, and its accompanying industry, stands to transform the southern forest once again. As nearly 70% of land in Alabama is currently growing timber, the growing market for mass timber derivatives – cross laminated timber and glue laminated timber the most popular amongst them -.will inevitably have far-reaching implications for the landscapes around us and the living beings who inhabit them.
The Auburn Mass Timber Collaborative (AMTC) currently produces timber related scholarship across the disciplines of architecture, forestry, building science and engineering, each of which have clear and distinct roles within the larger group. Landscape Architecture has clear potential to build out a missing component of the collaborative, one which works to understand the potential ecological, social and cultural implications of timber production in the state. As part of this collaborative effort, this studio will interrogate the forest not as a machine which produces an optimized product for some end-use, but as a designed landscape capable of holding a variety of values – economic, aesthetic, ecological, cultural and social.
THE PINES
The story begins with two pine species, native and endemic to the American Southeast: Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) and Lobloly Pine (Pinus taeda). These trees are entwined with centuries of history and culture in Alabama.
WHY ALABAMA?
The Alabama landscape was once covered in sparse longlaf pines and a blaket of thick, biodiverse grasses. Today, much of that landscape has been re-organized to produce timber. As nearly 70% of land in Alabama is currently growing timber, the growing market for mass timber derivatives – cross laminated timber and glue laminated timber the most popular amongst them – will inevitably have far-reaching implications for the landscapes around us and the living beings who inhabit them.
WHAT MAKES THE FOREST?
The forested forms present in the landscape today result from growing and managing trees for timber. Though in many ways reminiscent of historic forest forms like the savanna, pine plantations are artificial, their rhythms governed by a set of anthropogenic processes related to optimized planting, growing and harvesting of timber.
WHO MAKES THE FOREST?
In Alabama, 70% of plantation forests are privately owned. These owners, ranging from the small landowner to large corporate timber investment corporations, make and manage the landscapes around us. The way the forest is made and managed is….
WHAT NEXT?
involved faculty
The design research lab of the Auburn University Landscape Architecture Programs