Use of Flat Interwoven Wooden Strips in Architecture and Construction. Simulation and Optimization Using 3D Digital Models

This research aims to promote the use of natural materials in construction. Its purpose is to rediscover the interlacing of flat wooden strips. Attending to environmental criteria, it focuses on the study of wood from a locally produced tree, the chestnut, in the north of Spain. However, the proposed methodology can be universally replicated with local wood productions anywhere. The interweaving of flat wooden strips is linked to traditional basketry, which is at serious risk of disappearing in many places. A combined method based on the design of interlaced artifacts is proposed. For this purpose, the mechanical characteristics of the specific material tested were analyzed in advance. The elastic limit of the material was obtained, and this allowed simulating and optimizing the maximum curvatures of the flat strips in a 3D digital model. New geometric shapes were designed with new interlacing wefts and were built with the tested material. The digital models used serve as a record of the artifacts built, and can be posted on web platforms so that they can be universally replicated. This will allow for the preservation of this heritage of built artifacts using basketry techniques, enabling the proposed objective to be achieved.