Bringing back the value of wooden materials on the local scene!

The “Knock on Wood” project intends to show the value which wooden architecture contributes to the quality of life in cities. We intend to do this by building a temporary wooden pavilion in Belgrade.

Be part of the most influential architecture event in the region!

“Knock on wood” was a part of the programme of the 9th Belgrade International Architecture Week - BINA 2014 festival in Belgrade, Serbia, that was held from 8th to 31st of May 2014 with the theme «Spaces of Publicness».

Belgrade International Architecture Week (BINA) is a non-for-profit organization of architecture and design professionals and enthusiasts involved in the production of various trans-cultural projects dedicated to the development of design, architecture and communication.

9th Belgrade International Architecture Week - BINA 2014 cover

The Belgrade International Architecture Week – BINA is a project by the Association of Belgrade Architects held annually since 2006.

Temprorary wooden pavilion

The pavilion will be a wooden structure promoting innovative, sustainable and environmentally friendly wooden architecture and will serve as a workshop, lecture and exhibition hall for architecture students and everyone in need of a space for creative work. The pavilion area is approx. 60m2 in one level.

The pavilion was designed within the student workshop held at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade in December 2013. The workshop was guided by Brendeland & Kristoffersen architects from Trondheim, Norway.

This is a collaborative project between the Association of Belgrade Architects, the Faculty of Architecture of Belgrade and the University of Arts, Belgrade.

The pavilion will be constructed by students and local building companies and will be supervised by the BINA team andthe local building company. The location of the pavilion is in the courtyard of the University of Arts, Faculty of Painting.

Pavilion location - Faculty of Architecture courtyard - the first day of the student workshop

Student workshop, Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, Geir Brendeland and David Grandorge with the students, December 2013

Pavilion location, University of Arts, Belgrade

The relevance of 1:1 built projects and student participants in such environments:

“For architecture students in general there are very few possibilities of realizing any built work. The real life experience of joining together physical material to manifest an architectural space is therefore a source of immense satisfaction and an ultimate learning situation. Our experience is also that real life built projects can generate an incredible sense of optimism. The act of building a real project seems like an insurmountable barrier for most students. By breaking this barrier, students are then often spurred on to generate further projects. And to a larger degree involve them selves in other community projects. An example is NTNU in Trondheim which have consistently offered the students the possibility to build 1:1 and have seen their students go on to generate a string of highly relevant architectural works, most notably in third world countries. The project will also offer a strong improvement of the present study conditions. The new space will be a place to meet, to improvise and to build."

Geir Brendeland & Olav Kristoffersen

In May 2014 we held an international conference on WOOD ARCHITECTURE whith main participants coming from Nordic countries due to their strong tradition and experience in the use of wood and timber in construction, architecture and design.

Geir Brendeland at the "Knock on Wood" conference, Belgrade, May 2014

Help us build a wooden pavilion!

Construction started on July 20th 2014, at the University of Arts, the courtyard of the Faculty of painting, Mila Milunovica 1, Belgrade. The construction is planned to be completed in 3-4 weeks, and the pavilion opening is scheduled for September 2014.

From September 2014 the pavilion will be used for various programs directed mainly at the students, organized by the University of Arts, BINA and all others interested in taking part in this project. We will keep you updated on all the events scheduled in the pavilion for 2014/2015.

Here are some pictures from the construction site and of the construction development in the past week :