Ask the ash tree. Natural wood in living and working space

A parquet floor in the office, wooden panels on the walls in cozy home libraries and a massive board in the decoration of the decks of elegant yachts — all this requires certain properties, and all of them are found in wood. What makes it indispensable and why are we in the XXI century. still haven't found material capable of evoking as many emotions? PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA spoke with Denys Velychko, CEO of the Listelli company, and the author of the Listelli showroom project, architect Anna Kaplonskaya (MONO Architects), about the ways and subtleties of using wood in living and working spaces.

PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: In our time, a completely new paradigm of office space is emerging. Openspace as a concept is gradually coming to life, which is especially noticeable in Western countries. I would like to understand in which direction we are moving. What do you say about this?

Anna Kaplonskaya: Openspace is an extremely inconvenient thing. Noise, people disturb each other, and even all kinds of booths for autonomous work and soundproof partitions do not save. All the same, we come to the fact that the leader and his team want to sit in separate closed cells.

Denis Velychko, CEO of the Listelli company

PM: Moreover, in relation to the modern office, there is such a concept as living sensibility — bringing the feeling of home comfort into the office space. Today, you can no longer lure a high-level employee only with a high salary or a standard set of bonuses, especially when it comes to such large companies as, say, Google or Facebook.

A.K.: We in Ukraine have not yet reached this level, but the change in the trend is noticeable here as well. Especially on the example of IT companies, where employees, in addition to the standard social package, are offered free parking, medical insurance, children's rooms, and even spaces for pets.

Anna Kaplonskaya, architect, MONO Architects

PM: The design of the workspace also plays a certain role in this process. An impressive example is the headquarters of the Apple company - the famous Apple Park in the USA, designed by Norman Foster, in which, among other things, a lot of natural wood is used.

D.V.: In the process of working on the office, we also tried to introduce wood into the space, which creates a feeling of warmth. It is the tree that has characteristics that have a beneficial effect on the indoor microclimate. In the interiors of apartments, attention is still paid to such moments, but in offices they usually try to paint all surfaces, make a poured floor or simply use floor coverings - thus, nothing remains that would give a breath of fresh air. But we spend 80-90% of our time at work.

Parquet board Mafi LARCH Vulcano is made of heat-treated larch. The surface is brushed, the top coating is natural oil

By the way, the Austrian company Mafi is Norman Foster's favorite parquet factory. So, her flagship office is completely covered with wood. The space is divided into zones, each of which is designed for six people, with tables separated by noise-insulating gratings, and soundproofing on the walls. There, they even equipped two 30-meter recreation rooms, also decorated with wood, where employees can also get psychological relief. And all this was realized not by an industrial giant, but by a small niche factory, where only 30 people work, and even less in the office. By the way, two dogs live there.

Everyone wants to create a warm, cozy atmosphere in their home, which, in fact, is what a tree provides

Konstantin Kovshevatsky (PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA), Anna Kaplonskaya (MONO Architects), Denis Velichko (Listelli)

PM: Wood is perhaps the oldest material used by man. And, probably, that is why it is often associated with "heavy luxury" - boisettes, hand-carved furniture. What do you think the use of wood gives to a modern interior? After all, there are many new materials with similar and even superior properties. And nevertheless, architects return precisely to wood.

D.V.: First, no one has yet replicated the properties of wood. It gives special energy and warmth, creates a certain climate in the interior in terms of humidity and temperature. But in addition, a person is connected with nature a priori, despite the rapid growth of technologies. Natural design is better suited to the human organism: it is more pleasant to be in its environment, to work, to live. Therefore, no artificial material can replace a tree. If you look at what technology has given the woodworking industry over the last half century, it is, for example, an opportunity to produce large formats that are cleaner in selection, and take them out into the open space, on the facades. In addition, there was never such a rich palette of wood shades before. For example, even 100 years ago, two dozen flowers were conditionally offered. But the last 5 years, in my opinion, demonstrate the trend of returning to natural shades.

For vertical surfaces, the Mafi factory offers a board with a thickness of 11 mm, which significantly reduces weight and load. In the photo, the walls and doors are lined with Tiger OAK black parquet board

Exotic tree species, certainly popular some 8 years ago, are practically not used today: firstly, because there are few of them, and natural resources should be protected, and secondly, everything that needs to be transported from afar is extremely expensive. Today, using exotics is like wearing natural fur. Previously, there were entire companies that offered 30 types of such breeds in an array. Now the market demands oak, elm, American walnut - what grows, roughly speaking, in the garden. Of the exotics, Burmese teak with its characteristic orange or red color and Indonesian teak, which has a yellow shade, remained. Teak is not afraid of moisture, therefore it is used for finishing wet areas and building yachts.

Modern companies, with the exception of the mass market, that is, all niche factories, closely monitor the ecological balance. For example, there is very little Burmese teak, and an artificial plantation does not have such properties, since it grows into an adult tree in 30 years, it is cut down and it does not have time to acquire the necessary density. What will save teak forests from destruction is heat treatment, which has become a trend over the past 10 years. Oak or ash exposed to it become an alternative to precious teak: they cover facades, all kinds of terraces, bathrooms, and they are also much cheaper. The piles on which Venice stands are made of larch and oak. There are even collections of parquet made of this material, which is distinguished by its durability.

The Mafi factory manufactures steps and other interior elements according to the dimensions specified by the client

PM: Tell us about the most interesting project with the use of wood that you have implemented.

A.K.: Of course, this is a Listelli showroom. Since the company specializes in natural stone and parquet from European manufacturers, we divided the interior in half: in one part, marble is presented, in the second - wood and parquet. In the marble area, as much as possible, we used the products of Listelli brands, as well as in the wooden part: on the floor and on the walls here, for example, oak finish from the Mafi factory. In addition, three companies are also represented here - Foglie d'Oro, Listone Giordano and, again, Mafi, and the table at which we are sitting also demonstrates the special properties of solid wood.

PM: If we talk about residential interiors, are you often asked to make something in wood? Is it usually a representative space or a private one?

A.K.: Very often, of course. Everyone wants to create a warm, cozy atmosphere in their home, which, in fact, is what a tree provides. As a rule, it is a wooden board on the floor and panels on the walls, which add, among other things, a feeling of expensiveness: wood in the interior looks expensive and, in my opinion, definitely better than simply painted walls.

A popular solution is covering the interior elements with a natural wooden board BEECH Vulcano Fresco Rombo with a relief surface

PM: What about modern materials that are trying to replace wood? Manufacturers of the same ceramics, imitating its texture, assure that they surpass it in all respects, except for the aroma. In this case, what should be feared when working with wood?

A.K.: Wood is a living material. Under the influence of the sun, it fades, burns, and also wears and scratches during operation and depreciation loads. Wood is not eternal, and you can't hope that in 10 years your floor will look exactly the same as it does now. This should be understood. But there is a certain beauty in the fact that when you enter, say, a restaurant, you see an old wooden floor with all its scuffs, stains, and scratches, and you feel its natural, genuine energy.

PM: What would you not recommend doing with wood?

A.K.: For example, I would refuse internal furniture frames made of it. In this case, chipboard and MDF are more wear-resistant than the array. And I still wouldn't use it for countertops in wet areas — stone or marble is more suitable here.

We have cases where we used heat-treated arrays in shower cabins, and they have been in excellent condition for 10 years

PM: What do you need to do with wood to make it work in such areas?

D.V.: Apply either heat treatment or choose teak. We have real cases where we used heat-treated array in shower cabins in the form of panels, and they have been in excellent condition for 10 years.

PM: What does heat treatment give to wood in practice?

D.V.: The very structure of the tree changes, it becomes darker, harder, stronger, more resistant to the influence of the external environment, but on the condition that everything is done correctly. And it also acquires an interesting color. By the way, the trends of Milan (Milan furniture salon. — Approx. ed.) demonstrate the advantages of heat-treated wood of unusual shades. As for hardness, any tree with such treatment, even larch, which is initially soft, is sufficient for commercial use. The main thing is to do everything correctly. Europeans, for example, observe technology, but here we often do everything quickly to make money, and burn the tree, turning it into ashes.

We also have Mafi walnut on the floor and walls. Excellent operational properties - no dents, no scratches. At the same time, the floor is washed every day, and it has been lying for three years. Another shade is visible on the wall, although it is the same walnut. Any tree changes color under the influence of the sun.

Application of parquet board in areas with high humidity. The photo shows parquet board OAK Country Riva Mezzo

The wooden floor is practical. It's just that we are used to it being covered with varnish, its surface gets scratched and soon loses its appearance. And restoring the ego is a waste of time and money. But it also happens the other way. In our country, unfortunately, when building a new office, few people think about people. Much more important is the return on investment and income. When a person builds a business, and business is always about people, he thinks about how they will exist in this space. The same is true of IT companies - their managers understand that if they do not create attractive conditions for employees, they will simply go to their competitors. Somehow, in one of the projects, we made expensive walnut panels in the corridor, and all because the manager wanted his employees to feel good in this space. The owner himself must feel the need to take care of his employees, but, alas, there are few such examples.

Mafi makes the only parquet in the world that smells like wood

A board made of heat-treated wood can be used in the bathroom. It has an anti-slip surface, is pleasant for walking barefoot and fills the room with the natural aroma of wood. The photo shows a Mafi parquet board made of thermal oak OAK Vulcano

I myself simply cannot work in other conditions. If I come somewhere, to an apartment or an office, it is important to me that at least some piece of natural wood is present there. And I will definitely not stay in a hotel room with a laminate floor. I just won't have anything to breathe.

In America, the International WELL Building Institute (WELL) operates, which has developed appropriate standards for a healthy and comfortable human existence in a residential or office space, and any architect can undergo the certification procedure for his project according to these standards. There they say that a number of conditions must be met in modern construction. You should pay attention to water, air, lighting, and necessarily — the use of natural materials.

Denis Velychko, CEO of the Listelli company

PM: Why did you choose Mafi as one of the represented brands? What did she bribe you with?

D.V.: A unique approach to the product. Take, for example, environmental friendliness, although all the factories represented by us are such. For the top coating, Mafi uses exclusively natural oil based on linseed oil, the recipe of which was developed specifically for the manufacture. Film oils were once very popular, but now, for example, Italian factories have discontinued them due to poor technical characteristics. The issue was in recovery. It was believed that if such oil has dried out, then it is worth covering the board with it again - and that's it. At the same time, the wiped varnished surface must first be cycled and only then re-coated with varnish, and then wait for everything to dry. In practice, it turns out that, unlike varnish, the coating with the use of such oil has to be restored every hour.

The steps are sheathed with Mafi parquet board made of OAK Vulcano heat-treated oak

But let's see how the Austrians are doing with this. Mafi uses natural oils. They have a completely different philosophy. For example, they take wood on their site and do not buy raw materials anywhere else. And Mafi makes the only parquet that smells like wood. The board can breathe, freely absorb moisture and release it. Such parquet is often used in dental offices and even in restaurants where smoking is allowed: when it is washed in the morning, all this soot is washed away and not a trace of the smell remains. In addition, Mafi is a waste-free production. The entire village is heated with wood waste pellets. This is possible thanks to the exclusive oil impregnation and the use of only pure natural adhesive compounds. In our showroom, we conduct a kind of experiment with this parquet and observe how it behaves. Plus, Mafi in our space is a visual demonstration of the properties of wood for our customers, who can see first-hand how it works in real operation.

Natural material is better suited to the human organism: it is more pleasant to be in its environment, to work, to live

PM: Does Mafi still produce flexible panels?

D.V.: Yes, they make radius parquet panels. This is more like a service component, since due to their naturalistic philosophy, they, unlike Italian companies, are limited in color options, but they produce this type of parquet for interiors that have radii, columns, bay windows, etc.

Denis Velychko, CEO of the Listelli company

Today, using exotic wood species in the interior is like wearing natural fur

PM: And 3D-surfaces from Mafi - what is their function?

D.V.: First, it's beautiful (she smiles). The slogan of the company is Walk on Art. And these are innovations. For example, specialists of the Kreoo brand, which we talked about last time, strive to make marble airy, and Mafi offers "volumetric" parquet, the Listone Giordano brand invites Patricia Urquiola and Michele de Lucca to work on collections, Foglie d'Oro combines wood with natural stone. Mafi masters themselves say that 3D wood processing is not a way to stand out, but a real concern for you and me. We are offered to start walking barefoot at home again, experiencing the whole range of long-forgotten tactile sensations.

 

Interview: Konstantin Kovshevatsky