Michael Green

The world is used to utilizing four main building materials: concrete, steel, bricks, and wood. Three of them have a huge carbon imprint, and construction as a whole generates over 30% of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. Canadian architect Michael Green, winner of some of the most prestigious international awards in architecture, chooses the fourth material – wood – to build functional and beautiful buildings that defy the way of thinking about architecture. In an interview at the Festival of the New European Bauhaus, Green said that if we had known a century ago how bad concrete and steel were going to be for climate change, we would have thought about new materials with a better understanding of natural materials and their potential. “Where I live, trees grow to be 30-40 metres tall. If a tree can grow to 30-40 metres, then surely we can learn from nature to make very strong and tall buildings,” he added.