From waste wood to load-bearing feature, a simple calculation could change the way we use 'misfit wood'

Urging industry to make better use of wood that is wasted or burned for energy, researchers have released the first structural tests of non-straight, forked, and double-curved roundwood logs used as columns. In his mission to normalize the use of “misfit wood,” Aalto University architect and researcher Jaakko Torvinen has shown how standard, business-as-usual calculation methods can predict load-bearing capacity for organically shaped logs.