Wood as the essential building material for the 21st century - ecologically, economically and technologically. Wood is the building material of the 21st century. Understanding this material and its potential requires us to recognise its ecological, technological and cultural-historical contexts. Touch Wood explores this potential, with inspiring examples - both practical and visionary - from the US, Japan, Austria, Norway, Switzerland and elsewhere. Aimed at an engaged audience of both experts and laypersons who aspire to enrich their experiences with knowledge and thus become actors in the promotion of wood in architecture, this book documents various exemplary buildings in accessible texts and with numerous illustrations. Touch Wood also illuminates the many relationships that connect people with wood as a material. Authors from various disciplines supply a framework in which wood can be experienced sensually and its possibilities and limitations can be discussed. AUTHORS: Steve Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University. Philip Ursprung is a professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland; in 2020 he was a visiting professor at Cornell University. Carla Ferrer is a cofounder of ITER, a design practice based in Milan, and a graduate of Harvard University Graduate School of Design. SELLING POINTS: . The relationship between man and wood as a multifaceted experience . Exemplary projects from wood processing and building aesthetics are discussed in an international context 290 illustrations