Interweaving Material and Immaterial Wood Crafting Processes in the City of Zurich

This work began with an attempt to understand how the process of transforming wood in the architecture of the city of Zurich has evolved over time, what communities, institutions and cultures have emerged around it, and how knowledge and attitudes related to wood have been passed on across generations.
Through literature and archival research, a material and immaterial common-pool resource and four case studies in the city of Zurich could be defined to narrow down these investigations to the following research question: To what extent can contemporary wood crafting processes in the city of Zurich contribute to its common habitat?
To answer this question, the work compares material and immaterial wood crafting logics in the city of Zurich based on two case studies spanning a period from pre-industrial guilds to the present day and, in doing so, tries to identify and understand moments of commonality in them.
Based on the results of this research, an attempt is made to design an institution that interweaves material and immaterial wood craft processes in the city of Zurich, oscillating between the medieval guild and the contemporary Jugendhaus Dynamo. The considerations of the work are directed to the commoners, woodworkers, DIYers and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and examine the way they use the defined material and immaterial common-pool resources.