The evolution from Homo Sapiens to Homo Architectus was possible thanks to forests. In forests, architecture was born; to forests, it must return. It is time for Homo Architectus to evolve into Homo Arboreus.

Thomas Allocca

Homo Arboreus

Whether global warming is attributed to a natural phenomenon or human pollution, we need to evolve the concept of "sustainable development" to "tree-centric development." If we want to reduce energy consumption and the consequent greenhouse effect from carbon dioxide emissions, we must plant as many trees as possible, and we must increase the permeable surface of towns with gardens and parks. We need to return to a wood-based global economy as in the Middle Ages. We must bring wood-based building systems back to guide architecture, leading the old Homo Sapiens that became Homo Architectus to evolve now into Homo Arboreus. Distracted and interrupted by the "age of concrete and plastic", the most original architecture must rescue its nature as the main actor and director of the age of connection: connection with natural cycles and energy balances; connection with the sense of the limit, which means that we must stop of considering everything is possible as also needed.

Mission

Our mission is to produce high-quality architecture, taking care to details in meticolous way, according to the concept of luxury as synonym of high standards of objective harmony and spiritual beauty. We do it blending and reinterpreting Italian elegance, Celtic spirituality, and Viking technical solutions, guided by the craving of stimulating horizontal perspectives and vertical ambitions of beauty.

Design Principles

1.  Wood    Compared to any other building technology, wood-based systems can ensure the highest technical and ecological performance, with applications in enhancing seismic, wind and fire resistance, reducing SBS (Sick Building Syndrome) with higher indoor quality of life and health, lowering of energy costs during the whole life cycle of the building, which means the stages of construction, usage, maintenance, and final demolition.

2.  Massive Timber    Compared to laminated timber, massive timber is superior in terms of both energy consumption and technical performance. Glue-based technology applied to timber can undoubtedly be considered a better alternative to steel and concrete, but it is not necessarily the best solution solely because it involves timber. In our projects, we consider massive timber as a "conditio sine qua non", and only when it is not feasible, the choice goes to CLT (cross laminated timber). Concrete and steel are present in our projects only when they are required by the building regulations.

3.  Energy Resilience    Energy costs are a significantly underestimated topic in architecture. Despite the clear encouragment by the United Nations to adopt building solutions capable to solve the problem at the source, i.e. reducing the need for energy, the market appears to persist in investing in high-tech solutions with mechanical systems that require energy themselves, i.e. trying to solve the problem afterward, retrofitting mistakes of outdated design concepts. White Oak Arkitecture aligns with the United Nations and is wholly dedicated to design solutions that naturally ensure warm and cool requiring minimal energy, both in winter and summer. We make it possible reducing thermal bridges almost to zero, with energy resilient floors, walls, and roofs, all of them designed with different layering and thickness, according to latitude and sun exposure.

4.  Carbon Footprint    As a direct consequence of applying the first three design principles, our projects have the minimum carbon footprint.