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by Sean Hill on May 22, 2025
In a quiet lab in Kyoto, a group of scientists are shaping the future – and they're doing it with wood.
But not the kind you'd expect.
This isn’t the timber you chop down or the kind you sand and stain. It’s engineered. Reimagined. Built from the smallest building blocks of nature and strengthened through ingenuity. And it just might be one of the most exciting materials for architecture, design, and construction in decades.
Cellulose nanofibre material under microscope: nature’s answer to steel in the race toward sustainable, lightweight architecture. Image: KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
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Stronger Than Steel, Lighter Than Imagination
At the heart of this transformation is the cellulose nanofibre (CNF). Extracted from waste like wood pulp or straw, these plant-based fibers are broken down to the nanoscale and then reassembled into something extraordinary: a material five times stronger than steel by weight, and 80% lighter.
This is not about nostalgia for wooden planes or quaint cabins. It’s about a new class of material with radical performance potential.
One that could eventually replace metal in everything from cars to furniture – even buildings.
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Why This Matters to Us
At RISE Design Studio, we’re always looking for materials that don’t just perform, but transform – our buildings, our industry, and our relationship with the planet. CNFs are made from biomass that sequesters carbon. They’re renewable, biodegradable, and produced through low-energy processes.
It’s the kind of material that asks not just what if, but why not?
→ Why not challenge the carbon-heavy status quo of steel and aluminium?
→ Why not build bridges and buildings that give back more than they take?
→ Why not think lighter, stronger, and smarter?
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What We’re Learning from Japan
In collaboration with car manufacturers, researchers in Japan are testing these nanofibres in auto parts. Why? Because electric vehicles rely on heavy batteries, and weight is a limiting factor. Lighter structures mean longer ranges, fewer batteries, and less environmental cost. The same logic applies to buildings.
Lighter materials don’t just reduce embodied carbon - they open doors to faster, more adaptable construction. If you're designing a retrofit in a tight urban site or assembling off-site components in a modular housing scheme, weight matters. Every kilogram counts.
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The Art of Densifying Nature
At Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, another breakthrough: a way to ‘densify’ wood fibres into a structure stiffer than spider silk - previously considered nature’s strongest. By aligning the nanofibres and compacting them into solid form, they’ve created a material that could rival even carbon composites.
But unlike carbon fibre, CNF doesn’t need petrochemicals. It comes from nature, returns to nature, and performs with brilliance in between.
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A Material With Legacy
It reminds us of something we often say when working with heritage buildings: the old ways still have something to teach us. But it’s what we do with that wisdom today that defines tomorrow.
There’s poetry in the fact that the material of the future comes from the forests of the past. And that through human creativity, we can push that raw material to perform like never before - for aircraft, for architecture, for generations to come.
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Beyond the Lab, Into the Studio
The commercial application is still emerging. The costs are high. The supply chains aren’t built yet. But then again, every breakthrough starts as a question mark.
At RISE, we don’t just follow trends - we study the horizon. We get excited by innovations that align with our values: low carbon, high integrity, beautiful in spirit and form. Whether it’s repurposing brick in a retrofit or trialling future-forward composites in a pavilion, we’re always testing how architecture can do more with less.
The goal is not just to reduce. It’s to reimagine.
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From Forest Floor to Skyline
This new super wood isn’t a gimmick. It’s a story about what happens when science, sustainability, and design ambition collide.
We believe that the next generation of architecture will be written not in concrete and glass, but in materials that work with nature, not against it.
Cellulose nanofibre might still be in its infancy, but like all great ideas, it’s rooted in possibility.
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Building materials are changing. Are we ready to build a different future?
→ Let’s start the conversation: architects@risedesignstudio.co.uk
→ Or call the studio on 020 3947 5886
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