Architect and biologist Timothée Boitouzet has used nanotechnology to give wood an upgrade. The new material “Woodoo” is translucent, fire-resistant, weatherproof and up to five times stronger than normal wood.
Woodoo founder and CEO Timothée Boitouzet originally studied to become an architect. He started his career working for several famous architectural firms. Among other things, he worked on Stamford Bridge, the Longchamp Racecourse in Paris and the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne.
At the deep-tech startup Woodoo founded in 2016, Boitouzet has developed a nanotechnological process that lends wood new characteristics as a building material. “Wood is between 60% and 90% air,” the company founder explains. The lignins in the wood cell walls are responsible for creating rigidity. His patented process removes this biomolecule from the wood together with the air, and replaces it with a biobased polymer.
Up to five times stronger than wood
This retains the structure and grain of the wood, but the result is an entirely new material with its own characteristics. The most obvious of these is its translucency. Describing his product, the architect remarks that it is similar to looking through ice. It is also fire-resident, waterproof and three to five times stronger than the original material.
In other words, it is wood with superpowers. Boitouzet wants to use this new building material for the carbon-neutral cities of tomorrow. The architect is convinced that high-rises with up to 36 storeys can be built with the augmented wood. It may be some time before that happens, though. The Woodoo CEO is initially planning to launch his products on the market through the automobile industry. “Our first products will be dashboards and smart wood panelling. Like a touch-sensitive dashboard that becomes interactive.”
