Wood is nothing new. Builders have used the regenerative and flexible material for millennia to erect typologies ranging from neolithic longhouses to contemporary mountain cabins. Out of the Woods, a new book from Gestalten, celebrates the robust material through an illustrated glossary, essays, and an illuminating collection of structures that reimagine wood’s uses and lay the groundwork for building better in the future.

“We’re working in a continuous way,” says Austrian architect Sven Matt, whose firm Innauer-Matt Architekten works with local artisans and timbers to create buildings with a sense of place and history. “We’re not contesting the generations before us—we’re trying to develop the work that they started, trying to find the right way to shape its evolution.”

Though these homes and structures, Out of the Woods traces the trajectory of wood as a timeless building material whose potential has yet to be fully tapped.

A Crescent-Shaped Home in Chile

A Vertical Bath Concept by James Barber

A Balinese Wood-and Glass Retreat by German Designer Alexis Dornier

A Beachfront Home in Victoria, Australia

A Renovated Row House in Montreal

A Biophilic Interior in Kyoto by 07Beach

A Wooded New England Home by Studio Rick Joy

8 Beautiful Home Projects Using Reclaimed Wood