New wood products show debuts

EIOR THE first time ever, an inFternational exposition has been held to bring together everyone involved with wood from the forester to the retail lumber merchant.

Held in Bordeaux, France and jointly sponsored by wood industry groups and the French government, it was an impressive premiere for an exposition that is now scheduled to be held every other year.

Called Batibois, a French shorthand kind of word that roughly translates as wood in building, it attracted 276 French and foreign firms to display their wares in 136,000 sq. ft. of the enormous Iocal convention hall. Of the nearly 2090 foreign exhibitors only one was from the United States: PreCut International of Woodinville. Wa., a maker of prerut timber homes.

Their participation in the show marks a beginning perception among American wood products firms of the huge potential for American wood and wood products in the growing European market. Additionally, the European marketing manager for

Story at a Glance

International show covers all aspects of wood and wood construction. .hundreds of exhibitors from 16 countries. French sponsored, it's a unique attempt to increase wood in European construction.

Southern Forest Products Association and Western Wood Products Association, Robert R. Kincaid, presented a seminar at the show. (see occompanying story.)

Three days of symposia, conferences and presentations were included during Batibois International, which was held September 2-17. Many were devoted to increasing the role of wood in European building. Today, much of the home and low rise construction in Western Europe is in stone, cement, concrete, steel and stucco. A prime purpose of the show and the seminars was to attempt to increase awareness of the benefits of wood construction in a wide range of applications. Bordeaux, incidently, was an apt choice for a show site as the largest forest in Europe is in that area of France.

A remarkable co-feature of Batibois International was Villabois International. It was nothing less than an entire village of ll7 wood framed homes, built nearby especially to tie in with the show. (See pages 40-41.)

An interesting aspecr of the expo was its similarity to business gatherings in this country. American show visitors were quick to note that other than the French language signs, most of the displays could just as easily

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0RAMATIC diagonal siding (1) on traditional shapes at Villabois wood village. (2) Wood siding combined with brick, half and half (3) No frills bathroom with bidet, sink and tub. Toilet was downstairs in this model. (4) Several homes featured their energy saving qualities. (5) Siding in wood with panels above second story windows in vivid, contrasting colors. (6) Kitchens were striclly barebones. The other three walls were blank. (7) "Brick" siding was actually glazed tile on horizontal aluminum runners. (8) White covering over large, downstairs window was roll-down metal shutter. (9)

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Small, but well landscaped greenbelts. (10) Small, glass cages 0n ends of homes had second floor metal grid as a balcony, as well as opening o{f downstairs. (11) All were attached homes, most had carports, as nere.

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