Wood to rebuild the framework of Notre-Dame de Paris would be the most ecological solution and would best guarantee the solidity of the structure. This is the point of view defended Wednesday the vice-president of the national council of the order of architects, Eric Wirth, during a hearing in the National Assembly.
The president of the public establishment in charge of the Notre-Dame site, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, guest on Sunday of the "Grand Rendez-Vous" Europe 1-CNews- "Les Echos", denied reports that the the oak option had already been chosen to redo the frame, against the alternatives of metal or concrete.
"There will be study, examination of all possible options", he had assured, estimating that a "lobbying" of the wood industry could be at work.
"Speaking of lobbying on a subject like that, it is not on the scale and in the honor of this building", reacted the vice-president of the national council of the order of architects, who expressed before the fact-finding mission for the follow-up of the law for the restoration of Notre-Dame.
"The most modern material, the most ecological today," he said, "is wood, it is the one that stores carbon. And there are no contraindications despite all the false rumors. ” As for the question of cost, "we are not in economic logic, the money is there".
"Beware of false good solutions"
“It has been there for 800 years (the cathedral). If the structure had been made of steel, there would have been no cathedral. Even with all the protections, considering the brazier ... The iron takes half an hour, an hour, and after it twists, it pulls on the walls and it collapses everything. "
"We must beware, continued Eric Wirth, false good solutions" which recommend metal or concrete structures because they would be "much lighter". “These cathedrals, they hold structurally, because there is a mass on an arch […], it only works because it is heavy. "
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In addition, he argued, "we are fortunate to have all the information, photographic, computer, digital records to reconstruct identically".
He predicted that "the time for diagnosis would be extremely long" and that the five years, as President Emmanuel Macron wants, are "an objective but not an imperative".
Supporter of remaking the arrow identically, he underlined that "the real innovations, it is in the surroundings (of Notre-Dame) that it will be necessary to make them", without however entrusting them to "bling-bling architects ".
The architect recommended that the exceptional know-how of eight centuries ago - stonemasons, etc. - be presented to the public.