The research undertaken in the EPFL’s Timber Construction Laboratory aims both to question in depth the relationship between engineering sciences and architectural conception and to expose new facets of this relationship. The IBOIS is firmly integrated in the Civil Engineering Institute, as well as being involved in architecture through the setting up of a workshop for architecture masters students. Timber construction has a great future in the face of global sustainable development challenges. The advantages are well-known as far as low energy consumption for the production of building components (planks, boards, beams, etc.) is concerned. Savings in time and energy consumption are also noticeable in timber structure assembly and dismantling processes. But the challenges of sustainable development also concern the issue of architectural form. How can one introduce a process of formal and technological innovation in a perspective of sustainability?