Thoughts on "Design and Construction of Downland Gridshell" reading

I was inspired by this reading, the can-do feeling. Too often I have been a part of or heard of the various parties in the building industy digging and not working out of their comfort zones. I am in architecture school to be come involved with innovative thinking and innovative minds seeking innovative solutions. This article was a success story about a very difficult innovation. I hope one day to lend myself to challenges this large. I loved reading about the sequential thought process that was taken to solve some of the most difficult problems. Track coaches always emphasize attacking the hurdles rather than letting them attack you. If you let the hurdles dictate your race you will trip and fall, if you run through the hurdles you will win the race. This team attacked and ran through the hurdles.
I appriciated the long explanation of the search for the perfect type of wood to be used and the connection of the individual pieces to make the "optimized" piece of oak. But I thought most revealing was the quote "...many engineers are very wary of applying their methods to timber. In contrast, there are many craftsmen who specialize in timber because of the challenge it represents, and the potential for creating beautiful structures." Which got me to wondering what effect would this building have if it had been made of steel or concrete. Engineering wise it would have been easiers. Construction wise, is steel it would have been easier. But I believe that what makes it so amazing is tht everyone understands at a fundmental level the properties of wood and that everyone understands how special it is to have wood bending three dimensionally and creating structural integrity. Whereas if it had been steel people would look at it and say cool, but so what, of course steel can bend and still be structural. It really is that fact all these grid shells that we have been looking at are made of wood that makes them special.