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Stories in the development of tall timber

ShigEru Ban Steps Into New TERRITORY With The World's Tallest Timber Hybrid Skyscraper in Vancouver 

16/7/2016

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Photo: Shigeru Ban via Vancity Buzz
Vancouver BC is quickly becoming a hot bed of the Mass Timber world. The city is already sporting the world's tallest hybrid timber skyscraper, UBC Brock Commons , but Shigeru Ban plans to push that even further as his firm takes on the skylines of the Pacific North West. 

The project details have not been fully released yet but briefings entail a hybrid building with the lower portion being conventionally constructed with concrete and steel. The upper 7 (or more) stories are designed in hybrid mass timber solutions. Mass timber was chosen to help reduce the eccentric mass at the top of the building during a seismic event. This allows the building to exhibit superior earthquake performance characteristics. 

In Shigeru Ban's refined style, the project is expected to exemplify elegance of materials and purity of connections. This engineering feat sees a amazing combination of international architects & engineers meeting with local knowledge and abilities to produce a one off masterpiece. The project is expected to host Douglas Fir glulam as a key feature of West Coast style, strength and local sustainability. 

​We look forward to more developed press releases and final project details to form, fit and height. 
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London COnsidering world's tallest Mass Timber Skyscraper

11/4/2016

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PLP Architecture has teamed up with the University of Cambridge to propose the tallest free standing Mass Timber structure in the world. The 80 story building, centred in London, would be 300 m high and house roughly 1000 residential units.

The project may seem like an aggressive leap for Mass Timber design but we often forget that many tress approach 100 m in height  around the world. These trees often also have lifespans of over 2,500 years with a gigantic solar sail set into the wind. These natural structures last through numerous forest fires, earthquakes and extreme weather events. There is no question as to if a wood based structure can do this or not, the question is if we are smart enough to design it in an environmental, economic and durable manner. 

​More can be read HERE.
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UBC Brock COmmons 18 story project gets the green light!

2/10/2015

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Tall Timber UBC Brock Commons

A true high rise timber building has been given the green light by the UBC board of directors on October 1st 2015.  The project is planned to be an astonishing 53m (174') tall. This will be the tallest wood based building in the world once completed and contains no doubts that this is a true high-rise tall timber building. 

The innovative design was produced by Acton Ostry Architects, of Vancouver BC, Architekten Hermann Kaufmann of Austria, and Vancouver's Fast + Epp Structural Engineers. This unique project team was able to combine the benefits of wood with an new structural design making the timber structure a competitive solution to alternatives on its own.  CLT is used in a true two way span making it one of the most efficient floor systems possible. Quick connect steel systems are used between glulam columns and CLT floors. 

Two concrete elevator cores are combined with glulam columns and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) flooring panels. This produces a robust structure in a high seismic zone while mitigating carbon impacts and allowing a relatively quick erection time.  The project is set to be home to 404 student residences  while attaining a LEED Gold level accreditation.  Strict fire protection methods have been put in place for this one of a kind timber skyscraper arguably making it safer in terms of life safety in the event of any fire conditions. Vigorous testing and requirements were placed on the structure before it was allowed to move ahead the next levels of projects stages demonstrating world wide leadership in technical engineering with the Earth's most dynamic material, wood. 

The University of British Columbia is a world leader in Forestry Management and Wood Products research. This project is one of many on the UBC campus to demonstrate innovative, sustainable and beautiful uses of value added local resources. The UBC Faculty of Forestry has something to be proud of today helping produce, demonstrate and be home to a clear example of sustainable forestry matched with modern technologies in Architecture and Engineering. 

The project will likely be completed with SPF and Douglas FIr. Some of the tallest Pine trees in the world are reported at 83 m (260') tall, while the tallest Douglas Firs are around 120m (415') tall. Our engineering still has yet to match both the life cycle and structural efficiency of these beautiful organisms, however we are slowly closing the gap with projects like this. 

This project will allow the British Columbia Forestry and Construction industries to leap ahead showcasing global leadership in technology, design and engineering.  

More information is available in a formal press release from the University of British Columbia. 
Images below courtesy Acton Ostry, Images above UBC.
CLT Tallwood
UBC Wood Skyscraper CLT
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US Tall Timber FUnding Winners Announced

21/9/2015

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Images courtesy of Lever & Shop Architects. 
The United States has always been one to do new things in a big way. In this case the concepts are not exactly new, but they are big! 

The USDA announced early last week the winners of $3 million in funding grants in support of greener, carbon friendly wood based high rise construction technology. Modern engineered Mass Timber products have made the continued development of high rise timber projects around the world possible.

Between the years 1880 -1940 there were over 300 Mass timber projects built in the "new world" centres above 6 stories, with the tallest being 9 stories. These projects have not only demonstrated the viability and longevity of these structures, but many of them have served to show the amazing beauty of these authentic marvels. Shortly after World War II, steel and concrete took over the leading rolls in construction development. Timber and many other natural materials were left in the dust believed to be old and inferior materials.

Although Cross Laminated Timber was developed in the mid 90's, the modern timber renaissance did not start until around 2005 when a series of forward thinking Architects started to develop taller timber structures. Engineered  Mass Timber products gave designers the reliability to make these redevelopments. Building codes around the world have had to be re-examined to allow the implementation of such tall timber projects, a copious body of testing has almost universally shown Mass Timber to exhibit extraordinary fire protection properties along with a slew of unique structural characteristics. These properties are only part of the side show though as one of the primary motivations for choosing wood based products in our modern era is to use renewable materials while reducing our carbon footprint. Mass timber inherently excels in both of these attributes. 

One of the two grant winning projects consists of a 12 story, mixed use building in downtown Portland, backed by the Beneficial State Bancorp. The project is supported by a motivated group of key Oregon movers who are seeking to revive Oregon's turn of the century Timber Legacy.  Lever architecture is providing the vision behind the interesting building pictures on the top left. 

ARuP and SHOP Architects have teamed up to turn new leaf over in the big apple. New York is set to see a 10 story residential development at 475 West 18th. The project focuses on a drastic reduction to building energy load as well as the goal of reaching LEED platinum. 

The next few years will surely be interesting as we see Mass Timber projects each take their own approach to a perfect system. How do you measure the success of these building systems? 
Occupation use? Carbon footprint? Aesthetic  review? Time to complete? Life-Cycle Costs? Or raw construction costs? The answer is linked to all of the above. With the right teams being assembled we are seeing the dawn of the Mass Timber Renaissance, were these projects will outrun concrete and steel alternatives in all categories. For the time being we are only limited by our dreams. 

More information HERE. 
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Dalston lane set to be the tallest CLT building in the world

16/7/2015

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Images curtesy: The Engineer & Ramboll blog. 
Dalston Lane is a new project in the Hackney region of London. CLT was selected as a primary building component due to its weight reduction over concrete. Poor soil conditions combined with existing underground development made CLT a perfect fit for modern, green, in-fill architecture. The building is 10 stories tall with 9 of them out of CLT.  The project will use over 3,500m^3 of European timber, locking up 2,400 tonnes of carbon while providing housing for 121 units. 

The project team consists of a set of local UK superstars in modern construction including Ramboll Engineering, Waugh Thistleton Architecture, and Regal Homes. 

The 33m tall timber complex is set to be completed by the end of 2015. How many more timber towers will we see before the end of the year? 
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MICHAEL GREEN ARCHITECTURE REIMAGINES PARIS SKYLINE

3/6/2015

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Images from MGA
MGA of Vancouver, BC has teamed up withDVVD from Paris and REI Engineering France to reimagine the Parisian skylines in a unique and sustainable manner. The proposed set of developments features a 35 story timber based skyscraper. 

The project features an innovative mix of a student hotel, market housing, and social housing.  The project is part of an on going redevelopment contest and system for paris where over 900 sites have been identified for innovative redevelopments. This project seeks to inspire future generations with green design and a context of sustainable development. More can be found below:

MGA News
Vancouver Sun
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PORTLAND CONSIDERS 11 STORY CLT BUILDING

21/5/2015

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Beneficial State Bank is looking at installing a US first being an 11 story CLT building with mixed use as corporate offices and doubling as affordable housing. This project would represent a  massive leap forward for value added forestry projects from the Pacific North West, as well as sustainable modern construction. 

A brief press release can be read here:
Wood Working Network Portland TallWood
 
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 Four 20 Story all wood towers planned for stockholm

23/3/2015

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A series of four 20 story mixed use residential towers are planned for the Stockholm water front. 240 residential units will be added to the area with commercial spaces below to house craft stores and small sea-side cafes. The Swedish wood developer Folkhem is backing the project. 

This project is especially interesting as it has chosen to express the wood as much as possible. The exterior facade and interior elements of the project are set to expose Swedish timber material. It will be extremely interesting to see how these projects develop and fold into the community over time. Would such projects be viable in modern American cities? What are your thoughts? 

Structurally it is still unclear if this will be a completely wood project or if there will be a hybrid service core involved. We hope to gain more information and follow these tall wood projects closely as they near construction. 


Images courtesy: Tham & Videgård Arkitekter
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MINNEAPOLIS to build the US's first modern tall wood building BY MGA

12/3/2015

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Photo: MGA via Minnpost.com
A 7 story hybrid timber building has been proposed for downtown Minneapolis. The project, named T3 is a projected 7 stories in height and offers a spacious 210,000 sqft of office space. Michael Green Architecture has designed the project and was chosen for their many previous successes including BC's Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George. The T3 building represents a turning point in American construction where renewable materials play a major roll in the healthy development of our modern cities. These projects work to illustrate and tighten the relationship humanity has with our natural environment. Heavy timber panels and  glulam columns will be used to meet fire structural design requirements for this landmark project. 
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13 Story Residential Timber Building Destined for Quebec

4/3/2015

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Image courtesy of: http://condosorigine.com/
 The newly announced Écocondos de la Pointe-aux-Lièvres, in Quebec Canada have been announced by Origin. The  building will consist of 94 condo units of mid to high end 3 bedroom residential housing. The architect is Yvan Blouin. The structure will be primarily composed of CLT with engineering by WSP + Nordic Structures. 

A video of the project can be found below. Please visit: http://condosorigine.com/ for sales info. 



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