According to a recent study by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH), about 40 wooden buildings with eight or more floors were either planned, in the process of construction or finished in 2017. Today, ten-, twelve- or even 18-storey wooden or hybrid buildings are thus no longer exceptional projects. Furthermore, building contractors of big projects as well as the public sector seem to have found the courage to opt for ecological construction with an increasing number of buildings. With a total of 126,000 square metres, the office complex “Arboretum”, which is to be built in Nanterre near Paris, stands out. 2018 will see various giant wood building projects.
Projects like the one mentioned above are rarely the topic of discussions compared to buildings with more than twelve floors. The first feasibility study in this area has been conducted by architects Michael Schluder and Peter Krabbe. In November 2008, “8+, multi-storey wooden buildings in urban areas” came to the conclusion that, in theory, the construction of 20-storey wooden buildings is possible – a theory which has already become reality. Though being a hybrid building, i.e. wood not being the only construction material used, the “Ho-Ho” in Vienna will have more than 24 floors when completed. In the Norwegian town of Brumunddal, floor after floor is stacked until the wooden high-rise Mjøstårnet will reach the 18th floor. In this particular project, CLT is used even for staircases and elevator shafts. In Amsterdam, a 21-storey wooden building is in the planning stage.
Despite the achievements in the area, some still question the sense of breaking records by erecting ever higher wooden buildings. At the same time, though, some high-rises challenge the existing doubts about tall wooden buildings. In general, it would be near impossible to list all the ground-breaking projects, which are in planning or in the process of construction right now, in one issue of Holzkurier.
