toronto

105 Stories of Innovation: The World's Tallest Zero Carbon Hybrid Mass Timber Tower

Article by Ulrike Knaus (adapted for holzkurier.com; translated by Eva Guzely) | 02.10.2020 - 09:59

Dialog is an architecture firm with five offices in the US and Canada. At beginning, they asked themselves: How can we design a supertall building that maximizes the overall use of sustainably harvested wood in high-rise construction in the most cost efficient, energy efficient, and elegant manner, while also having a positive impact on human wellbeing, and the wellbeing of the environment? The answer to this question is the zero-carbon hybrid wood tower prototype, which could soon rise in Toronto or other major cities around the world.

The why

The world has to reduce global carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change (IPCC, 2018) and currently, buildings and construction account for around 39% of energy-related emissions (UNEP, 2017). Architects, engineers and planners can play a crucial role in the solution to this problem. DIALOG is committed to making all projects carbon neutral by 2030.

According to Dialog, the world of design, engineering and construction can face this challenge in the context of three important industry transformations:

  • Net zero carbon transformation. Cities, states and countries around the globe are finally getting serious about carbon.
  • A few communities want to be the first to develop the most convincing strategy for the use of composite wood systems in tall buildings in order to encourage smart urban density. When it is harvested in a sustainable manner, wood is an environmentally regenerative resource and one of the most effective ways to store carbon.
  • In the construction sector, computational design is now the cutting edge of this new reality. How we shape this new reality will be critical to the way we work in the future.

Dialog’s patent-pending Hybrid Timber Floor System (HTFS) offers open spans and fire safety which makes it possible to integrate it into any type of building.
The prototype of the tower is to rise at the northern edge of the city of Toronto and with 105 stories, it would be the city’s tallest building. The tower would serve as a key node of dense development in a largely suburban environment. Using cues from nature, the tower is to effectively integrate into the surrounding urban fabric.