The era of wood architecture is here? Take a look at those modern wooden buildings!
May 31,2023 | Defulin Teak
Speaking of wood buildings, I believe that we can not help but to float in the mind of an ancient building - the vicissitudes of Chinese appearance, wooden beams and columns, antique carvings of various colors. Pure wood buildings, in the minds of many people are labeled as "old" "traditional" "backward". However, before anyone knows it, pure wood architecture has been quietly developing around the world, either taking root or blooming proudly, bringing new life to the modern architectural world. Today, let's take a look at a few modern pure wood buildings and bring you a taste of the charm of wood.
First we look at Mjøsata (Norwegian: Mjøstårnet) in Norway. This is a multifunctional building completed in March 2019, designed by the famous architecture studio Voll Arkitekter, with 18 floors and a total height of 85.4 meters, which is claimed to be the tallest wooden building in the world. Named after the lake Mjosa, Mjosa Tower contains a hotel, restaurant, apartments, offices and other areas, and even a purely wooden swimming pool on the first floor, which can be considered an architectural wonder.
Mjossa Tower is first made of glued laminated timber (CLT) into various types of beam and column components to build a load-bearing structure, and then cross-laminated timber to form structures such as balconies, stairwells and elevator shafts. Of course, in order to make the building more comfortable and safe, concrete slabs were used for the top seven floors of Mjossa Tower, and a small amount of non-wood materials were used for certain partial connections.
The second wood building is the 25King office building built by Bates Smart. Located in Brisbane, Australia, this 10-story timber building is divided into 10 floors totaling 45 meters, the tallest in Australia, and has been praised as "a cutting-edge representation of Australian commercial architecture".
Inside and outside the building, a variety of exposed glued laminated wood "V" shaped columns are clearly visible, creating a warm, natural office environment through wood grain and color, while also implementing the concept of low carbon and environmental protection - it is reported that by replacing the main material with wood, the 25King building has reduced about 74%. 25King building has reduced carbon emissions by approximately 74% and energy consumption by 46%. What's even more incredible is that the building was completed in just 15 months, once again demonstrating the advantages of wood construction.
If the first two wooden buildings used the properties of wood, the third wooden building takes the material one step further, using even the ancient Chinese wooden building essence, mortise and tenon, in its construction. The Tamedia office building in Zurich is the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, which not only uses wood as the main material, but also uses the traditional Chinese mortise and tenon structure to connect and build the whole building.
During the construction period, the various interconnected and intertwined wooden parts, knobs and pins were visible, and from a distance, it looked like a Lego block, full of fun. After the construction, although the outer layer is installed with glass to protect the wooden structure, but the interior is still everywhere you can see all kinds of wooden structures, walking in it, step by step there is wood, everywhere there is wood color, as if in the natural forest, so that people are full of peace of mind, a sense of warmth.
Nowadays, with the gradual popularization of the concept of environmental protection, people have higher and higher requirements for the sustainability of buildings. Unlike steel and concrete, wood buildings can still be recycled after dismantling and can also be naturally degraded in the natural environment, without producing construction waste. Wooden buildings, with the trend of environmental protection, are gradually re-entering people's vision, with their own unique advantages, becoming the darling of the new era.