University of Stuttgart professor Achim Menges has shared details of a new research-led observation tower project called Wangen Tower after its realization earlier this month at the regional garden showcase Landesgartenschau Wangen im Allgäu in southern Germany.
The project is a collaboration between the university's Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the university.
Menges’ eight-member team worked with Prof. Dr. Jan Knippers and Gregor Neubauer to produce the prototype using CNC milling techniques and curved CLT panels. The result is a durable, high-performance structure made from locally sourced renewable materials as well as the first-ever built example of a multi-level building made using self-shaped structural timber components.
The research team describes: “The tower’s 23m tall, pioneering structure is composed of 12 curved cross-laminated timber (CLT) segments, each with a slender cross-section of just 130 millimetres. The global shape of the tower, together with the local curvature of the CLT surfaces, results in a novel surface-active timber structure, which bears all the decisive horizontal wind loads and creates the tower's distinctive, spiralled silhouette.”
Once inside, visitors will climb the 113 steps to reach the structure’s glass viewing platform, with vistas reaching into the Alps and countryside below.
Each CLT panel was produced by first combining three 30-millimeter-thick 'active' layer plates with a 10-millimeter outer 'restrictive' layer before stacking and laminating the whole. The 12 CLT segments and their steel staircase connectors were pre-assembled, while the facade's 168 panels were also pre-mounted to minimize on-site construction time to just three days.
After the structural shell was established, elements of the stairs and viewing platform were inserted from the top to complete the assembly.
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