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INT: Do you think sustainability in architecture is less of an issue in Japan?
KK: Historically, traditional Japanese architecture uses very sustainable designs that incorporate features such as natural ventilation instead of air conditioning, and things like that. But in the 20th century, as Western culture came to Japan, we forgot these kinds of designs. That’s what I’m trying to go back to.
— It's Nice That
"My dream is to start my own school and pass my lessons on to younger generations in the same way that Frank Lloyd Wright did with his School of Architecture at Taliesin [in Wisconsin]," Kengo Kuma told It's Nice That when asked about his future aspirations. "He has inspired me in many ways, but I... View full entry
A downtown Milwaukee high-rise has found support from an unlikely source: the United States Department of Agriculture.
The department’s Forestry Service division announced this week that it had awarded 41 grants totaling $8.9 million to businesses, universities, non-profits and tribal partners in 20 states to “create jobs, support fire-safe communities, restore healthy forest conditions, and spur environmentally sound innovation.”
— Urban Milwaukee
Part of the grant will be allocated to Ascent, a potentially record-breaking mass timber tower in Milwaukee proposed by New Land Enterprises (previously on Archinect). Image: Korb + Associates Architects."The funds will be used to support engineering work on the proposed 21-story, 201-unit... View full entry
If this mass timber tower is built as originally envisioned, the tallest of its kind in the world, it could set an extraordinary precedent and benchmark for not only green building construction but also the future of development along Vancouver’s Central Broadway corridor. — Urbanized Vancouver
Daily Hive editor Kenneth Chan gives a detailed introduction of the Perkins+Will-designed Canada Earth Tower, a proposed timber tower that could rise up to 40 stories and accommodate around 200 residential units. "The structure would be predominantly made out of fire-resistant wood... View full entry
Danish firm 3XN revealed their design for T3 Bayside, which will be the first office structure to emerge in Toronto's Bayside neighborhood. Once built, at 42 meters high, the 10-story structure would reportedly be the tallest timber office building in North America. Currently in design... View full entry
[CTBUH] has verified the completion of Mjøstårnet, a mixed-use building in Brumunddal, Norway that now holds the unique title of the “World’s Tallest Timber Building.” At 85.4 meters, it is also the third-tallest building in Norway and the country’s tallest with mixed functions.
This news coincides with the amendment of the CTBUH Height Criteria – the official guidelines upon which tall buildings are measured – to include timber as a recognized structural material.
— Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The 18-story wooden structure Mjøstårnet (Mjøsa Tower) near Oslo, Norway popularly earned the title "World’s Tallest Timber Building" back in September 2018 when it structurally topped out. But it wasn't until a recent update of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's height... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
Governments can help nudge the industry to use more wood, particularly in the public sector—the construction industry’s biggest client. That would help wood-building specialists achieve greater scale and lower costs. Zero-carbon building regulations should be altered to take account of the emissions that are embodied in materials. This would favour wood as well as innovative ways of producing other materials. — The Economist
The Economist compares the environmental impact of the industrialized world's most common building materials, cement and steel, with that of carbon-trapping wood, and how an earnest effort to reach the emission goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement cannot ignore building with timber on a... View full entry
While Japanese whiskey distilleries are claiming top accolades for their finely crafted products these days, one decorated artisanal-minded Japanese master is bringing his craft to the heart of Bourbon country: Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has been selected to oversee the planning... View full entry
New Land Enterprises has announced a bold plan to build a 21-story mass timber apartment building in East Town. If completed, the building, known as Ascent, would be the tallest timber structure in the Western Hemisphere according to the company.
The news comes just months after New Land released plans to build a seven-story mass timber office building, the city’s first, along the Milwaukee River in Westown.
— Urban Milwaukee
The timber tower scheme was designed by Milwaukee-based Korb + Associates Architects with structural engineering input from Thornton Tomasetti. If completed as proposed, the 21-story residential building would rise 238 feet—considerably more than the currently tallest timber building in the... View full entry
Construction workers yesterday installed the final beam at Mjøstårnet (Mjøsa Tower), a wooden skyscraper project in the Norwegian town of Brumunddal, just north of Oslo. Now structurally topped out, the 18-story structure stands 85.4 meters tall and is officially the world's tallest timber... View full entry
Earlier this week, the Oregon Building Codes Division announced a statement of alternate method (SAM) that makes Oregon the first state to allow for construction of wooden high-rises without special consideration. Previously, Portland, Ore., was the first American city to issue a permit for an all-wood high-rise, Project’s 12-story-tall Framework. — engineering.com
The statement of alternate method (SAM) was developed over two years by a committee created from the International Code Council’s Board of Directors. The committee proposed 14 suggestions concerning cross-laminated timber standards and best-practices, which were all accepted by the Oregon... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
A team of researchers from Swiss university ETH Zurich is to use robots to help assemble prefabricated timber modules into a 100 sq m, three-storey house. [...]
The robots use information from a CAD model to cut and arrange the beams, then drill holes and connect them. Human workers bolt the beams together.
— Global Construction Review
Photo: NCCR Digital Fabrication / Roman KellerThe Spatial Timber Assemblies robotic research project, with support from Switzerland's National Centre of Competence in Research Digital Fabrication, is the first large-scale architectural application for the construction robots at the new Robotic... View full entry
Timber Towers are on the rise, propelled by the growing availability of new wood technologies that promise major environmental benefits. Today, proposals for increasingly tall wooden structures are sprouting up everywhere from Portland to Brisbane, with the world's tallest wooden tower recently... View full entry
Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd. has announced that it plans to build a 70-story 350-meter mixed-use skyscraper in Marunouchi, a central Tokyo business district, by the year 2041. [...]
The project [...] is estimated to cost 600 billion JPY (5.5 billion USD). This is almost twice that of conventional high-rise buildings using current technology, but the company hopes to reduce costs by making technological advances in wood-based construction.
— Real Estate Japan
Image: Sumitomo ForestryWooden skyscrapers have been seeing an unprecedented boom phase in recent years, but even the more ambitious projects don't even come close to what Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry, in collaboration with Nikken Sekkei, is proposing to build in Tokyo by the year 2041. ... View full entry
