Tag: Wooden Architecture

Wood Innovation Inspiration: Fractal Geometries in a Timber Frame Chapel

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

Agri Chapel wooden frame

We love tried and true traditional timber frame designs, but if you’re feeling creative, check this out. Japanese architecture firm Momoeda Yu Architecture Office designed an interior structural system for a chapel that takes inspiration from trees, and the result is stunning.

agri chapel outdoor view

“We tried to connect the activity of the chapel to the natural surroundings seamlessly,” says lead architect You Momoeda of “Agri Chapel.”

Agri Chapel looking up

“This is a Japanese-wooden chapel with a fractal structure system. The site is surrounded by a large national park overlooking the sea. We tried to connect the activity of the chapel to the natural surroundings seamlessly. In Nagasaki, there is an oldest wooden gothic chapel in Japan known as “Ohura-Tenshudou”. This chapel is not only a famous tourist point, but a place loved and cared for the townsfolk.”

Agri Chapel ceiling

The architects wanted to create an update to the gothic style for Agri Chapel, altering it to pay tribute to the forested environment. They created a “pendentive dome” shape by piling up tree-like units that gradually grow smaller in scale from the ground level to the ceiling, and used traditional Japanese joinery techniques to assemble them.

Agri Chapel interior at night

This wooden structure supports the 25-ton roof load while also adding incredible sculptural flair to the interior. It makes you wonder what other creative designs might be possible that still perform the job as well as timber frame styles like gambrel, barn, saltbox and raised cape.

World’s First Wooden Soccer Stadium Will Be Built in England

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

wooden soccer stadium

The world’s first all-timber soccer stadium is set to be constructed in the countryside of Gloucestershire, England. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the 5,000-seat Forest Green Rovers Eco Park Stadium will be powered by renewable energy sources, too, giving it the lowest embodied carbon footprint of any stadium in the world.

forest green rovers stadium stadium field

Like most of the architecture firm’s work, the stadium will have a curvaceous design, with nearly all of its wooden components left unpainted for an organic effect. Every element will be made of sustainably sourced timber, including the louvered cladding, roof cantilevers and framework.

“As a building material, timber is highly durable, recyclable and beautiful,” says Jim Heveren, Director at Zara Hadid Architects. “The proximity of the stadium’s structural elements to each other has also been determined to enable the seating terraces and floor slab to be made from timber. In most other stadiums, these elements are concrete or steel.”

wooden stadium interior zaha hadid soccer stadium

The stadium will be the centerpiece of a new environmentally conscious development that retains the site’s “pastoral qualities.” Ecotricity’s Eco Park development is a 100-acre sports and green technology business park that will include state-of-the-art sporting facility, all-weather training pitches, a sports science hub and commercial office space.

While the design was first unveiled in 2016, its fate has been uncertain in the midst of a battle over planning permissions. Now, with the scheme officially approved, construction should be underway soon.

Wooden Skyscraper City! New Stockholm Proposal Reaches for the Skies

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

Wooden Skyscraper City

Why shouldn’t we have entire cities made of wood – including skyscrapers? As ultra-tall timber towers are completed around the world – with many more in the planning stages – the creation of entire wood-based developments is a natural next step. Stockholm, Sweden could be the first to realize this dream with a new proposal from Anders Berensson Architects, a conceptual housing development on the waterfront containing a whopping 31 individual cross-laminated timber towers.

Wooden Skyscraper City 2

This proposal isn’t just a bunch of fantastical concept drawings destined to grab some internet attention and then disappear. The architects were commissioned by the Stockholm Center Party to design a masterplan for a new sustainable district in Stockholm as part of a larger vision for a greener, more prosperous future. The development would bring 5,000 new residences to the central docklands area of Masthamnen, for which the project is named.

Wooden Skyscraper City 3

Anders Berensson Architects has been commissioned by the Stockholm Center Party to designed Stockholm’s highest, densest and most environmentally friendly new neighborhood in the cities central dock area Masthamnen by building one wooden city on top of another. In the lower city we want to build blocks with homes, offices and shops surrounded by streets, squares and a living dockside. On top of this city we want to build a city of narrow wooden skyscrapers in a public parkland that connects the new area with the surrounding hills and city parts.

The new district can be divided into three main parts. The lower block city that is built on today’s dock level. The narrow wooden skyscraper city that is built on top of the lower city and the landscape of roofs and bridges that is connected with the surrounding heights.

The lower block city consists of 19 new city blocks with 6-10 floors and contain 2500 apartments, 60000 m2 of office space and about 90 shops & restaurants. The neighborhood connects to the few existing streets that surrounds the area. To the west, the area is connected to Folkungagatan and Stadsgårdskajen by continuing these streets into the new area. To the south, the area is connected to the new residential district Persikan and Norra Hammarbyhammnen via new buildings. To the east the area connects to Saltsjökvarn via an openable walking and cycling bridge. The existing ferry terminal is planned to be kept with some adjustments to its new central location. Office spaces are planned to the noisiest parts of the terminal and the neighborhoods are designed so that all apartments either look over the boats or get a good second view when the cruising ships are moored.

Wooden Skyscraper City 4

The firm previously created a proposal for a wooden skyscraper covered in numbers, called Trätoppen, for the Stockhom Center Party. These architects are well-versed in wood, and their preference to work with it comes down to its beauty, sustainability and the fact that it releases the least carbon dioxide compared to other top construction materials in common usage today.

The widespread use of wood in urban developments could transform cities as we know them, not just in terms of their environmental friendliness but in appearance as well. Imagine how much warmer and more welcoming urban buildings would feel if they were made of wood instead of so much steel and glass. With all trends pointing to skyrocketing demand for wood in the near future, we might not have to imagine for long.

Tree Tower: Sustainable Timber High-Rise for Toronto Incorporates Living Plants

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

timber tower 4

Rising 18 stories from street level in Toronto, with each of its balconies augmented by verdant greenery, this sustainable structure shows off the capabilities of tall timber construction. Penda Architects teamed up with wood consulting firm Tmber to propose a modular high-rise tower built almost entirely from wood. Massive wood panels make up the main structural elements of the building, and the facade is clad in timber panels.

timber tower

Such extensive use of wood in a 200-foot-tall building will be a first for Toronto, and the architects hope it will help jump-start a trend of sustainable wooden architecture throughout the city. They joke that they’re growing the materials for future expansion of the building right on its own balconies in the form of living trees.

timber tower 3

“Our cities are an assembly of steel, concrete and glass,” says Penda. “If you walk through the city and suddenly see a tower made of wood and plants, it will create an interesting contrast. The warm, natural appearance of wood and the plants growing on its facade bring the building to life and could be a model for environmental friendly developments and sustainable extensions of our urban landscape.”

timber tower 2

The connection between the visible wooden construction of the building and the living trees “helps further develop a true ecological high rise, supplies its residents with fresher air and provides a lower carbon footprint,” says Mark Stein, CEO of Tmber. “The extensive use of wood will set ambitious sustainability targets and will be a catalyst for similar developments in Canada.”

The mixed-use building will contain residential units as well as public facilities like a community workshop, cafe and daycare center.

Eco-Luxury Hotel in Paris Will Have a Wooden Facade

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

kengo kuma wood hotel 1

With a nearly all-wood design that’s being hailed as a refreshing change from typical steel and glass, Kengo Kuma’s stunning ‘1hotel Paris’ project will bring eco-luxury lodgings to the Rive Gauche neighborhood in Paris. The Japanese-born, Paris-based architect is well known for his signature wooden designs, which often feature stacked and slotted wood pieces that fit together in puzzle-like arrangements.

kengo kuma wood hotel 2 kengo kuma wood hotel 3

The facade of the hotel features wooden panels overlapped and set at irregular, asymmetrical angles to ‘blur’ the building’s shape and mimic the pattern of branches on a tree. Lush greenery protrudes from between these panels, helping to purify the air in the neighborhood.

kengo kuma wood hotel 5

“In the dense urban context of the Avenue de France, we felt the need to create a green lung for the city,” says the architecture firm. “Nature finds a place at the core of the scheme, translated in the intimate public garden where all senses are awoken.”

kengo kuma wood hotel 4

“In the context of repetitive volumes along the avenue, our design strategy was to create a sculptural shape as formed by natural erosion that will let the sky come down to the street. The work on the volume is defined by the modularity of the wooden structure. As particles, dispersed facade panels together with the volumetric decomposition come to blur the shape of the building. The warm materiality of the wood is combined with the soften reflection and aerial touch of the metal panels. The building will come alive with the light.”

The 1Hotel will be home to 140 rooms, including 23 suites, a 179-bed hostel, a 120-seat cabaret and a 1,000-square-foot sports hall as well as bars, restaurants and offices. There’s also a central garden surrounded by staggered walls, a series of multi-level garden terraces and a swimming pool.

Game Changer: Engineered Wood Opens Doors in the Construction Market

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

CLT

Is engineered wood ‘the new concrete?’ As demand grows, some industry sources say mass timber is set to open new doors in construction for the lumber industry, offering lucrative opportunities at the intersection of timber and tech. Advances in the processes used to make cross-laminated timber and other engineered wood products have set up a boom for tall wooden buildings with similar if not better structural integrity than those made with steel and concrete, making the construction industry as a whole more environmentally friendly.

Made from industrially dried quick-growing wood – including pine – CLT is up to four times lighter than reinforced concrete. A building made with CLT instead of traditional concrete uses up to 70 percent less material and can cut construction times by a third, sending project profitability through the roof. Developers are definitely taking note.

In a recent issue of the property insurer GenRe’s ‘Property Matters’ publication, Property/Casualty Senior Consulting Underwriter Leo Ronken examines “what’s so good about wood,” going down a long list of the attributes that have made engineered wood increasingly popular with architects, legislators and construction pros.

“In the global trend toward the construction of buildings that meet ecological needs, wood has some clear advantages over traditional construction materials such as steel and concrete. With advances in engineered wood materials and components come possibilities to construct increasingly larger buildings – a trend being witnessed around the world.”

Real estate services firm JLL has also noted the trend and what it could mean moving forward, calling it a ‘game changer.’

“The emergence of successful mass timber projects across all sectors is a trend which looks set to continue and develop as the industry demands more innovation. As Lucas Epp, Head of Engineering at StructureCraft in North America, says mass timber projects require fewer construction workers on site, less waste and higher quality of work. ‘Mass timber office buildings are also now competing with steel and concrete on cost,’ he adds.”

The forest products industry has long depended on single family homes, but mass timber opens the possibility of entrance into new markets where wooden framing was previously seen as inappropriate. Buildings made with mass timber are able to meet strict building codes, including those measuring fire resistance.

Another benefit of increased demand for CLT is the fact that it can be made with smaller, second-growth timber, reducing the need for so many big, solid logs from older trees and fueling greater efficiency at mills.

Image via Woodworks.org