Wooden Skyscrapers are Changing the Skyline and Our Environmental Future
There are perhaps no two things more heavily linked than steel and skyscrapers. The advent of modern steel allowed humans to build taller and taller buildings. Steel started flooding cities like New York City and Chicago, allowing for structures like the Flatiron Building and the Masonic Temple Building to come into existence. Steel is the backbone of nearly every major metropolitan area. Every major city is bejeweled with skyscrapers built from strong and lightweight steel. But that is slowly changing.
Due to costs, environmental concerns, and a search for more renewable resources, engineers are turning toward wood to build the next generation of skyscrapers. Just like how refinement in the steel manufacturing process led to an explosion of new buildings at the turn of the 20th century, advances in wood construction and engineering have allowed wooden skyscrapers to grow larger and taller than ever before. If we can build skyscrapers out of wood, the future will look both different and the same. Cities will still be able to retain their look and their prestige from skyscrapers while also working toward a brighter and more environmentally friendly future.There are a number of wooden skyscrapers that have been completed in recent years. The rise of these wooden skyscrapers has transformed the skyline and the outlook of the modern city. These new buildings look the same as steel skyscrapers, but their innards are built from highly engineered wood, allowing them to retain the size and structure of steel buildings while using renewable wood beams.
Ascent MKE was completed in 2022 in Milwaukee and stands 86 meters tall and spanning 25 floors. Mjøstårnet was built in 2019 and was briefly the tallest timber skyscraper in the world and is located in Norway. Tour Hypérion in Bordeaux, France, was the first mass timber structure built in the country and stands 55 meters tall.
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