SkyscraperPage Forum - The Case for Skyscrapers Made of Wood

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- - The Case for Skyscrapers Made of Wood (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198356)

Five floors is the maximum allowed for wood buildings by code in most jurisdictions in the United States.

Los Angeles recently started allowing seven floors. Here's the result:

http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_lo...8_16x9_992.jpg
http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/

Those flames are several hundred feet tall. :hell: It was a long horizontal building, 7 stories of wood, like a skyscraper on it's side, and the fire spread horizontally. Imagine if it were as tall as it was wide, the flames would have been over a thousand feet tall.

Built with all the modern fireproofing materials and requirements.

This building wasn't fully built, but was up to the full height, so luckily not open yet and no occupants were killed.

They can add as much fire prevention as they want to wood, and it might actually prevent some small fires from turning into big fires, but once the fire starts and takes hold of a tall wood structure, all bets are off. Your fireproofing better be solid rock.

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/k...4_1280x720.jpg
http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/

Also, most of the tall wood buildings in Los Angeles are extremely ugly. Developers who skimp on materials usually don't hire quality architects.

If downtown LA gets hit with a 6 magnitude earthquake, you can expect to see several of these burning at the same time, probably with people in them, and no water to fight it because the water mains will most likely break in the quake. 110 buildings burned down in the Northridge quake fire.

A wooden 7-storey lowrise office building in Prince George, British Columbia, meant to showcase what can be done with BC's forestry exports, was built last year. Currently the building code in BC allows for six floor residential buildings that have a concrete podium. This came about in 2009 when the height was relaxed from a maximum of four floors.

http://www.biv.com/article/2013/3/wo...ce-george-con/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike K. (Post 6954300)

Ahh so that explains how the two new buildings by the Tillicum Mall in Victoria were able to build using wood even though they are 6 stories. :cheers:

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdiederi (Post 6933642)

Built with all the modern fireproofing materials and requirements.

This building wasn't fully built, but was up to the full height, so luckily not open yet and no occupants were killed.

Exactly. The fireproof materials, namely the double drywall and the sprinklers, hadn't been installed yet. There have been other fires like this during construction, like the one in SF Mission Bay a little while ago, but once everything's in these buildings have a good safety record.

Even-taller wood buildings use a very different material. Cross-laminated timber is a heavy-frame ("massive timber") material, akin to the giant logs that wooden lofts use but made from smaller bits of wood.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paytonc (Post 6959277)

Even-taller wood buildings use a very different material. Cross-laminated timber is a heavy-frame ("massive timber") material, akin to the giant logs that wooden lofts use but made from smaller bits of wood.

^ and are far less susceptible to shrinkage over the long term as compared to heavy timber construction.

I would never live in a high-rise made of wood, no matter how safe you try to convince me it is.

World’s tallest wood building proposed in Paris could store 3,700 metric tons of carbon

Read More: http://inhabitat.com/worlds-tallest-...aris-by-mga-2/

Quote:

Michael Green Architecture (MGA) just unveiled a proposal for a carbon neutral wooden skyscraper in Paris that, if constructed, will be the world’s tallest wood building.

Created in collaboration with DVVD and real estate developer REI France, the wooden skyscraper—dubbed the Baobab—was designed as part of the city’s Réinventer Paris, a competition seeking innovative and environmentally friendly urban projects. The designers estimate the 35-story wood high-rise could sequester 3,700 metric tons of carbon—an amount equivalent to keeping 2,207 cars off the road for a year.

MGA is no stranger to tall wood architecture; the Vancouver-based architecture firm designed North America’s tallest wood building and has even published a study, The Case for Tall Wood Buildings, that explains the many sustainable benefits of timber buildings. This study and Principal Michael Green’s 2013 TED talk on the subject have helped spur the popularity of wooden buildings worldwide.

The proposed carbon-neutral Baobab is designed as a mixed-use development that combines mixed-income housing with a student hotel, urban agriculture, a bus station, e-car hub, and more. Conceptually located in Paris’ Pershing Site, the Baobab would span the eight-lane Peripherique.

.....

http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-conte...is-by-MGA-.jpg

Though the idea of a wooden sky scrapper seems interesting, I would not prefer to live in one. Wood as a material is very combustible,prone to mold
growth and termite attack. And in a hurricane/tornado prone area they take the most damage. When a tornado strikes wooden buildings cease to exist.
The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages for a wooden structure. Increase in the rate of deforestation is another thing. Besides concrete structures have proved to be comparatively stronger and safer. One feels secure living in concrete buildings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdiederi (Post 6933642)

Exactly wooden structures are far too risky. They catch fire easily and burn down pretty fast .If you happen to live on the top floor and the building catches fire, you won't
have the time to escape.

A Spectacular $350-Million Wood Pagoda Design By Herzog & de Meuron Unveiled for New Vancouver Art Gallery:

http://mashumashu.com/vancouver-art-gallery/

http://mashumashu.com/wp-content/uploads/VAG-Design.jpg

Big advances in superstrong glued wood will enable lower cost 80+ story wooden skyscrapers
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/09...lued-wood.html

Just a footnote to that article, tulipwood is also called yellow poplar in the US.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdiederi (Post 6933642)

I just finished reading Strangely Like War, The Global Assault on Forests by Derrick Jensen, and I'm more spittin' angry/revolted by lumber companies than ever before!:hell::hell::hell:

If you can save a forest, and all the creatures that become extinct, who have lost their homes, and stop the clear-cutting which draws scavengers like deer and increases the risk of forest fires, then use some other material to build. I also read that tree farms only have 3 life cycles and kaput! Then what?

It's no surprise that lumber companies are among the most powerful lobbyists on a state, country, federal level, insisting everything be built out of wood, and lying about how much more expensive it is to build with concrete.

In Mexico, the concrete firm, CEMEX, is on a par with our lumber companies, except they insist everything be built with concrete. I had a house designed for me in Baja and tell me about it! Even a concrete roof, for a rooftop patio, and would I ever fear a brush fire consuming my all-concrete structure? All my travels through both Mexico and Central America I noticed just about everything built with concrete, houses, apartment buildings, motels, etc.

It's a crying shame that wood construction is foreign to the Mexicans, and when they come here, they trade in their masonry talents for wood construction, and a missed opportunity to employ them to build more durable structures in this country.

I am so, so, so fearful of fire, it's ridiculous! At least my townhouse has cinder block walls going up the entire 2 floors, and when I unit burnt out in my neighborhood, the unit burnt out, it didn't effect any neighbors.

I'm gearing up to move to Tucson to retire, and I already have my eyes set on one of those many 1960's/1970's slump brick or cinder block one story patio townhouses, only the roof is built with wood.

I would never consider living in an all wooden structure, even if the rent was free! And these developers have the nerve to slap the word Luxury on to the building! Fireproof = luxury to me!

I get saddened everytime there's an apartment fire in this city, and tenants are forced to evacuate in the middle of the night, all which could be preventable with concrete construction, concrete walls separating the units.

What's really a frightening idea is if there's ever widespread anarchy in this country, one day, on a windy night, think of what all could burn down in just one night!

Here, in Las Vegas, with many houses built a mere 10 feet apart, and with our wind blasters that come through here at 50-60MPH, imagine!!! All it would take is one Molotov cocktail hurled into someone's living room window to get it all started!

Ah Well! Enough ranting about the widespread Weyer-haus-ing in this country!

'Glue' that makes plant cell walls strong could hold the key to wooden skyscrapers

Read More: http://phys.org/news/2016-12-cell-wa...ey-wooden.html

Quote:

Molecules 10,000 times narrower than the width of a human hair could hold the key to making possible wooden skyscrapers and more energy-efficient paper production, according to research published today in the journal Nature Communications.

- The two most common large molecules - or 'polymers' - found on Earth are cellulose and xylan, both of which are found in the cell walls of materials such as wood and straw. They play a key role in determining the strength of materials and how easily they can be digested. --- For some time, scientists have known that these two polymers must somehow stick together to allow the formation of strong plant walls, but how this occurs has, until now, remained a mystery

- "We knew the answer must be elegant and simple," explains Professor Paul Dupree from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, who led the research. "And in fact, it was. What we found was that cellulose induces xylan to untwist itself and straighten out, allowing it to attach itself to the cellulose molecule. It then acts as a kind of 'glue' that can protect cellulose or bind the molecules together, making very strong structures."

.....

Paris is getting a 'White Forest' wooden tower that will feature 2,000 plants — take a look

http://www.businessinsider.com/green...uction-2017-10

Quote:

.....

- Construction on a greenery-covered tower, designed by the Italian firm Stefano Boeri Architetti, will soon start in the Parisian suburb of Villiers-sur-Marne. On the outside, 2,000 trees, plants, and shrubs will fill the building's facade, roof, and balconies. Inside, the building will feature luxury apartments, offices, and retail. Called Forêt Blanche ("White Forest"), the 177-foot-tall tower will have ample windows for natural sunlight and views of the city. Most of its facade will be made of wood. The apartments, which include balconies, will be located on the high floors, while offices and shops will be on the lower floors.

.....

http://static5.businessinsider.com/i...hitectes07.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by samsonawane08 (Post 7160041)

Exactly wooden structures are far too risky. They catch fire easily and burn down pretty fast .If you happen to live on the top floor and the building catches fire, you won't
have the time to escape.

That's ridiculous. Do you think these building don't have sprinkler systems when completed? That fire occurred when the building was under construction, at it's most vulnerable state.