World’s tallest wooden skyscraper will be built in Tokyo

International Desk: Japanese architects have unveiled plans for the world's tallest wooden skyscraper.

The 1,148-feet (350-metre) tower, housing shops, homes, offices and a hotel, will become the tallest building in Japan when it is completed in 2041.

Positioned in central Tokyo, the aim of the £4.2 billion ($5.9 billion) structure is to turn the Japanese capital into an environment-friendly city and help 'transform the city into a forest', architects behind the plans said.

Designs for the structure were drawn up by Tokyo-based architectural firm Nikken Sikkei, but the building will be constructed by the Forestry arm of the Sumitomo Group, one of Japan's largest business conglomerates.

Currently referred to as the W350 Project, named after its height, it is not clear which wood or woods have been chosen as the building material.

The tower has 70 stories above ground and is made of a combination of wood and steel, with more than 6.5 million cubic feet (0.2 million cubic metres) of wood making up 90 per cent of the construction material.

Nikken Sekkei's plans outline a braced tube structure that is able to withstand strong winds, as well as Japan's frequent earthquakes.

As well as offices, a hotel, shops and residential units, the completed tower will feature a garden roof, balconies covered with greenery, water features and large internal open spaces filled with natural light.

Brock Commons Tallwood House, a 174-foot-high (53-metre) student accommodation tower opened at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, last autumn, holds the current record for the world's tallest primarily wooden building.

The W350 project is a £4.2 billion ($5.9 billion) wooden skyscraper set to be built in Tokyo, Japan.

At 1,148 feet (350 metres) tall, the tower will be both the tallest building in Japan and the highest wooden structure in the world when it opens in 2041.

With 70 stories above ground, it will be made of a combination of wood and steel, with more than 6.5 million cubic feet (0.2 million cubic metres) of wood making up 90 per cent of the construction material.

As well as offices, a hotel, shops and residential units, the tower will feature a garden roof, balconies covered with greenery, water features and large internal open spaces filled with natural light.

The 24-storey HoHo Tower is set to top this when it opens later this year in Vienna, Austria, with the structure set to reach 275 feet (84 metres) high upon completion.

Housing office units, apartments and a hotel, 76 per cent of the building will be constructed from wood, saving 2,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over similar structures built out of steel and concrete.

A rising number of architectural firms across the globe are turning to wood as their primary construction material, though few match the ambitions of the W350 Project.

'New technological advances with construction techniques and composite wood make this a very exciting area at the moment', Riccardo Tossani, who designed a retirement home on Mount Fuji that is the current largest habitable wood structure in Japan, told the Telegraph.

'It is in many ways the ideal material because it is a renewable resource as well as being somewhat recyclable.'Before construction of the W350 Project begins, Sumitomo Forestry Co must first traverse stringent Japanese fire regulations.

Despite relying on wood to build houses for generations, Japan has largely banned the material in construction because of its flammability - a weakness laid bare by firebomb raids on major cities during World War II.

Source: Mail


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