The 10-storey Forte building, made of timber, was completed last year in Melbourne’s Docklands, besting the nine-storey Murray Grove apartment building built in London in 2009. Source: The Australian
But architects are getting more ambitious. The Canadian Wood Council has tasked local firm McFarlane Green Biggar and Equilibrium Consultants to create a methodology for constructing a timber skyscraper.
This has traditionally been thought impossible because of numerous problems: wood is highly flammable, involves the cutting down of trees and is not particularly strong.
But Michael Green, principal at McFarlane Green Biggar, has found a way. The resultant 30-storey concept building is nearly 100m tall and timber bears all the loads, thanks to a new generation of cross-laminated timber, laminated stand lumber and laminated veneer lumber.
The firm is exploring ways to construct a real timber tower. What is hard to do is to change the world’s mindset according to Green.
