As the global construction industry consciously moves towards low embodied carbon materials to reduce their carbon footprint, there is increasing interest in engineered wood or mass timber products for the environmental advantages they bring to building projects. Thanks to innovations in the field, mass timber not only delivers significant loadbearing capabilities comparable to steel and concrete, but also offers lightweight and fire-resistant properties, creating new opportunities to build taller timber buildings.
Based on data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), here’s our pick of the tallest timber buildings in the world.
Ascent, USA by Korb + Associates Architects
Image: Korb + Associates Architects
Officially certified by the CTBUH as the world’s tallest mass timber building, Ascent is a 25-storey mixed-use luxury development in Milwaukee designed by Korb + Associates for New Land Enterprises LLP and Wiechmann Enterprises. Standing 86.6 metres tall, Ascent is a hybrid concrete-timber building, with the mass timber structure resting on a 5-storey concrete podium that houses the parking garage. Thornton Tomasetti led the mass timber design program, which used a system of glue laminated timber (glulam) beams and columns to support the cross laminated timber (CLT) floors. The use of mass timber in the project decreased construction time by approximately 25 percent.
Mjøstårnet, Norway by Voll Arkitekter
Image: Ricardo Foto
Crowned in 2019 by CTBUH as the world’s tallest timber building, Mjøstårnet, designed by Voll Arkitekter is an 85.4-metre-high tower in the Norwegian city of Brumunddal, and made entirely of cross laminated timber and glue laminated timber. Featuring apartments, a hotel, a swimming pool, office spaces and a restaurant across its 18 storeys, the mixed-use building used 3500m³ of timber sourced locally, with the timber structure installed by Moelven Limtre. Mjøstårnet still remains the tallest all-timber building in the world.
HoHo, Austria by Rüdiger Lainer and Partner
Image: cetus Baudevelopment GmbH and Erich Reismann
Standing 84 metres high, HoHo Vienna is located in the lakeside town of Aspern and is a 24-storey mixed-use development housing office spaces, a hotel, apartments, a fitness and beauty centre, as well as several medical practices. HoHo consists of two separate structures connected by an underground passageway. The concrete-timber hybrid construction predominantly uses wood as the primary material with at least 75 per cent of the building constructed using timber, saving around 2,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions. HASSLACHER group supplied 400m³ of glue laminated timber and 14,400m² of cross laminated timber for the project.
Haut, Netherlands by Team V Architecture
Image: Jannes Linders
An iconic building in Amsterdam, Haut is a 73-metre tall residential tower featuring a timber-concrete hybrid construction. Designed by Team V Architecture and brought to life through a collaboration with Lingotto, Arup, and J.P. van Eesteren, this timber high-rise achieved BREEAM Outstanding, the highest sustainability rating awarded to a residential building in the Netherlands. Setting a new standard for healthy building and luxury living, the building uses concrete for the foundation, basement and core, while the loadbearing structure, floors and walls are made using CLT panels totalling to about 2800m³. Interestingly, only the inner walls are loadbearing, allowing for floor-to-ceiling windows on the facade.
Sara Kulturhus Centre, Sweden by White Arkitekter
Image: Åke E:son Lindman
Located in the heart of Skellefteå in northern Sweden, this new cultural centre designed by White Arkitekter combines theatres, museum, art galleries, public library, conference centre, hotel and restaurants in an almost 73-metre high sustainable architecture package. Inspired by the region’s long tradition of timber construction, the architects conceptualised the 20-storey project as a showcase for sustainable design, liberally using cross laminated timber and glulam in the timber-steel hybrid construction, allowing the entire loadbearing structure to be built without concrete.
De Karel Doorman, Netherlands by Ibelings van Tilburg Architecten
Image: Ossip van Duivenbode
The renovation of a much-loved shopping destination – Ter Meulen in Rotterdam – led to the construction of a new timber structure atop the columns and foundations of the existing 1940s building, which was being considered for demolition. Standing 70.5 metres in height, the 22-storey residential timber building housing 114 apartments, features a timber-concrete-steel hybrid construction, with the loadbearing structure made of steel, and two concrete lift shafts providing the required stability to the structure as well as connection between the old and new builds.
55 Southbank, Australia by Bates Smart
Image: Peter Clarke
At almost 70 metres, this mixed-use 19-storey building in Melbourne is the tallest timber structure in Australia. Home to the new Adina Apartment Hotel Melbourne Southbank – the first CLT high-rise hotel in Australia – the structure sits on top of an existing commercial building. The architects, Bates Smart took up the challenge to add 10 additional levels to the existing concrete and steel structure, using approximately 5,300 tonnes of CLT to deliver a new hotel with 220 rooms along with a 20-metre pool and a gym.
