Plyscrapers- The future of buildings

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A new sustainable way of building infrastructure. The solution is wood!

Through many innovations in engineered timber, the world’s first wooden skyscraper has emerged. The material used is cross-laminated timber. This type of timber is engineered wood- small pieces of wood glued together. There are three main types of engineered wood. The first one being glued laminated timber which is the most commonly used, Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) that has the same strength as concrete and the newest one is cross-laminated timber (CLT) [2].

Compared to traditional building materials such as steel or reinforced concrete, cross-laminated timber has many advantages over it, firstly being more eco-friendly by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, light-weight compared to other building materials thus being easy to transport resulting in low transportation cost, and being readily available [1] [2]. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a four-story building made of mass timber would save emissions equivalent to taking 500 gasoline cars off the road a year [5].

Currently, there are many wooden skyscrapers worldwide. An example is Mjös Tower in Norway’s Brumunddal has a height of 85.4 meters and is the world’s tallest wooden building. It is an 18-story building constructed by glue-laminated timber GLUAM that used CLT and LVL mainly, with concrete on the upper seven floors to prevent swaying in the wind and stabilize the pay scraper [3]. It is also used in many other structures such as a 23-meter tower in Portland Oregon and in Quebec, Canada it was a key building material for the 160-meter long Mistissini Bridge [1].

In the past, it has been used in China to build Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple build in 1056 and has a height of 67.31m (220.83ft) and has withstood several large earthquakes [2] [4].

Mjøsa Tower under construction. Courtesy Metsä Wood [3].

Mjøsa Tower, tallest timber building in the world. Photo credit (c) Moeleven – Nina Rundsveen [6].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

  1. The University of Cambridge, (2019, July 19). Timber skyscrapers: high-tech ‘tree’ houses could be the sustainable buildings of the future. Retrieved on December 12, 2019, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/sowing-seeds-for-timber-skyscrapers-can-rewind-the-carbon-footprint-of-the-concrete-industry?utm_source=Facebook%20Videos&utm_medium=Facebook%20Videos&utm_campaign=Facebook%20Video%20Blogs
  2. Gorvett, Z. (2017, October 31). ‘Plyscrapers’: The rise of wooden skyscraper. Retrieved on December 12, 2019, from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20171026-the-rise-of-skyscrapers-made-of-wood
  3. Robinson, J. The world’s tallest ‘Plyscraper’ completes in Norway. Thespaces.com Retrieved on December 12, 2019, from https://thespaces.com/the-worlds-tallest-plyscraper-completes-in-norway/
  4. Pagoda of Fogong Temple. Last updated on 23 November 2019. En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on December 12, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagoda_of_Fogong_Temple
  5. Harris, M. (2017, August 17). Eco-Friendly ‘Plyscrapers’ are on the rise. Here’s why. Nbcnews.com. Retrieved on December 12, 2019, from https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/tech/eco-friendly-plyscrapers-are-rise-here-s-why-ncna793346
  6. © Copyright 2019 Verdict Media Limited. Mjosa Tower (Mjøstarnet). Designbuild-network. Retrieved on December 12, 2019, from https://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/mjosa-tower-mjostarnet/

2 thoughts on “Plyscrapers- The future of buildings

  1. Tan Peng Peng says:

    While you discussed the wood alternative as being more environmentally friendly, I wonder what the long-term implications are? Judging by the demand required to construct buildings of such stature, it seems our limited supply may not be sufficient (especially since trees do tend to grow rather slowly).

    Also, I wonder about the susceptibility of wood to weather conditions? Will this be implementable in countries with frequently changing weather conditions? For example, the Eiffel Tower was built to withstand changing weather conditions like strong winds. But, wood (or at least the traditional wood I know of) seems like it would degrade over time, and the structural integrity may be uncertain.

    • Imran Muhammad says:

      This type of wood is processed and not in its natural form. Unfortunately, this specific type can be only made by timber and most of these plyscrapers are not made with wood only, materials such as concrete are also used for reinforcement. Timber is also extremely resilient but it’s the greatest enemy is water and fire. To overcome it being affected by water cladding can be done or the wood can be covered with fabric or glass. When burning, for example, burning a log will not result in it being completely burnt but it will get char and will protect the wood underneath.

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