Architects are increasingly using mass timber in the hopes of creating net-zero buildings but carbon assessments are missing key sources of potential emissions, researchers tell Dezeen in this feature from our Timber Revolution series which ran throughout March.
The standard method for determining a building’s overall carbon footprint is a whole-building life-cycle assessment (LCA) that breaks down emissions at every stage – from the sourcing of raw materials to their ultimate disposal.
These calculations tend to indicate significantly lower emissions for timber structures compared to those made entirely out of concrete and steel. But experts warned that LCAs only tell part of the story. Read the feature ›
Building tall with timber “does not make sense” say experts
This month’s newsletter also features an opinion piece from architecture critic Aaron Betsky which argues David Chipperfield did not deserve to win the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize and an exclusive interview with urbanist Carlos Moreno who responds to the “shocking” conspiracy theories surrounding his 15-minute city concept.
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As our Timber Revolution series comes to an end, we round up the 10 significant buildings that have pushed the use of mass-timber.
Starting with a small housing scheme built in rural Austria in the late 1990s and ending with an 87-metre tower completed in the USA last year, the buildings profiled in the series chart the rise of engineered wood over the past 25 years.
Here are 10 mass-timber buildings that helped to change the way we think about wood:
Photo by Ignacio Martinez
Ölzbündt, Austria, by HK Architekten (1997)
Our first case study profiled this early example of mass-timber multi-storey housing outside Dornbirn by Herman Kauffman’s studio, HK Architekten.
The three-floor block, which holds 13 homes and references traditional local houses in its design, was a prototype for a construction system that would enable multi-storey residential buildings to be made out of wood.
Find out more about Ölzbündt ›
Photo by Paul Ott (also top)
BTZ at TU Graz, Austria, by Nussmüller Architekten (2001)
Much of the early research into mass timber took place in Austria, and the Bau Technik Zentrum (BTZ) at Graz University of Technology was the very epicentre of that work.
Designed by Nussmüller Architekten, the BTZ was an important mass-timber testing centre but also a significant piece of wooden architecture in itself, as one of the first examples of panel-system mass-timber construction and the first timber building with a curved roof.
Find out more about BTZ at TU Graz ›
Photo by Will Pryce
Murray Grove, UK, by Waugh Thistleton Architects (2009)
Murray Grove, also known as Stadthaus, attracted international attention upon its completion for demonstrating that timber could be used for tall buildings.
The nine-storey residential tower in east London, designed by local studio Waugh Thistleton, has a superstructure made almost entirely from pre-fabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Find out more about Murray Grove ›
Photo courtesy of Lendlease
Forté, Australia, by Lendlease (2012)
More than 750 CLT panels were shipped all the way from Austria to Australia to construct the first mass-timber high rise down under, designed and built by developer Lendlease.
Even despite the extensive freightage, university researchers said that the 10-storey building’s environmental impact was still smaller than if it had been constructed using concrete.
Find out more about Forté ›
Photo by Didier Boy de la Tour
Tamedia Office Building, Switzerland, by Shigeru Ban (2013)
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban worked with Swiss engineer Hermann Blumer to devise a novel structural system for this extension to an office building in Zurich.
The pre-fabricated glued-laminated timber skeleton is held together entirely without screws or nails, instead consisting of large columns and cross-beams intersected by ovular spacer beams that lock the whole structure together.
Find out more about the Tamedia Office Building ›
Photo by Ema Peter Photography
T3, USA, by Michael Green Architecture (2016)
T3 in Minneapolis, designed by Canadian office Michael Green Architecture, became the first tall wooden structure in the USA upon its completion.
Constructed using wood from trees killed by mountain pine beetles, it was intended to demonstrate to the US real-estate industry that large mass-timber projects were viable – and it worked, with 1,677 mass-timber buildings now either finished or in progress across the country.
Find out more about T3 ›
Photo courtesy of Waugh Thistleton Architects
Dalston Works, UK, by Waugh Thistleton Architects (2017)
Using 3,852 cubic metres of CLT, the Dalston Works apartment complex in east London used more mass timber by volume than any other building.
Also designed by Waugh Thistleton, its external, party and core walls, as well as flooring and stairs, were made entirely from pieces of CLT – but at the request of the developer it was clad in traditional bricks to reference nearby Edwardian and Victorian buildings.
Find out more about Dalston Works ›
Photo by Ricardo Foto
Mjøstårnet, Norway, by Voll Arkitekter (2019)
Mjøstårnet is an 85.4-metre-high tower on the edge of Norway’s biggest lake constructed using wood from local spruce and pine forests.
Architecture studio Voll Arkitekter designed the project, which was the world’s tallest timber building when completed, to show that building large, complex structures out of wood is possible.
Find out more about Mjøstårnet ›
Photo by Patrick Degerman
Sara Kulturhus Centre, Sweden, by White Arkitekter (2021)
White Arkitekter’s Sara Kulturhus Centre is a 20-storey mass-timber building just below the Arctic Circle in the Swedish city of Skellefteå.
The vast quantities of wood used in its structure are estimated to store 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – double the amount thought to have been emitted during construction, meaning the studio claims the building will be carbon negative over its lifetime.
Find out more about the Sara Kulturhus Centre ›
Photo courtesy of Korb + Associates Architects
Ascent, USA, by Korb + Associates Architects (2022)
The final case study featured in the Timber Revolution series is Ascent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently the world’s tallest mass-timber building at 86.6 metres – though likely not for much longer.
Rather than its height, Korb + Associates Architects believes the residential project’s true significance is the collaborative model devised for working with city officials to achieve regulatory sign-off.
This article is part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution series, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether going back to wood as our primary construction material can lead the world to a more sustainable future.
As part of our Timber Revolution series, we have rounded up the world’s 10 tallest buildings with mass-timber structures, including an engineered-wood shopping-centre extension and a carbon-negative cultural centre.
Compiled using data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the roundup also features apartment towers, hotels and a school, demonstrating the potential of mass timber in building tall structures.
While some of the projects have structures made entirely from mass-timber components, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam), others introduce concrete and steel elements to build taller.
Here are the world’s 10 tallest buildings with mass-timber structures:
Photo courtesy of Korb + Associates Architects
Ascent, USA, by Korb + Associates Architects (2022)
Designed by American studio Korb + Associates Architects, this 86.6-metre-tall luxury apartment and retail tower in Wisconsin was certified last year as the world’s tallest timber building.
Named Ascent, the 25-storey building has a concrete base, elevator and stair shafts, with the rest of its structure made from CLT and glulam.
Photo courtesy of Moelven
Mjøstårnet, Norway, by Voll Arkitekter (2019)
Certified as the world’s tallest timber building at the time of its completion in 2019, the 85.4-metre-tall Mjøstårnet tower by Norwegian architecture studio Voll Arkitekter has glulam columns and elevator shafts made entirely from CLT.
Located in Brumunddal – an area in Norway with an established wood-processing industry – the timber used to build Mjøstårnet was locally sourced.
Photo by Baudevelopment
HoHo Wien, Austria, by RLP Rüdiger Lainer + Partner (2020)
Austrian architecture studio RLP Rüdiger Lainer + Partner designed the mixed-use HoHo Wien building with three connected tower blocks arranged in an L-shape, each with a concrete core supporting the timber structure.
According to the studio, 75 per cent of the 84-metre-tall building above the ground-floor level is made from wood, including walls, ceilings, floors and columns.
Photo by Jannes Linders for Team V Architecture
Haut, the Netherlands, Team V Architecture (2022)
Dutch architecture studio Team V Architecture designed the 21-storey Haut residential building with floors and load-bearing inner walls made from CLT, along with a predominantly glazed facade and a core, basement and foundations made of concrete.
The 73-metre-tall structure features a rooftop garden with rainwater storage and 1,500 square metres of solar panels on its roof and facade, helping it achieve a BREEAM Outstanding sustainability rating.
Photo by Patrick Degerman
Sara Kulturhus Centre, Sweden, by White Arkitekter (2021)
The Sara Kulturhus Centre in Skellefteå, Sweden, is a 72.8-metre-tall structure made from CLT and glulam that architecture studio White Arkitekter designed to be carbon negative over its lifetime.
It was completed in 2021 and contains a theatre, gallery, library, museum and hotel.
“Embodied carbon emissions from materials, transport and construction as well as carbon emissions from operational energy during 50 years are less than the carbon sequestration in wood within the building,” said White Arkitekter partner Robert Schmitz.
Photo by Ossip van Duivenbode
De Karel Doorman, the Netherlands, by Ibelings van Tilburg Architecten (2012)
Dutch architecture studio Ibelings van Tilburg Architecten restored a 1940s shopping centre in Rotterdam and topped it with a hybrid structure of wood and steel containing 114 apartments.
The original shopping centre was ready for demolition before the studio’s intervention, which rests on existing concrete pillars and foundations and extends the building to a height of 70 metres.
“By choosing to ‘top up’ the building we have prevented demolition and the need to remove 15,000 tonnes of concrete,” said the studio.
Photo by Peter Clarke
55 Southbank Boulevard, Australia, by Bates Smart (2020)
Australian architecture studio Bates Smart transformed a concrete building in Melbourne into a 69.7-metre-tall hotel by adding a 10-storey CLT structure on top of it.
Completed in 2020, the studio claims that the project is Australia’s first CLT extension.
“The existing concrete building was designed to support an additional five floors of concrete structure, however by utilising timber, which is 20 per cent the weight of concrete, an additional 10 levels were able to be built providing 15,000 square metres of new floor space and 220 new hotel rooms,” Bates Smart told Dezeen.
Photo courtesy of Zug Estates Holding AG
Arbo, Switzerland, by Manetsch Meyer Architects (2019)
Swiss architecture studio Manetsch Meyer Architects designed three buildings for the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts campus in the Swiss municipality of Risch-Rotkreuz.
Two of the three buildings were constructed with composite structures of wood and concrete, including the tallest building named Arbo, which is 60 metres tall and currently the world’s eighth-tallest mass-timber building.
According to the project developer Zug Estates, Arbo was the tallest wooden building in Switzerland when it was completed in 2019.
Photo courtesy of CPG Consultants
Eunoia Junior College, Singapore, by CPG Consultants (2019)
Completed in 2019 by building management firm CPG Consultants, the Eunoia Junior College comprises both a 10-storey and 12-storey tower, alongside a five-storey structure topped with a sports field. At its tallest point, it reaches 56 metres.
Described by the firm as Singapore’s first high-rise junior college, the school is constructed with CLT exterior walls clad with aluminium, teamed with floors made up of concrete slabs and glulam beams.
Photo by Michael Elken
Brock Commons Tallwood House, Canada, by Acton Ostry Architects (2017)
This student residence in Vancouver was formerly the tallest contemporary mass-timber building in the world at the time of its completion in 2017.
Although its height of 53 metres has now been well surpassed, Canadian studio Acton Ostry Architects designed the student housing to demonstrate that engineered wood was a viable option for building high-rise structures.
It is constructed from two concrete cores, along with CLT floor panels that are supported by glulam columns.
Timber Revolution This article is part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution series, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether going back to wood as our primary construction material can lead the world to a more sustainable future.
A stadium by Zaha Hadid Architects and housing by Adjaye Associates feature in this roundup of upcoming wooden buildings, curated as part of our Timber Revolution series.
Also featured on the list are towers, university buildings and an airport terminal, illustrating mass timber’s potential for use in a variety of architectural projects.
Mass-timber products, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam), are growing in popularity in architecture as they can offer a low-carbon alternative to commonplace materials including steel and concrete.
They also help to bring a natural aesthetic to buildings, supporting the principles of biophilia that can boost occupant wellbeing.
Read on for 11 upcoming buildings with mass-timber structures:
Image by Negativ
Eco Park, UK, by Zaha Hadid Architects
Set to become the world’s first timber football stadium, Eco Park by Zaha Hadid Architects will be built in England as the home of Forest Green Rovers football club.
According to the studio, the 5,000-seat venue will be built almost entirely from wood – including its overhanging roof, structure and cladding.
Rocket&Tigerli, Switzerland, by Schmidt Hammer Lassen
In Switzerland, the world’s tallest wooden building, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen, is currently under development. The 100-metre-tall tower will have a timber core and load-bearing structure.
Slated for completion in 2026, it will be clad in terracotta and sit alongside three other blocks. Together, these will form a complex containing everything from housing to shops.
Find out more about Rocket&Tigerli ›
Image courtesy of Henning Larsen Architects
World of Volvo, Sweden, by Henning Larsen Architects
This mass-timber building will house an experience centre and meeting place for the car manufacturer Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Its structural columns and beams will all be constructed from glulam while the floor slabs will be constructed from CLT.
According to the designer Henning Larsen Architects, the project is hoped to “set a new standard for the many ways we can use timber in architecture”.
Find out more about World of Volvo ›
Image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto
Timber House, Canada, by Adjaye Associates
Timber House by Adjaye Associates is expected to become one of the largest residential mass-timber structures in Canada.
Once complete, it will combine affordable housing units with residences for senior citizens, enclosed by a distinctive gridded facade with planted balconies.
The design forms part of the wider Quayside development in Toronto, which will also feature buildings by Alison Brooks Architects and Henning Larsen Architects and is hoped to become “the first all-electric, zero-carbon community at this scale”.
Find out more about Timber House ›
Image courtesy of BIG
Dock A, Switzerland, BIG and HOK
Timber sourced locally in Switzerland will be used to construct Dock A, the mass-timber terminal that BIG and HOK are developing for Zurich airport.
Its main structure will be formed of V-shaped timber columns, giving the building a natural material palette that nods to the long-standing tradition of wood construction in the country.
“The visually calm material palette, natural light, and biophilia help redefine passenger expectations of the typical airport experience,” said BIG partner Martin Voelkle.
Find out more about Dock A ›
Image courtesy of Powerhouse Architects
Tilburg University Lecture Hall, Netherlands, by Powerhouse Company
Creating a circular building that eliminates waste and pollution is the aim of the Tilburg University Lecture Hall, which Powerhouse Company is designing in the Netherlands.
The square-shaped building will be built with demountable and recyclable components, including 4.6 kilometres-worth of structural timber beams and hung limestone facade panels.
Find out more about Tilburg University Lecture Hall ›
Image courtesy of Jakob+MacFarlane
Living Landscape, Iceland, by Jakob+MacFarlane and T.ark
Scheduled for completion in 2026, Living Landscape is a mixed-use building designed to transform a landfill site in Reykjavík.
According to its architects, Jakob+MacFarlane and T.ark, it will become the “largest wooden building in Iceland” upon completion thanks to its CLT structure.
The studio is also aiming for the building to achieve net-zero lifetime carbon emissions, which will be achieved in part through the use of timber but also through renewable energy.
Find out more about Living Landscape ›
Image by Paolo Fassoli
Naples Underground Central Station, Italy, by EMBT
Large, undulating sections of glulam are being used to create the sculptural Naples Underground Central Station, which is currently under construction in Italy.
Barcelona studio EMBT said that the use of wood is intended to “introduce a piece of nature” to Centro Direzionale, the surrounding 1970s district designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange.
Find out more about Naples Underground Central Station ›
Image by Filippo Bolognese Images
Homerton College, UK, by Alison Brooks Architects
Another education building on the list is a student hub designed by Alison Brooks Architects for the University of Cambridge. It will have an expressed CLT and glulam structure, concealed externally by copper cladding.
The studio said the timber’s sequestered carbon “will more than offset the emissions from regulated carbon emissions produced from building services installations and unregulated carbon emissions from day-to-day building use”.
Find out more about Homerton College ›
Image courtesy of Urban Agency
Dock Mill, Ireland, by Urban Agency
One of the more unusual projects on the list is a mass-timber extension to an existing mill in Dublin, which will be one of the tallest timber buildings in Europe when it completes.
Named Dock Mill, the project by Urban Agency will use CLT to ease and quicken construction on the restricted waterside site.
A double-skin glass facade will wrap the timber structure of the new extension, which the studio envisions as a “modern take on the glasshouse”.
Find out more about Dock Mill ›
Image courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Stefano Boeri Architetti
Pirelli 39, Italy, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Stefano Boeri Architetti
In Milan, a green-walled tower with a mass-timber structure is set to be built alongside the 1950s Pirellino office skyscraper.
Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Stefano Boeri Architetti, it forms part of a wider renovation project of the existing Gio Ponti-designed building, to which it will be linked by a multi-storey glass bridge.
Its timber structure will be complemented by 1,700 square meters of green walls that will change colour with the seasons.
Timber Revolution This article is part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution series, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether going back to wood as our primary construction material can lead the world to a more sustainable future.
London studio Waugh Thistleton Architects has unveiled the Black & White Building, a mass-timber office building designed for The Office Group in Shoreditch with a slatted tulipwood facade.
The 17.8-metre-high office building, which the studio says is the “tallest mass-timber office building in central London”, was built from a combination of beech, pine and spruce timber.
The building is located in Shoreditch, east London
Constructed from structural timber, Waugh Thistleton Architects clad the exterior of the six-storey building in tulipwood timber louvres from the street level to the roof.
“The design means that you also get the beauty of the timber internally,” Waugh Thistleton co-founder Andrew Waugh told Dezeen.
“It’s a simple form driven by the context of timber engineering, as well as the context of the surrounding Victorian buildings – these were also constructed using current methods and built to a brief,” Waugh added.
“There is no narrative here, it is pure modernism.”
Tulipwood louvres protect it from the sun
Waugh Thistleton Architects constructed the 4,480-square-metre Black & White Building from prefabricated components that were precision-engineered to be slotted together.
This means the building, which Waugh describes as “visibly sustainable”, is dismantlable and can be disassembled rather than demolished at the end of its life with its materials reused.
Wood was also used to decorate the interior, with sculptures created from wood beams
Its foundation and lower ground floor were made from concrete, with the rest of the structure constructed from cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Curtain walling was made from glued laminated timber (glulam), while columns and beams were constructed from laminated veneer lumber (LVL), which the studio said helps save on space.
“We have CLT panels for the core and CLT panels for the floors,” Waugh Thistleton Architects associate director David Lomax said. “And then the columns and beams are made from quite a highly engineered product called LVL.”
“We’re talking about typically, at the lowest level where the loads are greatest, about 100 millimetres on each side of the column saving in its dimensions,” he added.
“That’s made out of beech, which is a hardwood so it performs much, much better. [It’s] smaller columns.”
London studio Daytrip designed the interior
According to the studio, by using engineered-wood materials rather than a traditional concrete and steel structure, the building saves “thousands of tonnes in CO2” as it generates much less greenhouse gas.
The building also has at least 37 per cent less embodied carbon than comparable concrete structures, according to The Office Group (TOG).
It was named the Black & White Building as it replaces an earlier building on the site, a Victorian brick warehouse with a timber interior that had been painted black and white.
The existing building was deteriorating and not suitable for a retrofit, Waugh Thistleton Architects said.
“It couldn’t be extended – it was very small and had no foundations,” Waugh said. “Extending it would have been just a cosmetic exercise. This isn’t romance, it’s architecture.”
Warm hues contrast the timber walls inside
After meeting Waugh at a panel talk about sustainability, TOG co-founder Charlie Green asked him to instead create a new building that would be suitable for the site.
“We took our planning consented scheme, and we used the envelope and the massing of that to ask Andrew to create something within that form that’s timber,” Green said.
“He did more than that, he redesigned it so we had a more efficient core position to create a better flow of space, and came up with this timber scheme.”
The office is partly powered by 80 photovoltaic panels on its roof, with all other energy coming from green suppliers, Green said.
“Wasabi green” was used for the interior
Design studio Daytrip created the interior of the building, which contains 28 offices in different sizes as well as six meeting rooms, break-out areas and focus booths and a dedicated yoga and barre studio on the ground floor.
The building’s timber features are also visible inside, where the timber walls match the wooden furniture.
“We reacted to the original concept and the sustainable drive and wanted to continue that in the interiors,” said Daytrip co-founder Iwan Halstead.
“We wanted to respect and celebrate the timber part of the architecture.”
Most of the furniture comes from UK suppliers
Timber beams from the Victorian warehouse that previously occupied the site were kept and turned into wooden sculptures that decorate the ground-floor lobby.
Daytrip aimed to also keep the furniture as local and sustainable as possible.
“A lot of the specifications and furniture are UK suppliers and that was something that we wanted to make an effort to achieve, and we’ve done it with 80 per cent of the furniture,” Halstead said.
The overall interior design was informed by Tokyo’s original Hotel Okura, a mid-century modern hotel that was demolished in 2015 but has since been rebuilt.
A colour palette of muted green and earthy hues, which Daytrip gave names like “wasabi green,” is combined with tactile materials, including some made from recycled components.
The interior design was informed by Hotel Okura in Tokyo
At the top of the building sits a rooftop terrace, while a central lightwell was designed to help maximise the building’s natural light.
The building is “about sustainability more than anything,” Waugh said. “It’s a bright future for architecture, not the hair shirt and oat milk that sustainability is always described as.”
TOG operates more than 50 workspaces in the UK and Europe. These include an office in Borough Yards with an interior by Danish designer David Thulstrup, and a Euston workspace with an interior informed by nearby buildings such as the British Library.
