WTF?!? World’s Tallest Wood-Framed Skyscraper Proposed for London

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://weburbanist.com/2016/04/14/worlds-tallest-wood-framed-skyscraper-proposed-for-london/

World’s Tallest Wood-Framed Skyscraper Proposed for London
An angular affair of wood and glass, this proposed skyscraper is designed to reach nearly 1,000 feet in the air and, if it goes forward, will be the first timber-framed tower in London and tallest such structure on Earth.

Stick-framed houses are standard in many parts of the world, but using wood for skyscrapers has a lot of potential advantages, including: lower costs, less embedded energy, more renewable resources and a look and feel scaled to human occupancy.

The obvious worry for most people is, of course, fire. However, timber buildings are famously good at standing up to flames – columns and beams will char in an inferno, and that charred surface can actually stand up longer to heat than exposed steel. While steel heats up and buckles, wood first loses its water weight, then chars and resists the flames.

As it turns out, “Wood is one of nature’s most innovative building materials: the production has no waste products and it binds CO2. Wood has low weight, but is a very strong load-bearing structure compared to its lightness.”

Rising 80 stories above the city and providing 1,000 housing units, the London stick tower project is a collaboration between PLP Architecture and Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture. Completed, it would be the second-tallest building in the city next to The Shard.
 

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
The latest generation is so full of contempt for what their fathers and forefathers learned, knew and accomplished that instead of standing on their shoulders to advance knowledge even further, they have decided to dismiss accumulated wisdom, start all over, chuck the baby out with the bathwater and learn in the school of hard knocks that wheels should be round and the axel goes dead center and that WOOD skyscrapers are a decidedly bad idea.

If I was "in power" I would DISALLOW this EXPERIMENTAL use of wood to build an 80 story RESIDENTIAL building and ONLY allow it to be used for OFFICES that will not be occupied/used during the normal non-business hours between 7pm and 7am.
 

Countrybumpkin

Veteran Member
The wind load on a 80 story building...not certain wood is the right choice in high wind situations...but engineers know more than me...
 

Richard

TB Fanatic
If wood were a suitable material for skyscrapers then it would have been used before and be proven by many builds, how many wood skyscrapers actually exist in the world apart from ramshackle buildings.......
 

duffer

Senior Member
The English and Irish have some colorful - and off-color - names for their unusual buildings. Curious to hear what they'll nick-name this one.
 

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
_______________
An interesting proposition.

They are doing some amazing things in the world of engineered lumber. Adhesives and processes have advanced by huge amounts in the last few years.

I have a few 80+' wooden cell towers that are pushing twenty years old, and they are exposed to Oklahoma weather.

With proper fire suppression, I can see that being a minor issue.


All that being said, I probably wouldn't want to live there.
 
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