Wooden high-rise instead of reinforced concrete

Chicago, Vienna, Tokyo: record buildings made of wood are being planned or have already been erected in cities around the world. The renewable building material is in vogue and this is not only due to idealism.

Vienna is currently home to the tallest building built primarily from wood. It has 24 floors and is 84 meters high. The building will open next summer. But Vienna will not remain the record holder for wood for long. The 130-meter-high Oakwood Timber Tower 2 is to be built in Amsterdam, the 228-meter-high River Beach Tower in Chicago and the 350-meter-high W350 residential tower with 70 floors and planted trees is planned for Tokyo (pictured above).

These prestige projects should only be the forerunners for a long-term development towards more wood and less reinforced concrete on construction sites around the world.