Milwaukee to Build World's Tallest Wooden Skyscraper with Mass Timber
TapTechNews August 12th news, Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the US is expected to become the location of the world's tallest wooden skyscraper. The Michael Green Architecture (MGA) in Vancouver, Canada, has recently announced this ambitious architectural plan.
The project is led by the developer Neutral and is currently in the approval stage. The planned complex includes office space, retail malls, hotels, residences, and public plazas. The height is expected to reach 600 feet (TapTechNews note: about 182.88 meters), with a total of 55 floors, and the main structure uses modern wood construction materials - mass timber. The entire project is developed in stages and will eventually provide 750 residential units and 190,000 square feet of office space. In addition, it includes 40,000 square feet of retail space, 300 hotel rooms, 1100 structured parking spaces, and public walkways and plazas.
Unlike traditional wood construction, mass timber is a factory-prepared product made by gluing multiple layers of wood, with higher strength, moisture resistance, and resistance to environmental stress. Compared to concrete and steel, this material has lower cost, lighter weight, stronger environmental friendliness, and faster construction speed. In addition, wood construction has unique aesthetic value and can better blend into the urban environment.
MGA expects the project investment to exceed 700 million US dollars (currently about 5.023 billion Chinese yuan) and will include multiple mixed-use buildings.
Although the concept of a wooden skyscraper may be unbelievable to some people, but the multi-layer structure of mass timber makes it have excellent fire resistance performance, even exceeding that of steel structures. Industry insiders generally believe that the safety, strength, and environmental performance of mass timber have been fully verified. As the project progresses, people's doubts about high-rise wood structures will also gradually dissipate.