Mad arkitekter wins the competition for the construction of the Woho residential skyscraper in Berlin-Kreuzberg, positioning itself within a world oriented towards the future thanks to wood. If architecture has literally been aiming higher and higher with its buildings for years, it is now clear that in order to continue it is necessary to make architecture more sustainable.
Let’s now see together the list of present and future projects. Which cities will join the queue for innovative yet sustainable architecture in the future?
The SKYSCRAPERS of the future are made of WOOD: next stop?
#The tallest wooden skyscraper in Germany
The Oslo-based architecture studio Mad arkitekter won the competition for the construction of the WoHo residential skyscraper in Berlin-Kreuzberg, in Schöneberger Straße.
The Norwegian company’s project convinced the jury for having inserted revolutionary design within the urban context such as that of Berlin, blending perfectly with the environment and thus allowing it to position itself at the top of the list of 14 European projects that competed with it.
According to Jonny Klokk, architect and partner in charge of Mad Arkitekter, the building will be “an interpretation of a typical Kreuzberg neighborhood, in portrait format”.
# The project
The 98-meter skyscraper, with its 29 floors, will be the tallest wooden building in Germany. Only the base will be built in reinforced concrete.
15% of the 18,000 square meters of space is provided for social infrastructure, 25% for commercial activities and 60% for rental apartments, cooperative apartments and condominiums.
Mad Arkitekter’s will be a skyscraper open to the public; the first floor will in fact offer shops and bakeries as well as the other floors of the base area will host kindergartens and schools with canteens and playgrounds. There are also facilities for young people such as study rooms, not to forget the bars and saunas on the top floor that will give street life the opportunity to level up.
# The solution for the housing shortage
In Berlin, discussions are underway to build upwards to compensate for the housing shortage, at a time when land prices are rising. The WoHo residence will fulfill the city’s vertical development project. However, the Senate administration has not yet announced the start date for construction.
# Wooden skyscrapers: why they are the right choice
There are many projects of wooden skyscrapers, new buildings aim higher and higher but it is no longer a secret that there is the need, not to say the duty, to create sustainable buildings.
The data speak for themselves: a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions from cities are caused by buildings, a frightening percentage to which the amount of CO2 in the air that comes from construction materials must also be added.
The use of wood would result in the capture of CO2 by buildings and the reduction of air pollution.
Wood combines tradition and innovation, bringing unique advantages; being very light in fact, it allows for smaller foundations and it goes without saying that less noisy and lighter machines than traditional ones are required to build a building with this material.
Consequently, a wooden building has an ecological footprint up to 75% lower than that of a traditional building.
Let’s see some of the most important projects.
# MjosaTower
Completed in 2019, the Mjøsa Tower (or Mjøstårnet) is the tallest wooden building in the world. A skyscraper 85.4 m high for 18 floors.
It is located in Norway, near Oslo, thanks to the project by Voll Arkitekter that creates a building that is a symbol of green building that promotes sustainability in architecture.
# HoHo
Designed to be the tallest in the world, HoHo is an 84 meter tall wooden skyscraper spread over 24 floors. Born in Vienna, he is an icon of sustainable architecture.
Conceived as a small vertical city, it will house offices, apartments and a hotel.
Initially conceived to excel, presenting itself as the queen of sustainable towers, during construction it had to collide with another building, also under construction.
Only 40 cm taller, the already mentioned Mjøstårnet steals the throne from the HoHo skyscraper almost two thousand kilometers away.
# Tour Hyperion
Designed by the French architect Jean-Paul Viguier, almost 60 meters high, the Hypérion tower was inaugurated in Bordeaux.
The architect defines the dry construction of the building as “quick and clean and particularly suitable for construction in urban areas with a dense population”.
These are just some of the wooden skyscrapers in the world. Which cities will join the queue for innovative yet sustainable architecture in the future? For the moment in the list, with projects no less ambitious than those mentioned above, there are Vancouver, Australia, Tokyo and many others.
ARIANNA BOTTINI
