C.F. Møller Architects designed a 34-story wood skyscraper. Image: Berg | C.F. Møller Architects

Look at any major city’s skyline: See those hulking, steely skyscrapers in the distance? Now imagine if they were made of wood. It’d be a pretty interesting sight, right? A proposal from Scandinavian architecture firm C.F. Møller is looking to bring a 34-story, wood-framed residential tower to the center of Stockholm.

As part of a residential design competition, C.F. Møller partnered with architect Dinell Johansson and urban consultant Tyréns to design a massive wood structure that, if chosen, will be built by 2023.  C.F. Møller’s design is among the tallest timber-framed building plans out there. It would tower over Murray Grove, the nine-story residential building in London, and it beats out Michael Green’s proposed 30-story woodscraper in Vancouver as well as Michael Charter’s Big Wood, a prototype for a timber-based building in Chicago’s South Loop.

The building industry, with its use of steel and concrete, accounts for approximately 30-40 percent of all CO2 emissions.

So what’s with the sudden surge in woodscrapers proposals? Historically, wood has been more expensive to build with than steel and concrete. The latter two materials have dominated the high-rise construction market, while more cost-prohibitive wood was relegated to building mostly family homes and low-rises. But timber is having a moment thanks to it being an eco-friendly alternative to other construction options. Mårten Leringe, managing director of Berg | C.F. Møller, notes that the building industry, with its use of steel and concrete, accounts for approximately 30-40 percent of all CO2 emissions, making it a notorious offender in climate change. Wood, on the other hand, decreases CO2 emissions and greatly reduces the amount of construction waste products. Not to mention timber is lighter, which makes it more energy efficient to transport.

Each apartment would have wood walls and floors, as well as an energy-saving, glass-covered veranda. Image: Berg | C.F. Møller Architects

“Wood is still a little bit more expensive as a construction material,” Leringe told Wired, “But with the recognition of the advantages in terms of sustainability and environmental issues, we believe we’ll witness a large boom in the use of the material in the coming years that also will lead to a cheaper price on the products.”

If built, C.F. Moller’s design will be constructed from mostly timber—beams, pillars, ceilings and walls will all be wood, while the current design calls for a concrete core to stabilize the building. Additionally, the lower floors will be supported with very thin steel pillars that are clad with wood beams to help carry the load of the 34-story tower and make it more fire resistant (it’s true, wood is actually quite good at resisting flames given its capacity to hold moisture).

Though the design is still just a proposal, Leringe believes timber is a viable future for constructing large-scale buildings—particularly if we can protect against deforestation with sustainable harvesting.

“The idea of bringing wood into the concept of a skyscraper is on one level mind-blowing, but on another hand absolutely possible,” he said. “In Sweden we believe that wood is necessary to use if we seriously want to take on the challenge of creating sustainable constructions.”

via Wired