New Designs: Is Hybrid Wood Replacing Concrete?

Some of Europe’s new high rise buildings are now made up of mixed concoctions – hybrid wood and concrete. Believe it or not, one can never easily tell the difference as these impressive creations are also becoming more popular as seen in the recent years.

Architonic.com featured an article about the Stadthaus, which was completed in 2008 and was regarded as the world’s tallest structure made of timber wood. Yes, wood (not just concrete). The building was 30 metres tall and sat in the heart of the borough of London Hackney – all made of wood. The said structure is of 9 stories high; and what’s amazing about it was that it was just completed in less than a month by 4 people. The architectural wonder still stands beautiful until today.

Another building made of wood was also showcased in the same article. This ten story building known as the Forte was completed in 2012 and is located in Victoria Harbour. It only took 5 people about ten weeks to finish it. Click to view them pics here.

Architectureanddesign.com.au mentioned in an article that though counter-intuitive, it is environmentally preferable to use wood rather than the regular modern building material such as concrete, brick or aluminum as it is renewably safe and abundant in quantity. Modern construction techniques are in the works in using wood as an alternate building material as shown in mid-rise buildings.

In the same article, the trend of using cross-laminated wood has also been proven to compare in strength with steel over time, and harvesting wood for use in the construction industry would reduce incidences of wildfire as well. Local people would also become more mindful of its reforestation and likely, more job opportunities. Going greener for Mother Earth is a huge responsibility for all humanity to observe.

Source: http://www.realtytoday.com/