W350 – Wood for Metropolis

Urban cities have been constructed of iron and concrete in the past, to the contrary, this development will be part of a project to connect forestry and cities while aiming to build timber constructions, which include offices and commercial facilities for a better environment in the cities. 

The company goal is to make this 350m super high-rise timber structure a symbol of future urban constructions. The project team will conduct further research that focuses on challenges to the development of construction engineering technology for evolutional timber buildings. In addition, the designers will be looking for a key to good solutions of current issues facing the global environment, nature, and urban environmental sustainability as well. 

In 2018, the Japanese architectural company Nikken Sekkei, known for its iconic projects all around the world, created the design of a 350-meter-high wooden tower, which is planned to build in downtown Tokyo by 2041. The stated goal of the architects of this bold concept is to make the new wooden structure a symbol and source of inspiration for creating more environmentally friendly urban structures. The company’s specialists say they will continue to work on research to develop technologies for the construction of more high-rise wooden buildings.

Currently, 33% of the total land use for buildings in Japan is for non-residential buildings, of which only 10% are wood. An estimated 30% of forest growth would be required to convert all non-residential buildings into wooden structures; 90% would be required to convert all buildings into wooden ones. 

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Materials provided by Nikken Sekkei