Wooden Skyscrapers Rise on All Continents 0 20

The American company InventWood has introduced a new material with the concise name Superwood. This is the result of many years of work by Professor Liangbin Hu from the University of Maryland. He aimed to change the properties of wood cellulose to increase the hydrogen bonds between molecules, thereby making the material lighter and stronger.

Superwood is produced from ordinary wood through long and complex processes, including boiling in chemicals, removing certain substances, hot pressing, and so on. As a result, the cost of this material is significantly higher than that of ordinary wood used in construction and finishing buildings. However, its operational properties are much better – the new material is 20 times stronger in tension and 10 times more resistant to impacts.

In terms of its properties, superwood surpasses steel – it is six times lighter but ten times stronger. In terms of strength-to-weight ratio, the innovation outperforms many types of alloys and structural metals, making buildings constructed from it significantly lighter than existing ones. Superwood has some of the best fire resistance ratings among all existing building materials, it is resistant to insects and fungi, and it is decay-resistant.

The main advantage of such a material is the reduction in cost and simplification of construction. For example, it can significantly save on foundations, as the finished building will be much lighter than a conventional one. Additionally, it can be used to manufacture fastening elements that are traditionally made of metal. This will help reduce emissions into the atmosphere by 90% compared to using steel.

Some time ago, a tall wooden building was completed in Vancouver. The Brock Commons student residence rises 53 meters high, consists of 404 rooms, looks like a skyscraper, but is built of wood.

The experience of wooden skyscrapers has also been adopted in China and Japan. In Japan, high-rise construction is given great attention due to the seismic hazards of the region: all Tokyo skyscrapers are equipped with a "bumper" system to suppress underground shocks. Architects believe that using wooden construction will lighten the weight of buildings and allow for the development of even more reliable structures.

Furthermore, a wooden skyscraper capable of breaking the existing record is planned to be built in Japan. The project for a 70-story wooden skyscraper was developed by Sumitomo Forestry – this is how they plan to celebrate their 350th anniversary. The wooden giant will symbolize a careful attitude towards the ecological situation in the country and will delight Tokyo residents with open terraces and walls covered with fire-resistant green plants. Before the construction of the project, builders will create a scaled-down replica 70 meters high – this will help calculate all the nuances of the structure and identify its weak points.