A Japanese company is set to build a skyscraper made of 90% wood in Tokyo, which will make it the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper upon completion.
Sumitomo Forestry (SMFRF), the Japanese wood products company, is planning to build the skyscraper to commemorate its 350th anniversary in 2041.
The wooden high-rise, named “W350”, will be a “braced tube structure” at 350 meters (1,150 ft) tall and 70 stories, according to a Sumitomo Forestry statement. To construct it, 180,000 cubic meters of indigenous wood will be combined with the other 10% of the building’s makeup—steel.
The plans for the building include balconies on all four sides of the skyscraper that “offer… a view of biodiversity in an urban setting,” and an “interior structure… of a pure wood, producing a calm space that exudes the warmth and gentleness of wood”.
The internal framework of “braced tubes” also takes account of Japan’s high rates of seismic activity, “to prevent deformation of the building due to lateral forces such as earthquakes or wind”.
The total cost of the building will be approximately $5.6 billion (600 billion yen), roughly twice the amount of a conventional high-rise building, according to CNBC.
The current tallest wooden building, Brock Commons, is 53 meters (174 ft) and 18 stories high. It serves as student residence at the University of British Colombia, Vancouver.