Canada’s amazing 30 story wooden skyscraper is the next big revolution in green architecture

Green's

The architect

Michael Green

A synopsis

Vancouver is soon going to have a tall wooden skyscraper – the idea that can certainly bring a revolution in green architecture. Architect Michael Green has conceived this brilliant scheme that can effectively cut down the carbon footprints.

Switching to wood to construct tall buildings instead of steel and cement itself indicates a revolutionary vision of the architects who think about climate change and are environmentally minded.

Architect Michael Green plans to erect a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver, Canada. If erected, this building would certainly turn out to be as fascinating as the idea itself.

As Green thinks of constructing this building on the lands of Canada, his other plans are already in progress in Austria and Norway for 20- and 17-story, respectively. He plans to use wood as the main component for creating these buildings and completely avoiding concrete and steel.

Why only wood?

There are number of reasons and facts that don’t allow us to have many wooden skyscrapers. The biggest reason is the strength and the second being it easily inflammable. When a skyscraper is constructed, it requires being highly strong to support maximum weight, which seems little hard in case of wooden skyscrapers.

But, according to Green, these problems can be easily tackled using large pieces of laminated lumber. These are basically a cluster of wood pieces glued together. This is indeed a very strong structure and even stronger when these are arranged and fused together at right angles. Secondly, wood is a good material when it comes to resisting fire, it is basically the outside char to insulate the interior and to maintain the overall reliability of the structure.

Green credentials

When we think of creating a wooden skyscraper, cutting down numbers of tress doesn’t seem a good idea that can back or support the eco-friendly nature of the construction. However, when the trees are supplied from the sustainably managed forests, it definitely sounds more environmentally responsive.

Furthermore, a wooden building grasps and locks in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while building that uses concrete and steel generates high amount of carbon dioxide. The International Energy Agency (IEA) calculates that six to nine kilograms of carbon dioxide is produced for creating every 10 kilograms of cement.

What the architect has to say?

Michael Green believes that behind the creation of eco-credential buildings and wooden skyscrapers, there lies a strong bottom line. He says,

The real change came when we started thinking about climate change. Steel and concrete are great but not environmentally friendly.

Furthermore, he quotes that,

Really we’re at the stage where we’re able to start to show what’s possible, a bit like that Eiffel Tower moment. That was built when no one was used or understood tall structures, but it showed what could be done and just as importantly stretched the imagination.

Via- CNN

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