The trend towards building tall with wood continues as Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Acton Ostry Architects have won a $130 million project in Ontario, CA. From the press release:
George Brown College has announced that Moriyama & Teshima Architects + Acton Ostry Architects have been selected to design The Arbour. This $130-million project will be a 12-storey mass timber building on George Brown’s Waterfront Campus, ushering in the first building of its kind in Ontario. The team was one of four shortlisted teams in this international design competition.
To this non-architect, it has a little bit of a feel of a Brutalist architecture, although, not being primarily concrete, it doesn’t really qualify. But it’s big and not shy and retiring.
And it’s made of wood.
From their Project Description:
George Brown College envisions The Arbour as a landmark, tall wood, low-carbon building that will feature ecological innovation across its entire life cycle and be a model for 21st Century smart, sustainable, green building innovation throughout Canada. To support this vision, our proposed design for The Arbour is deceptively simple, straightforward and, above all else, smart.
The design of The Arbour enhances connections to neighbouring developments and the natural spaces offered by Sherbourne Common and the Water’s Edge Promenade. The soaring solar chimney signals the sustainable systems within, while the angled apex of the Tall Wood Institute speaks to future advancement of tallwood technologies and development of low carbon building methodologies.
Looks like if you’re an architect who’s not investigating the use of wood in your 10-20 story buildings, you may be behind the curve.
