On the subject of building with wood, Lloyd Alter on Treehugger.com is reporting that Minneapolis has a new wood building, called T3. His conclusions:
There is much that is open for debate in that and the other claims. It’s not the largest*, it’s not the first, it’s hardly tall, and it is not some fancy new Mass Timber Construction, it’s good old post and beam with mill decking.
But hey, who cares. It is, no doubt, a great example of how the new can learn from the old to make better buildings and better cities: it is not too tall, it feels urban, built right up to the street. The rusty steel gives it a gritty industrial look right from the start. It is, as Michael Green describes it,
…a modern interpretation of the robust character of historic wood, brick, stone, and steel buildings with the additional benefits of state of the art amenities, environmental performance, and technical capability.
And we could use a lot more of that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdjHWYuyRwI&feature=youtu.be
The T3 website is here. The builders note:
Our goal is to deliver the warmth and authenticity of a brick and timber building, with all the benefits of new construction. In addition, using wood to construct T3 generates numerous environmental benefits. The heavy timber throughout T3 actually absorbed C02 before being harvested and there are fewer carbon emissions during the manufacturing process compared to steel, concrete or masonry.
The site includes a link to a TED talk where the architect, Michael Green, discusses building skyscrapers out of wood. StructureCraft has its own report and this lovely photo:
Photo: Ema Peter via StructureCraft
I’ll have to find some time to visit. The address listing is 323 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis.
