Wooden skyscrapers point the way to more sustainable cities

nature.com

15 points·sohkamyung··5 comments

Summary: Good potential, but it's complicated.

And far more complicated than the article describes. The supply chain runs back to forests, and deforestation and lumber industry misbehavior are a real problems in may places. Everyone from the lead architects to the tradesmen torquing the bolts needs to really understand the new type of construction. Building codes, inspections, and maintenance for skyscrapers are all extremely complex subjects, and there are plenty of developers who'd be happy to make a quick buck by building a cut-rate tower of toothpicks.

>and there are plenty of developers who'd be happy to make a quick buck by building a cut-rate tower of toothpicks.

There is an equally evil and opposite force of engineering firms looking to make a long buck by convincing permitting authorities that this needs tons of regulation (crafted to also apply to smaller buildings than the layman would consider reasonable, of course) and product supplier who'll egg them on every step of the way.

The more you learn about construction the more it makes sense why organized crime always winds up getting involved in it.

Yeah, but the opposition goes far beyond that. Need-more-excuses-for-"no" NIMBYs, bureaucrats who don't want to learn anything new, neophobes, tree huggers, skilled tradesmen in the concrete-and-steel biz, scare-mongering journalists, ...

How timely, a great video from one of favourite urban bloggers About Here: Did these designs crack the code to wood towers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ42KhybIUk

The go through different design themes from a competition, as well as look at real world examples.

From the title you can tell American hands wrote it.

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