The world's tallest wooden house is being built in Milwaukee

Wooden skyscraper: Construction of a wooden skyscraper is about to begin in Milwaukee in the US state of Wisconsin. When it is finished, it will be the tallest wooden building in the world, according to the builders.

The project will be called The Edison, after the address, 100 N Edison Street. The building will have three storeys and be 114.3 meters high. It will be a residential building with 378 apartments. There will also be just under 670 square meters of commercial space. The plans include stores, restaurants, and a fitness studio.

The foundation stone for the building will be laid on June 16, according to the client, US real estate developer Neutral. Construction work is set to begin shortly afterwards, with the wooden tower due to be completed in 2027.

Nothing will change for Milwaukee as a result: The city is already home to the tallest wooden building: Ascent was completed in 2022 and currently tops the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) list at 86.6 meters. At 118 meters, the tallest structure built from wood is the transmission tower of the Gliwice radio station.

All wood or concrete core?

Neutral does not provide any information about the construction method. But normally such buildings are hybrids of wood and concrete: the core with staircases and elevator shaft as well as the foundation are built conventionally. The rest will be made of wood. There is only one building in the top ten of the CTBUH list that is made entirely of wood, the 85.4 meter high Mjøstårnet in Brumunddal, around 130 kilometers north of the Norwegian capital Oslo.

Wood as a building material has a significantly better carbon footprint than conventional building materials such as concrete or steel: as it grows, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In contrast, large quantities are released during the production of cement: 600 to 1000 kilograms are released during the production of 1000 kilograms of cement. In addition, sand is needed to produce concrete, which has now become a sought-after raw material that is sometimes even extracted by unscrupulous, mafia-like organizations.

According to Neutral, the materials used for the construction would reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption by more than 45 percent compared to conventional buildings of the same type and use. The house is to be a passive house in accordance with the US Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) standard.

Germany's largest timber house is currently located in Hamburg: the Roots in Hafencity, which will be completed in 2024. It is ranked 8th on the CTBUH list with a height of 65 meters. In Berlin, the residential high-rise, WoHo for short, is to be built, which is to be 98 meters high.

(wpl)