This week a construction project out of the ordinary started in Brumunddal, a short two hours’ train ride from the capital, Oslo. The world’s tallest wooden house will be built at the brim of lake Mjøsa.
For a while the apartment complex Treet (The Tree) in Bergen, completed in 2015, was the reigning world champion with its 51 meters and 14 floors.
When the University of British Columbia completed work on all 53 meters of the Brock Commons student housing project last September, The Tree was reduced to just a very pretty, very tall building.
However, the record now seems to be headed back towards Norwegian shores.
The new wooden ‘skyscraper’, becoming a unique hotel, will open December next year for check-ins and will reach a height of around 81 meters, 18 floors, a space of 8,000 square meters and a price tag of around NOK 450 million.
“We have a challenging constructor who now has challenged us to build the world’s tallest wooden building,” says architect Claudia Arnault at Voll Architects, the company responsible for the ‘Mjøs Tower’.
The ground floor will include a reception, restaurant and adjoining bath and swimming pool facilities. On the floor above there will be meeting rooms and a conference hall. Floors 3-7 floors will house offices, while floors 8-11 are hotel facilities. From 12th to 18th floors there will be apartments.
The block of apartments is a kit of parts that includes modules and frameworks in laminated wood. The first step is the installation of four apartment modules on top of the basement floor. Then a support structure with a so-called power floor will be constructed.
“Ringsaker is the municipality in the world with most knowledge about wooden construction. Therefore, this will be a living showcase of what the industry in Ringsaker has to offer, including its extensive expertise around the timber construction industry, ” says constructor and Norwegian hotel king Arthur Buchardt to the newspaper Aftenposten.
The main construction and paneling will consist of glue laminated timber and massive wood.
“This is a project we have worked with for years, and now it becomes a reality. It is a prestigious project for everyone involved. It is not certain whether it will open the market for many such tall wooden buildings, but this construction technique is equally applicable to buildings of 7 to 10 floors,” says managing director of the construction company Moelven Limtre, Åge Holmestad.
“The tower will produce the same amount of energy that it spends. This will be achieved through solar thermal energy, solar cell paneling and heat pumps directed at both earth and water. The project will demonstrate ‘the green shift’ in practice.”
In Norway, the quest to erect the world’s tallest wood building now seems to have become a sport in itself.
Holmestad indicates that interest in the building is greater abroad than in Norway.
Norway Will Be Home To World’s Highest Wooden Building,written by Tor Kjolberg