Milwaukee’s proposed 25-story Ascent tower sounds like a conventional housing project. Scheduled to open in September 2022, It offers 250+ apartments with beautiful views of downtown Milwaukee and Lake Michigan. But one thing sets it apart from other housing towers in the U.S. — it’s supposed to be the world’s tallest timber tower.
Why timber?
Firms working on timber construction believe that compared to typical construction materials like steel and concrete, timber is easier and cheaper to use, and more durable in the long run. The best part: It could benefit the environment.
“Mass timber construction [a method of using timber for construction] requires 90% less construction traffic, 75% fewer workers on-site, and is 25% faster than traditional construction. All of these reductions factor into reduced emissions associated with the construction process,” Tim Gokhman of New Land Enterprises, the team behind the Ascent tower, told NextCity.
This will be the tallest timber building in the world, according to this article (https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/04/30/e ... e-leasing/). I think the current price tag for this project is $125 million. Here are some awesome renderings:
You can see in this one how its being built adjacent to an existing historic low rise.
skinzfan23 wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 2:43 pm
Wow, didn't know that...I drove by this building about 3 weeks ago.
I know absolutely nothing about construction, but is this as strong as steel, will it be able to hold up all that weight?
Based on my research into the changes of the IBC regarding mass timber, ie. increasing the height (65 feet to 185 feet) and floor limit (4 floors to 18 floors) substantially, in the recent iteration, timber was not used for tall building because of perceived fire risks. However, building experts, and more recently, the IBC, are recognizing the innate fire retardation qualities of heavy timber. As such, there has been a slew of taller heavy timber structures in the last 5-10 years. I think the changes in the IBC are still pending, but some jurisdictions have allowed tall timber buildings already. I think this one still falls within the IBC changes, because of the parking garage podium.
The construction of Ascent, a 25-story apartment tower, looks like no other project in the city.
Led by general contractor CD Smith, construction workers are linking large pieces of lumber together like they’re building a LEGO toy.
A just-in-time supply chain delivers truckloads of mass timber, an engineered product made by combining layers of lumber into a stronger material, to the site at 700 E. Kilbourn Ave.
Provided by two different European suppliers, each piece has been designed for a specific location in the building. If a pipe needs to go through a floor the corresponding hole was precut into the beam in Europe. Each column has corresponding male and female metal joints to connect with the adjoining pieces. The width of the load-bearing pieces shrinks as the building climbs higher, reflecting the decreasing weight they need to support. All of the pieces arrive pre-treated.
The end result is expected to take less time to build, be more environmentally friendly to construct and rent faster with tenants staying longer. It will also be the tallest building of its kind in the world.
When finished, the 25-story building will rise 283 feet, eclipsing the current world leader, the Mjos Tower in Norway, by three feet.
Pretty good article about what goes into a mass timber tower of this height. With Omaha getting it's first couple office structures of mass timber, this is the type of implementation I would like to see in the residential space.
