When you think of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you probably think of beer, cheese, Laverne & Shirley, maybe the Bucks and Brewers, and timber skyscrapers. Wait, what was that last one? It’s true! The Ascent building, a 25-story luxury condo building in Milwaukee is the world’s tallest mass timber building.
Now, a new building planned for Milwaukee could shatter that record. Michael Green Architects designed a 55-story building as part of the redevelopment of the city’s Marcus Performing Arts center. The building would be constructed primarily of “thick, compressed, multi-layered panels of solid wood,” according to CNN.
Timber is a sustainable building material because it doesn’t have near the carbon footprint of building with steel and concrete. Additionally, timber is a renewable resource.
The new Milwaukee building will be about 90 percent timber, according to the CNN piece. It’ll still have a concrete foundation and steel for the elevator shafts.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
