As part of a competition to alleviate Paris’ urban housing issues, Michael Green Architecture designed a carbon-neutral residential high-rise that would be the world’s tallest wood building if completed.
According to ArchDaily, the Canadian firm teamed up with DVVD and REI France in developing its Réinventer Paris competition submission. The project is named Baobab, after the tree, and will be 35 stories tall.
MGA has long been an advocate of constructing wooden buildings because of wood's relatively minimal environmental impact compared to other materials.
In a press release, the firm contends that “when harvested responsibly, wood is the only carbon-neutral building material that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and actually sequester carbon in buildings.”
The amount of wood designers expect the project to use would store an estimated 3,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which the firm says in a statement is “equivalent to keeping 2,207 cars off the road for a year, or operating a home for 982 years.”
“Paris is the ideal place to reinvent and demonstrate truly ecological development, and to ensure the youth of Paris have an opportunity to live, thrive, and connect to their city,” Paul Jarquin, President of REI France, said in a statement.
“Our goal is that through innovation, youthful social contact, and overall community building, we have created a design that becomes uniquely important to Paris,” Michael Green, Principal of MGA, said in a statement. “Just as Gustave Eiffel shattered our conception of what was possible a century and a half ago, this project can push the envelope of wood innovation with France in the forefront. The Pershing Site is the perfect moment for Paris to embrace the next era of architecture.”
Read more on ArchDaily.
Related Stories
Wood | Nov 24, 2015
2015 Code Conforming Wood Design publication now available
Summarizes provisions in the 2015 International Building Code.
Sponsored | | Nov 20, 2015
Schooling the visitor
Exposed glulam and other engineered wood products help WSU tell its technology story
Architects | Oct 20, 2015
Four building material innovations from the Chicago Architecture Biennial
From lightweight wooden pallets to the largest lengths of CLT-slabs that can be shipped across North America
Multifamily Housing | Oct 15, 2015
Montreal apartment is world’s largest residential cross-laminated timber project
Its 434 condo, townhouse, and rental units in three eight-story buildings are made from sustainably harvested wood turned into panels by Canadian company Nordic Wood Structures together with the Cree Nation in Chibougamau.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 7, 2015
BIG designs lush, terraced mixed-use building in Sweden
Cascading glass and wooden cubes create a form similar to Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway rock formation.
Sponsored | Wood | Sep 17, 2015
Compelling conversations about wood: coastal environments
Architect Greg Mella and APA’s Karyn Beebe have a frank and far-reaching discussion about the tangibles and intangibles of using wood in corrosive environments—and beyond.
Sponsored | Multifamily Housing | Aug 25, 2015
Engineered wood helps meet booming demand for multifamily projects
Multifamily housing starts reached 358,000 in 2014, a 16 percent increase over 2013 and the highest total since 2007
Codes and Standards | Jun 18, 2015
Guides to wood construction in high wind areas updated
The guides establish prescriptive, wind-resistive structural requirements for wood-frame buildings of different sizes and shapes.
Sponsored | Airports | Jun 5, 2015
Exposed glulam framework offers quiet complement to Jackson Hole airport’s mountain backdrop
A three-phase expansion and renovation, which began in 2009, nearly doubled the size of the aviation hub; the only one located in a national park
Wood | May 21, 2015
How CLT wood construction affects project cost
SRG Partnership's Emily Dawson shares insights on the installation, availablilty, and cost of cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction, based on the firm's recent project at the Oregon Zoo.
