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.
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