ELIGE MADERA From Cabins to Skyscrapers Humanity has evolved hand in hand with wood and the thousands of uses we’ve found for it. This can evoke an image of an outdated building material. However, thanks to advances in technology, it’s possible to use wood in ways that were unthinkable years ago. Humanity has evolved hand in hand with wood and the thousands of uses we’ve found for it. This can evoke an image of an outdated building material. However, thanks to advances in technology, it’s possible to use wood in ways that were unthinkable years ago. The most widely used technologies for sustainable timber construction are light and heavy framing structures and solid cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures. CLT panels, because of their build, manage to multiply the structural capacity of the wood pieces, resulting in a resistance similar to concrete structures. In this sense, wood, often considered to be a material of the past, aims to be the material of the future. This is how we move from timber cabins to timber skyscrapers, adapting the material to the requirements of construction. Among the many examples of this leap to sustainable architecture, here are 3 CLT projects that might surprise you. 1. Brock Commons Tall House As shown in the Spanish architecture program Escala Humana, this building was constructed at a rate of one floor per week, finally reaching a height of 53 meters in just 70 days. This is thanks to the CLT panels, the main material in this hybrid construction, which provide prefabrication and assembly advantages. 2. Noruega Mjøstårnet At more than 85 meters high, the Mjøstårnet skyscraper is, so far, the tallest wooden building in the world. Its creator, Arthur Buchardt, told the site Madera y Construcción that the project was built with CLT from local timber processed in nearby factories and it represents the commitment to sustainability put into practice. 3. W350 Project The tallest skyscraper on this list, the W350 promises to reach a height of 350 meters of wood and steel by 2041. That’s also the year Sumitomo Forestry Co, the company in charge of the W350 construction and the largest manufacturer of wood products, will celebrate its 350th anniversary. The building will feature housing, offices and stores, along with vegetation-covered balconies growing with the aim of "making the city a forest".