Analyzing the key architectural and structural factors in the formation of tall timber projects in Europe

Abstract

As tall wooden structures emerge as a burgeoning and promising sector, offering considerable ecological and financial benefits across their life cycles, their prevalence is on the rise, particularly in Europe. However, the current corpus of literature fails to offer a detailed assessment of the fundamental architectural and structural planning parameters for European tall timber towers (≥9 stories). To span this gap and improve the comprehension of the developing European tendencies, this study meticulously examined information from 33 tall timber towers in Europe. The principal findings uncovered the following: (i) tall timber buildings predominantly favored residential applications as their primary function, (ii) the prevailing preference for the central core arrangement was evident, (iii) the most prevalent design preference for tall timber buildings was prismatic forms, (iv) widespread adoption of composite materials was evident, with combinations of timber and concrete being particularly prominent, and (v) the structural systems were primarily characterized by shear-frame configurations. By revealing these present-day attributes of tall wooden towers in Europe, this article is anticipated to offer valuable insights to architectural designers, assisting and directing them in the formulation and implementation of forthcoming developments in this domain. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.