Tokyo to build 350m tower made of wood

Fire safety in wooden structures is interesting. A friend who does research in the area explained that, in some ways, wooden beams are simpler to engineer than steel beams when dealing with fire.<p>The goal, engineering wise, is to put a number on a given structure - how many hours can it burn before it falls?<p>A steel beam will maintain most of its strength up to the point it suddenly becomes soft and loses all of it. The exact point in time this occurs is hard to predict, because it varies substantially with several variables.<p>A wood beam will maintain the full strength of the beam, minus the average thickness of wood that is burned off per hour, which is a reasonably well known quantity.<p>This makes it simple (though not easy, of course!), relative to steel structures, to put a number on a wooden structure - &quot;this building can burn for 2 hours before it is no longer safe for firemen to try to put it out from inside&quot;.

Currently under construction is this 73m tall residential wooden tower in Amsterdam:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hautamsterdam.nl&#x2F;en&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hautamsterdam.nl&#x2F;en&#x2F;</a><p>The name HAUT appears to be a play on the Dutch word for wood (HOUT) and the french word for tall (HAUTE).

Here&#x27;s a site with more information on wooden skyscrapers. It has a design for a wooden empire state building.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.metsawood.com&#x2F;global&#x2F;Campaigns&#x2F;planb&#x2F;cases&#x2F;wooden-skyscraper&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.metsawood.com&#x2F;global&#x2F;Campaigns&#x2F;planb&#x2F;cases&#x2F;woode...</a>

They plan on finishing it in 2041, more than two decades away. I think this sounds far more like a marketing ploy than an actual building project.

Japan is unrivaled in building long-lasting wooden structures using only joinery (no nails, screws). This allows the wood to expand and contract harmoniously without cracking. Multi-story buildings (temples are a great example) have “floating” stories than may shift several feet during an earthquake, all kept together with a freestanding “spine” mounted only to the ground.

Is it harder to build this thing resistant to earthquakes than if it was made out of steel and concrete?

So Tokyo is finally going to build a Skytree made of actual wood this time?

Having just paid for a termite inspection, are infestations not a risk?

Is there a good article on fire safety in these buildings?

Adhering to fire codes must be big part of the costs. How do you fireproof some crazy dude just decides to throw a Molotov cocktail at it?

&quot;The W350 tower will be mostly wood, and 10% steel.&quot;<p>Wood and steel.

I have a certain dislike for wooden houses because a) they seem to have high maintenance requirements, since wood as an organic material is often attacked by fungi, mould, or insects b) the ones I&#x27;ve lived in were old buildings lacking insulation and draughty, thus freezing in winter. That could be fixed with insulation of course.

It&#x27;s just a proposal&#x2F;advertisement of one company.