The architects of Penda China (the bureau also has an office in Austria) designed a residential tower for Toronto, made of wooden modules. Cross laminated timber (CLT) is proposed as the main building material for the 18-story Tree Tower Toronto. The project was consulted by specialists from the Canadian company Tmber, which specializes in CLT panels.
The height of the Tree Tower Toronto is 62 meters. Housing planned 4500 m2, each apartment has a spacious balcony on which a garden can be planted. In addition to their aesthetic function, plants are called upon to act as temperature regulators. About 550 m2 the construction will occupy socially significant areas: a cafe, a kindergarten and workshops for local residents. Penda Architects say the residential complex pushed them to create a block structure with mini-gardens.
Habitat 67, built by Moshe Safdie in Montreal.
According to the authors' plan, the modules for the Tree Tower Toronto will be pre-assembled from CLT panels and then transported to the construction site - with the already prepared foundation, basement and central stiffening core. The blocks will be installed on top of each other using cranes. The main advantages of building houses using modular technology, say the bureau's experts, include fast speed, lower noise levels and a high degree of control, since most of the "construction" takes place on the territory of the manufacturer.
Today the construction industry is one of the largest “suppliers” of environmental pollution on the planet; almost half of all energy produced in the world is consumed in buildings and in the process of their construction. The wooden tower in Toronto could be one of those structures that will help shift the “building for the city” paradigm to “building for nature”. Wood - unlike building materials such as concrete and metal - helps reduce your carbon footprint (carbon dioxide emissions) by storing CO2 (about 1 ton per m3) and produces less greenhouse gas. I must say that in Canada there is a government incentive to promote sustainable construction: buildings that fit into carbon footprint standards are provided with funding for about 10-20% of their value.
