Google's parent company wants to build a high-tech neighborhood made using mass timber on Toronto's waterfront.
Sidewalk Labs — the urban innovation subsidiary of Alphabet, Google's parent company — is planning on building a high-tech neighborhood in Toronto, Canada.
The waterfront neighborhood, called Quayside, could become the largest mass timber development in the world. It is expected to cost about $1 billion, and it will also feature heated roadways and other innovations.
Quayside's buildings have been designed to include green roofs for improving sustainability. Sidewalk Labs wants the buildings to be modular, saying this would cost as much or less than conventional buildings.
Some Toronto residents worry that Quayside will raise housing prices and worsen income inequality.
Quayside, which covers about 3 million square feet, is one of the largest areas of underdeveloped urban land in North America. Zoning laws allow 90% of the neighborhood to be residential space — about 3,000 units — but Sidewalk Labs has not yet announced how many units it will build.
Plans to build the high-tech neighborhood have generated criticism among residents, who say Quayside could lead to gentrification, higher housing prices, and greater income inequality.
In addition, the proposal comes with some complications. The construction code covering Toronto puts a six-story limit to tall-timber buildings — meaning an exception would need to be made for Quayside — and timber supply chains need to grow before they can support such a large project.
In Portland, Oregon, a mass timber high-rise was suspended indefinitely this summer.
In 2017, the first all-wood high-rise in the US was approved to be built in Portland, Oregon.
At the time, state officials said they hoped the construction would help rural areas in Oregon to revive a shrinking timber industry. Plans for the 11-story building called for cross-laminated timber, which has been shown to withstand big earthquakes.
As of July 2018, however, the project has been suspended indefinitely.
The mixed-use tower in Portland would have included retail space, offices, and apartments.
Lever Architecture initially said the building, called Framework, would be complete in late 2018. The project was reportedly halted due to a rise in cost, with construction in Portland becoming more expensive.
Framework would have included retail space on the ground floor, five stories of offices, and five stories of apartments.
Architects in Chicago have proposed an 80-story skyscraper made from wood.
The River Beech Tower would be located along the Chicago River, according to architecture firm Perkins+Will.
If built, the tower will include office space and 300 residential apartments. Residents and visitors will be able to access green spaces throughout the tower.
River Beech Tower is just one of the architects' goals for the Chicago Loop.
River Beech Tower could rise amid Perkins+Will's master plan for the Riverline community in Chicago's South Loop.
The Riverline project is set to include 10 buildings, a green space, and a river walk. Construction crews began working on the 10-year project in 2016.
A 10-story condo building in New York was axed when the project was no longer feasible.
When it received a Tall Wood Building Prize from the US Department of Agriculture in 2015, SHoP Architects intended to show the potential of mass timber technology with a new project in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
The design called for a 10-story condo building with retail space on the ground floor. But in 2017, the developer called off the project, telling The Real Deal that construction was no longer feasible due to a downturn in the market.
New York's building code may have played a part in the project's cancellation.
New York City's laws may have impacted the decision as well, Curbed reported, as wooden structures are only allowed to reach six stories without special consideration.
SHoP Architects still plans on using tall timber technology for future construction projects.
Brooklyn, however, is getting two mass timber office buildings.
Though the Chelsea tower was ultimately not built, smaller timber construction projects are having more luck in New York.
The architecture and development firm Flank is building two brick-and-beam buildings in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. The buildings, 320 and 360 Wythe, will feature two floors of office space and more than 15,000 square feet of rentable retail space.
320 and 360 Wythe did not need special approval for construction because both buildings are within New York City's height limit for timber structures.
The Williamsburg project is using the same Canadian timber as Sidewalk Labs' Quayside development.
The raw timber used for the Wythe buildings comes from Canadian forests, the same source of wood in Sidewalk Labs' Toronto project.
According to Flank, wood production emits far less carbon dioxide than equivalent designs with concrete or steel. Growing trees sequester carbon dioxide in their fibers, which makes mass timber structures "carbon negative," Flank said.
A 12-story condo building in Quebec, Canada, is primarily made of cross-laminated timber.
In Quebec, Canada, the 12-story Origine building sits on top of a one-story concrete podium.
The condo building, which was completed in 2017, is primarily made of cross-laminated timber. Origine has thermal insulation and a smart waste chute on each floor. The building includes a charging station for electric cars, and the structure is LEED certified.
Origine required special approval, but Quebec officials have since rewritten the code to permit tall-timber structures.
An architect at Nordic Structures told Business Insider that Quebec's building codes did not allow for a structure as tall as Origine to made built of wood.
After tests and demonstrations, however, local authorities approved the project, and a guide for tall-timber structures has since been written. Now, tall-timber structures in Quebec need to be covered by drywall.
A student residence at the University of British Columbia is also made from mass timber.
Brock Commons Tallwood House is a student residence at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
The 18-story building, which opened in July 2017, was part of Natural Resource Canada's Tall Wood Building Demonstration Project Initiative.
British Columbia's provincial government issued a site-specific regulation to let developers use mass timber for Brock Commons, making the building more resistant to fire than a steel or concrete tower.
Brock Commons Tallwood House was created in just 66 days.
Brock Commons — which consists of glue laminated timber, cross laminated timber, and prefabricated facade — was created in just 66 days.
The timber used to make it stores about 1,753 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and it cost about as much as a concrete building of similar size.
A seven-story high-rise in Minneapolis opened in late 2016.
T3 — short for Timber, Technology, Transit — is a 220,000 square-foot office building made from mass timber.
Its lightness helps reduce the foundation size and seismic loads associated with building a concrete structure of similar size, which would weigh fives times as much.
The timber stores thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide, reducing emissions.
According to the building's website, T3 will store more than 3,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide in its timber. Building T3 out of mass timber instead of steel or concrete is equivalent to taking nearly 1,000 cars off the road.
In addition, T3 features a first-floor space for meetings and collaboration, a rooftop deck with seating, and a fitness center.