Wooden high-rises are having a moment and Hamburg’s is going to be a wild one. Once completed in 2021, the “Wildspitze” will be Germany’s tallest wooden building, rising over 18 stories and 64 meters in height. Designed by architects Störmer, Murphy and Partners, the tower adds 189 units to the Elbbrücken neighborhood within Hamburg’s HafenCity. It also hosts exhibition space for the German Wild Animal Foundation and promises augmented reality features about, you guessed it, wildlife.
The Wildspitze is the latest sign of a timber turn in city planning around the world. In Portland, a 12-story mixed-used tower is under way in the city’s Pearl District. In Oslo, Skelleftea (Sweden), Vienna and Amsterdam towers with heights close to the Wildspitze are already approved or under construction. In Paris, Michael Green Architecture proposed a 35-story timber skyscraper.
Wooden high-rises have to push through historical height limits, put in place in the aftermath of devastating fires. In Hamburg, the Great Fire of 1842 destroyed over 1,700 residences and public buildings. Today’s high-tech materials, called mass timber, are deemed safe to use within city limits.