The second case research in our Timber Revolution collection is Murray Grove, a London housing tower by Waugh Thistleton that has a superstructure constructed nearly completely from cross-laminated timber.

Slotted right into a residential space in Hackney, the groundbreaking Murray Grove garnered worldwide recognition when it was accomplished in 2009.

With a nine-storey superstructure constructed nearly completely out of cross-laminated timber (CLT), it had simply grow to be the world’s tallest timber residential constructing.

“Murray Grove is the primary tall city housing venture to be constructed completely from pre-fabricated strong timber,” stated its architect, London studio Waugh Thistleton.

“The exemplar venture has spearheaded the introduction of CLT within the UK, and pioneered a wider worldwide motion in its use,” it continued.

Although the venture, in any other case often known as Stadthaus, has since been overtaken in peak by different mass-timber housing tasks together with Ascent in Milwaukee, the formidable design left its stamp on the structure trade.

Commissioned by home builder Telford Houses, Murray Grove contains a mixture of non-public and inexpensive housing, with separate entrances for every on the base of the constructing.

From its first ground slab upwards, its superstructure is constructed completely from CLT, together with its load-bearing partitions, ground slabs, balcony balustrades and stair and raise cores. Under this, the bottom ground and foundations are constituted of bolstered concrete.

The design, developed with structural engineer Techniker, was born out of Waugh Thistleton’s ambition to show timber’s potential as a viable different to concrete and metal – notably in high-rise buildings.

Murray Grove’s CLT elements are organized to type a mobile matrix, with joints secured by screws and angle plates. This provides rise to a steady construction that Waugh Thistleton likens to a “tight honeycomb”.

“All of the exterior partitions, inner partitions, raise shaft, staircase and ground slabs are working collectively to offer the construction – every little thing is working,” the studio’s co-founder Andrew Waugh advised Dezeen.

The construction can be designed with built-in redundancy, that means CLT panels could be simply eliminated with out the chance of progressive collapse, permitting it to be simply demounted on the finish of the constructing’s life.

Every of the CLT panels used to assemble the constructing was manufactured by Austrian timber provider KLH and is constituted of three layers of Spruce planks and glued along with a non-toxic adhesive. These panels had not been used within the UK previous to their set up at Murray Grove.

The CLT panels have been prefabricated, with the cut-outs for home windows and doorways delivered to the positioning ready-made, permitting them to be instantly craned into place.

This dramatically diminished development time and labour prices, permitting the nine-storey superstructure to be constructed by 4 KLH staff over simply 27 days, and the entire constructing to finish in 49 weeks.

In response to a report by the Timber Analysis and Improvement Affiliation (TRADA), a concrete constructing of the identical dimension would have taken 72 weeks to construct.

The identical report additionally means that the CLT panels helped to attain each an acoustic and thermal efficiency that exceeded UK necessities on the time.

From its exterior, it isn’t instantly apparent that Murray Grove is constructed from timber. Nonetheless, its distinctive pixelated facade, which relies on a portray by Gerhard Richter, can be partly composed of wooden.

The two,500 particular person panels used throughout its exterior, completed in three totally different hues, are every manufactured from 70 per cent wooden pulp, blended with fibre cement.

In response to Waugh Thistleton, the cladding is meant to emulate the shadow patterns forged from the encompassing buildings and bushes on the positioning previous to the tower’s development.

Waugh Thistleton’s penchant for timber continues to be prevalent in its work at this time.

Wooden’s skill to sequester carbon from the ambiance and proceed to retailer that carbon when lower means picket buildings retailer carbon too, serving to to offset their lifetime carbon emissions.

In response to Waugh Thistleton, the structural material of the Murray Grove tower shops over 181 tonnes of carbon, and by utilizing timber in its development rather than bolstered concrete, an extra 125 tonnes of carbon have been prevented from coming into the ambiance.

Waugh stated that the usage of timber within the venture was initially met with scepticism from the developer, which “was eager to not overstate the timber construction”.

“They have been involved that folks can be delay by the timber,” Waugh defined. “But it surely seems everybody that we have met may be very pleased with the revolutionary nature of the constructing.”

Upon its completion, there was worldwide curiosity within the venture – primarily for the best way that it proved timber could possibly be workable in high-rise structure.

“It appears to have actually kickstarted an entire tall-timber motion – within the US, Asia and Europe it is far more broadly identified about,” Waugh advised Dezeen.

“It is had a Dutch documentary made, CBS Information have been there final 12 months, and visits from a Canadian authorities minister, the mayor of Seoul and quite a few college students,” he continued.

The CLT design was additionally praised domestically on the time, with locals “fascinated” by the venture and councillor Vincent Stops “proud that Hackney has performed an element within the story of tall timber buildings”.

“After I noticed Murray Grove, the world’s first nine-storey residential timber constructing in Hackney, it was clear that there was actual potential for a step-change in sustainable development,” stated Stops.

“I hope this may encourage others to embrace engineered timber in development.”

Nonetheless, Waugh believes the curiosity that the venture stirred up in low-carbon development was short-lived within the UK when in comparison with different international locations.

He believes the drive for utilizing the fabric should be picked up once more, as a part of a world “paradigm shift in the best way by which the entire world builds”.

“We have to substitute concrete and metal within the development of each constructing however particularly high-density housing – the planet can not afford the cement manufacturing brought on by mass migration to cities,” he defined.

“Timber is at present the one viable substitute for concrete and metal; we’re not going to resolve this downside with mushrooms and straw,” he continued. “This should not be a trend merchandise.”

The pictures is by Will Pryce.

Timber Revolution
This text is a part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution collection, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether or not going again to wooden as our major development materials can lead the world to a extra sustainable future.