PLP Proposes Supertall Wood Tower for London

PLP Architecture, working with researchers in the Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture and engineers from Smith and Wallwork, recently presented conceptual plans for the residential tower to outgoing London Mayor Boris Johnson. Oakwood Tower is designed to include 1,000 residential units across 1 million square feet, integrating itself with the Barbican, a concrete Brutalist icon. The proposed wood tower takes the Barbican's model of urban living and pushes it both vertically and sustainably.

The environmental benefits that come with building wood structures are fairly well known, making the system increasingly common for more than just low-rise buildings. Currently the tallest timber-framed building is a 14-story apartment block in Bergen, Norway, though a tower proposed for Vienna will rise to 84 meters across 23 stories when completed in 2018. Oakwood Tower would take timber-framed structures up to the 300-meter "supertall" height. To do so, the conceptual proposal investigates "reduced costs and improved construction timescales, increased fire resistance, and significant reduction in the overall weight of buildings," per a statement from Cambridge University. 

Dr Michael Ramage, Director of Cambridge’s Centre for Natural Material Innovation, explained the project's benefits in the statment: "If London is going to survive it needs to increasingly densify. One way is taller buildings. We believe people have a greater affinity for taller buildings in natural materials rather than steel and concrete towers. The fundamental premise is that timber and other natural materials are vastly underused and we don’t give them nearly enough credit. Nearly every historic building, from King’s College Chapel to Westminster Hall, has made extensive use of timber."

If built, the tower would become the second-tallest building in London, following Renzo Piano's The Shard, also on the South Bank.