To be the builder of the first wooden skyscraper in Belgium: that’s the heady ambition of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, advocate of humanitarian architecture and winner of the 2014 Pritzker Prize (architecture’s own Nobel award).
As an artist and craftsman, Ban’s designs show a clear predilection for paper and cardboard rather than traditional concrete and steel structures. Such materials have been central to many of his previous architectural achievements, such as makeshift refuges built to accommodate migrants and victims of natural disasters, designs which have already earned him a reputation as a leading "humanitarian architect".
Meanwhile, Shigeru Ban has also created many other large-scale buildings, such as:
The Centre Pompidou-Metz, a museum of modern and contemporary art in Metz, La Seine Musicale, a music and performing arts centre in Boulogne-Billancourt. And soon, the first wooden skyscraper in Belgium will arrive, stretching upwards to a height of 80 metres. However, for obvious safety reasons, as well as to limit any risk of fire, the structure will in reality consist of a mixture of concrete and steel. Only the building’s outer cladding material will be fashioned in wood.
The technical advantages of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) are undeniable. This product is known to have unparalleled ecological virtues. For instance, though it is a very economic building material, its fire resistance can often be higher than that of some metals. And in addition, using CLT also reduces the number of workers actually required on site – a very interesting asset given our current restrictions and environmental concerns!
Cross-laminated timber is a variant of the glulam. The essential difference with CLT lies in the direction of its timber layers, which are alternately glued at 90 ° for the first and then parallel for the second. As a result of this particular design feature, CLT produces a very rigid structure.
The work is scheduled to finish sometime during the last quarter of 2022. This skyscraper therefore forms part of the current development plan for Antwerp’s Nieuw Zuid site. It occupies a prime location near the new courthouse and covers an area of around 20 hectares between the Scheldt and the present ring road system. The tallest wooden building in Belgium will offer 2,000 homes, 20,000 m2 of business premises, and up to 40 m2 of office space.
