Sustainable Mass Timber Structures—Selected Issues in the Structural Shaping of Tall Buildings
Source abstract
Abstract
The subject of this article is tall buildings with a load-bearing layout made of mass timber, erected between 2009 and 2025. The aim of the study is to introduce a typology and to systematise and synthesise knowledge concerning the spatial and material–structural shaping of the load-bearing systems of these buildings. Load-bearing systems were classified according to the type of elements into 1D, 2D, 3D, mixed and hybrid. It was found that the most common types of mass timber tall building construction are 1D, accounting for 47% of the buildings analysed, and 2D accounting for 23%, with the remaining 3D (4%), hybrid (3%) and mixed (1%) used infrequently. A research method based on a case study and data collection with an analysis of the available literature was used. A study of the spatial and material and structural solutions of 109 timber tall buildings was carried out. Conclusions are presented for the most sustainable in terms of material solution, i.e., with an above-ground part made entirely of mass timber in the buildings which represents 10% of the cases studied. Mass timber tall buildings have a low slenderness of 0.66–2.98 for heights up to 50 m and 2.41–4.97 for heights over 50 m.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Seismic and Structural Analysis of Tall Buildings · Architecture and Computational Design · Hygrothermal properties of building materials
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland
Doctoral School, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland
Funding
Warsaw University of Technology
References (80)
Show source-provided references
1. The effect of carbon dioxide emissions on the building energy efficiency10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124842 ↗
2. United Nations (2025, July 28). Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development. The 17 Goals, Available online: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.
3. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2025, July 28). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition, Available online: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023.
4. Why does everyone think cities can save the planet?10.1177/0042098020919081 ↗
5. Towards a relational conception of the compact city
6. Incremental residential densification and urban spatial justice: The case of England between 2001 and 201110.1177/0042098020936967 ↗
7. The Compact City: Just or Just Compact? A Preliminary Analysis10.1080/00420980050162184 ↗
8. Skies over Frölunda: ‘Mixed city’ densification and the lived space of a stigmatised Modernist suburb in Sweden10.1177/00420980251342942 ↗
9. Mass timber—The emergence of a modern construction material
10. Abed, J., Rayburg, S., Rodwell, J., and Neave, M. (2022). A Review of the Performance and Benefits of Mass Timber as an Alternative to Concrete and Steel for Improving the Sustainability of Structures. Sustainability, 14.10.3390/su14095570 ↗
11. Green, M. (2025, February 20). The Case for Tall Wood Buildings. How Mass Timber Offers a Safe, Economical, and Environmentally Friendly Alternative for Tall Building Structures. Second Edition, MGA I Michael Green Architecture+ Design. Available online: https://cwc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Second-Edition-The-Case-for-Tall-Wood-Buildings.pdf.10.1515/9783035618860 ↗
12. Multiple criteria assessment of high-rise timber buildings
13. Mass timber building material in the U.S. construction industry: Determining the existing awareness level, construction-related challenges, and recommendations to increase its current acceptance level10.1016/j.clet.2020.100007 ↗
14. Buildings as a Global Carbon Sink? A Reality Check on Feasibility Limits10.1016/j.oneear.2020.07.018 ↗
15. Buildings as a global carbon sink10.1038/s41893-019-0462-4 ↗
16. Lifecycle primary energy analysis of low-energy timber building systems for multi-storey residential buildings10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.06.003 ↗
17. Greenhouse gas balances in building construction: Wood versus concrete from life-cycle and forest land-use perspectives10.1016/S0301-4215(00)00049-5 ↗
18. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2015). Buildings, Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change: Working Group III Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.10.1017/CBO9781107415416 ↗
19. High-rise Timber Buildings as a Climate Change Mitigation Measure—A Comparative LCA of Structural System Alternatives10.1016/j.egypro.2016.09.112 ↗
20. Comparative LCA of a concrete and steel apartment building and a cross laminated timber apartment building10.1088/1755-1315/323/1/012017 ↗
21. Dong, Y., Cui, X., Yin, X., Chen, Y., and Guo, H. (2019). Assessment of Energy Saving Potential by Replacing Conventional Materials by Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)—A Case Study of Office Buildings in China. Appl. Sci., 9.10.3390/app9050858 ↗
22. Sandoli, A., D’Ambra, C., Ceraldi, C., Calderoni, B., and Prota, A. (2021). Sustainable Cross-Laminated Timber Structures in a Seismic Area: Overview and Future Trends. Appl. Sci., 11.10.3390/app11052078 ↗
23. SOFIE Project–3D Shaking Table Test on a Seven-Storey Full-Scale Cross-Laminated Timber Building10.1002/eqe.2309 ↗
24. Seismic behaviour of Cross-Laminated Timber structures: A state-of-the-art review10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.05.060 ↗
25. Stepinac, M., Šušteršič, I., Gavrić, I., and Rajčić, V. (2020). Seismic Design of Timber Buildings: Highlighted Challenges and Future Trends. Appl. Sci., 10.10.3390/app10041380 ↗
26. Iezzi, S., Savini, F., Trizio, I., Fabbrocino, G., and Sandoli, A. (2023). On the Role of Seismic Damage Tolerance on Costs and Life Cycle of CLT Buildings. Appl. Sci., 13.10.3390/app13169113 ↗
27. Probabilistic Serviceability-Performance Assessment of Tall Mass-Timber Buildings Subjected to Stochastic Wind Loads: Part II—Structural Reliability Analysis10.1016/j.jweia.2018.08.013 ↗
28. Dynamic Response of Tall Mass-Timber Buildings to Wind Excitation10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0002746 ↗
29. Structural Performance of Multi-Story Mass-Timber Buildings under Tornado-like Wind Field10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.07.079 ↗
30. Fire Resistance of Unprotected Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Floor Assemblies Produced in the USA10.1016/j.firesaf.2018.12.008 ↗
31. Fire Safety Engineering in Timber Buildings10.1016/j.firesaf.2017.05.002 ↗
32. Fire Design Concepts for Tall Timber Buildings10.2749/101686608784218716 ↗
33. A review of the resource efficiency and mechanical performance of commercial wood-based building materials
34. Basterra, L.-A., Baño, V., López, G., Cabrera, G., and Vallelado-Cordobés, P. (2023). Identification and Trend Analysis of Multistorey Timber Buildings in the SUDOE Region. Buildings, 13.10.3390/buildings13061501 ↗
35. Žegarac Leskovar, V., and Premrov, M. (2021). A Review of Architectural and Structural Design Typologies of Multi-Storey Timber Buildings in Europe. Forests, 12.10.3390/f12060757 ↗
36. Kuzmanovska, I., Gasparri, E., Tapias Monné, D., and Aitchison, M. (2018, January 20–23). Tall Timber Buildings: Emerging trends and typologies. Proceedings of the 2018 World Conference on Timber Engineering, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
37. Michalak, H., and Michalak, K. (2024). Selected Aspects of Sustainable Construction—Contemporary Opportunities for the Use of Timber in High and High-Rise Buildings. Energies, 17.10.3390/en17081961 ↗
38. Ilgın, H.E., and Aslantamer, Ö.N. (2024). Spatial Effectiveness in High-Rise Timber Towers: A Global Perspective. Buildings, 14.10.3390/buildings14092713 ↗
39. Ilgın, H.E. (2024). High-Rise Residential Timber Buildings: Emerging Architectural and Structural Design Trends. Buildings, 14.10.3390/buildings14071951 ↗
40. Ilgın, H.E. (2024). Analysis of the Main Architectural and Structural Design Considerations in Tall Timber Buildings. Buildings, 14.10.3390/buildings14071951 ↗
41. Svatoš-Ražnjević, H., Orozco, L., and Menges, A. (2022). Advanced Timber Construction Industry: A Review of 350 Multi-Storey Timber Projects from 2000–2021. Buildings, 12.10.3390/buildings12040404 ↗
42. Computational design and on-site mobile robotic construction of an adaptive reinforcement beam network for cross-laminated timber slab panels10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104536 ↗
43. Luis, O., Krtschil, A., Wagner, H.J., Simon, B., Amtsberg, F., Skoury, L., Knippers, J., and Menges, A. (2021, January 8–10). Design methods for variable density, multi-directional composite timber slab systems for multi-storey construction. Proceedings of the International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe 39), Novi Sad, Serbia.10.52842/conf.ecaade.2021.1.303 ↗
44. Wagner, H., Hua, C., Guo, Z., Menges, A., and Yuan, P. (2020, January 25–29). Towards an On-site Fabrication System for Bespoke, Unlimited and Monolithic Timber Slabs. Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)—Workshop on Construction and Architecture Robotics, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
45. Enhanced robotic cross-laminated timber panel assembly process
46. CTBUH Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (2025). Tall Timber Center, The Mass Timber Database of CTBUH, CTBUH Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Available online: https://www.ctbuh.org.
47. Chapagain, A., and Crovella, P. (2025). Building Sustainable Futures: Evaluating Embodied Carbon Emissions and Biogenic Carbon Storage in a Cross-Laminated Timber Wall and Floor (Honeycomb) Mass Timber Building. Sustainability, 17.10.3390/su17125602 ↗
48. Freie Wahl—Das Projekt bestimmt die Planungsmethode10.1002/bate.201900096 ↗
49. T3 Minneapolis—America’s largest modern mass timber building
50. Pei, S., Rammer, D., Popovski, M., Williamson, T., Line, P., and van de Lindt, J.W. (2024, December 20). An Overview of CLT Research and Implementation in North America. USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Available online: https://www.fpl.fs.usda.gov/documnts/pdf2016/fpl_2016_pei001.pdf.
51. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden Report 2018 Swedish Technical Benchmarking of Tall Timber Buildings
52. Professner, H., and Mathis, C. (2012). LifeCycle Tower—High-Rise Buildings in Timber. Structures Congress 2012, American Society of Civil Engineers.10.1061/9780784412367.174 ↗
53. Lundgren, J. (2014). The Impact of Life Expectancy in LCA of Concrete and Massive Wood Structures: A Case Study of Strandparken in Sundbyberg. [Master’s Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology]. Available online: https://odr.chalmers.se/bitstreams/66c45e13-9945-4083-829d-427f17b8d0bd/download.
54. Åkesson, S. (2018). Horizontal Stabilization of a Trä8 Building Using Glulam Trusses: Finite Element Analysis of a Multiple Storey Building in Timber. [Master’s Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology]. Available online: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12380/255639.
55. Learning from Finland: From circular economy to circular building
56. Avilla-Royo, R., Jacoby, S., and Bilbao, I. (2021). The Building as a Home: Housing Cooperatives in Barcelona. Buildings, 11.10.3390/buildings11040137 ↗
57. Johansson, D., Bagge, H., and Wahlström, Å. (2019). Wood as an Exposed Building Material for Indoor Climate Adaptation. Cold Climate HVAC 2018. CCC 2018, Springer. Springer Proceedings in Energy.10.1007/978-3-030-00662-4 ↗
58. Industrielle modulare Konstruktion mit niedrigem CO2—Fußabdruck—EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin10.1002/bate.202200077 ↗
59. Measuring-up in timber: A critical perspective on mid- and high-rise timber building design
60. Walker, K. (2021). Case Study 3: Dalston Works. Modern Apartment Design, Routledge.10.4324/9781003123873-18 ↗
61. Mit einem Holzhybrid neue Höhen erreichen10.1002/bate.202100074 ↗
62. Lanata, F. (2019, January 25–27). Long-term monitoring of the highest 100% timber building in France. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Structural Health Assessment of Timber Structures, Guimarães, Portugal. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372165993_LONG-TERM_MONITORING_OF_THE_HIGHEST_100_TIMBER_BUILDING_IN_FRANCE.
63. Morgan, L. (2024). Brisbane’s Transition to a Circular City. [Master’s Thesis, Utrecht University]. Available online: https://studenttheses.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/20.500.12932/48179/Master%20Thesis_Brisbane%27s%20Transition%20to%20a%20Circular%20City_Loic%20Morgan_June%202024_Final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
64. Building “a place of transformation and healing”
65. Fast+Epp (2024, December 19). INTRO Cleveland Taking Mass Timber to New Heights. Available online: https://www.fastepp.com/portfolio/intro-cleveland/.
66. Higgins, O., Danzig, I., Fitzgerald, B., Pelling, J., and Jahangiri, M. (2023, January 19–22). Tallwood 1: Lessons learned on completion of Canada’s first 12 storey timber steel hybrid building. Proceedings of the 13th World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2023), Oslo, Norway.10.52202/069179-0551 ↗
67. Overton, K., Mo, G., Katavić, I., and Sánchez Solís, M. (2023, January 19–22). 10 storey timber office building, Drammen, Norway. Proceedings of the 13th World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2023), Oslo, Norway.10.52202/069179-0549 ↗
68. State of Tall Timber 2022
69. Some structural design issues of the 14-storey timber framed building “Treet” in Norway10.1007/s00107-016-1022-5 ↗
70. Shahnewaz, M., Jackson, R., and Tannert, T. (2023, January 19–22). Reinforced cross-laminated timber-concrete composite floor systems. Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Structural Health Assessment of Timber Structures, Oslo, Norway.10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.116395 ↗
71. The Albizzia Tower
72. Long-term deformation behaviour of timber columns: Monitoring of a tall timber building in Switzerland10.1016/j.engstruct.2021.111855 ↗
73. Wijeratne, C., and Lavisci, P. (2023, January 19–22). Investing in mass timber construction in Australia: The Clean Energy Finance Corporation Timber Building Program. Proceedings of the World Conference on Timber Engineering, Oslo, Norway.10.52202/069179-0590 ↗
74. Karel Doorman, Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Unconventional with a Sense of History
75. Haut—A 21-storey Tall Timber Residential Building
76. Structural design of tall mass timber buildings
77. Salvadori, V. (2024, December 19). An Overview of the Tallest Timber Buildings in the World. 8° Forum dell’Edilizia in Legno. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338913741_An_overview_of_the_tallest_timber_buildings_in_the_world.
78. Abrahamsen, R. (2017, January 6–8). Mjøstårnet—Construction of an 81 m tall timber building. Proceedings of the 23rd Internationales Holzbau Forum (IHF 2017), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Available online: https://www.forum-holzbau.ch/pdf/31_IHF2017_Abrahamsen.pdf.
79. Bahrami, A. (2024). Sustainable Development of Recent High-Rise Timber Buildings. Sustainable Structures and Buildings, Springer.10.1007/978-3-031-46688-5 ↗
80. Zaman, A., Chan, Y.-Q., Jonescu, E., and Stewart, I. (2022). Critical Challenges and Potential for Widespread Adoption of Mass Timber Construction in Australia—An Analysis of Industry Perceptions. Buildings, 12.10.3390/buildings12091405 ↗