Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is designing a residential tower in Canada tipped to be the largest timber hybrid structure in the world.
The building, which will feature a timber frame supported by a concrete and steel core, will be built along the waterfront in central Vancouver. Further details of the build are due out later this year, but a rendering reveals a glass-clad structure with an elegant, sloped roof.
Architectural Digest says the bold build is on course to "set a new standard" in luxury urban design, sustainability and engineering innovation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Developers are keen to highlight the building's environmental credentials. "Timber has been gaining popularity as a building material for high-rises, with proponents emphasising its lightness and sustainability as well as its ability to reduce carbon emissions," says the magazine.
The timber will also be sourced locally from British Columbia in order to further minimise the carbon footprint.
Ban, who is well known for his work with wood and cardboard, was named the winner of the 2014 Pritzker prize, the highest accolade in architecture. He now splits his time between his offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York.
He has also made a name for himself through his humanitarian work, building creative structures in disaster zones around the world, including a temporary cathedral in earthquake-hit New Zealand.
"Receiving this prize is a great honour and with it, I must be careful," he told The Guardian after winning the award. "I must continue to listen to the people I work for, in my private residential commissions and in my disaster relief work.
"I see this prize as encouragement for me to keep doing what I am doing – not to change what I am doing, but to grow."
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump lambasts crime, but his administration is cutting gun violence preventionThe Explainer The DOJ has canceled at least $500 million in public safety grants
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Sport on TV guide: Christmas 2022 and New Year listingsSpeed Read Enjoy a feast of sporting action with football, darts, rugby union, racing, NFL and NBA
-
House of the Dragon: what to expect from the Game of Thrones prequelSpeed Read Ten-part series, set 200 years before GoT, will show the incestuous decline of Targaryen
-
One in 20 young Americans identify as trans or non-binarySpeed Read New research suggests that 44% of US adults know someone who is transgender
-
The Turner Prize 2022: a ‘vintage’ shortlist?Speed Read All four artists look towards ‘growth, revival and reinvention’ in their work
-
What’s on TV this Christmas? The best holiday televisionSpeed Read From films and documentaries to musicals for all the family
-
Coco vision: up close to Chanel opticalsSpeed Read Parisian luxury house adds opticals to digital offering
-
Abba returns: how the Swedish supergroup and their ‘Abba-tars’ are taking a chance on a reunionSpeed Read From next May, digital avatars of the foursome will be performing concerts in east London
-
‘Turning down her smut setting’: how Nigella Lawson is cleaning up her recipesSpeed Read Last week, the TV cook announced she was axing the word ‘slut’ from her recipe for Slut Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly
