Mjøstårnet: World's Tallest Timber Tower
The 18-storey Mjøstårnet in Norway, the world's tallest all-timber building, sequesters up to 1,000 metric tons of CO2.
The Mjøstårnet tower in Brumunddal, Norway, is an 18-storey, 277-foot tall wooden skyscraper and the tallest all-timber building in the world. Completed in 2018, it incorporates offices, apartments, and a 72-room hotel, with an elevator shaft fabricated entirely of wood.
I visited the tower in early autumn, staying in a room on the 11th floor. The room featured wooden floors, furniture, and a massive structural column measuring 2 feet wide by 5 feet long. This column is made from glued laminated timber (glulam), where precision-cut blocks are pressed together with strong glue.
The Developer's Vision
Arthur Buchardt, the developer, sketched the initial concept on a napkin in 2015. "Height was very important here," Buchardt said. "It had to be a signal. To show what is possible." Now in his late 70s, Buchardt was prompted into action by the Paris climate agreement's pledge for a "great green change." He asked architects how big it was possible to go with a high-rise wooden building.
All the wood in Mjøstårnet came from the immediate landscape, and local stone was used for a marble fireplace. "So this was a political statement," Buchardt stated, "to use all this local material."
Concrete's Carbon Problem
The built environment accounts for 37% of all global emissions. Concrete manufacturing alone contributes between 7 and 8% of these total emissions. Since 1960, concrete use in construction has grown tenfold, with less than 1% produced from recycled materials. Cities are described as monuments to extraction and emissions.
Building with wood presents a carbon-storing alternative. A typical mid-rise building made from steel and concrete generates 1,500 to 2,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions during construction. The same building, made from wood, sequesters 600 to 1,000 metric tons of CO2. This is before factoring in the additional carbon absorption from replanting harvested trees.
The vision is to turn dense population centers from concentrated emitters into massive carbon sinks, shifting from a mineral-based construction economy to a forest-based, renewable one.
Economic and Practical Realities
The reality of mass timber construction is not simple. Mjøstårnet cost around £100 million to build. A comparable tower built entirely of steel and concrete would have been £10 to £15 million cheaper.
However, this cost difference is a matter of perspective. Studies on the knock-on effects of global concrete production suggest the associated environmental and social costs are immense. The tower stands as a test case for future urban development, aiming to make buildings part of the climate solution rather than the problem. The view from the penthouse looks out over Lake Mjøsa, a symbol of the local environment the structure was designed to protect.
