Oakwood Tower II

A strong driver for the increasing use of timber in the built environment is its potential to moderate the relationship between people and their urban surroundings – to improve wellbeing in a city context. Some of the most iconic tall buildings are expressive of the structural material from which they are constructed – the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the John Hancock Center in Chicago and the brutalist Barbican towers in London. The design of Oakwood Tower II is an attempt to discover the possibilities of the aesthetics of wooden structures. This proposal is located in the heart of the historic centre of a major city in the Netherlands. It is set in a wider complex of office buildings; residential towers; shops, restaurants, sports and leisure and amenities; as well as a parking facility for cars and bicycles topped by an active and green landscaped plaza. The tower’s cross section is oval with a floor print of approximately 24m by 48m at the base. A layered façade comprising crossing certified glulam (glued laminated timber) columns creates a woven like load bearing façade that provides the main lateral stability of the tower. This exterior structure also carries a large portion of the gravity load of the tower. The glulam columns are evenly spaced at 3.6m on the perimeter and extend as straight elements throughout the height of the tower. This creates a hyperboloid 3D form. As the columns rise up the tower they will twist about their longitudinal axis to remain parallel to the façade. All timber columns and walls will run continuous throughout the height of the building, eliminating the tradition platform construction joint. The scheme incorporates social amenities at the base, including restaurants and a terrace plaza café that leads to an upper public plaza. A public bar that offers panoramic views of the nearby park and coastline, the tallest such public area in the city, occupies the upper levels of the tower in an open triple height space.