“Big Wood” Wooden Skyscraper Proposal.

Modern skyscrapers are typically made of concrete and steel, but the architect Michael Charters is suggesting using wood as a building material for high-rise buildings, generating less environmental impact. Charters recently designed the project “Big Wood” for the 2013 eVolo skyscraper competition, proposing an extensive mixed-use complex that would serve as a sustainable alternative to conventional building materials, which are expensive and require a lot of energy to produce.

The construction industry accounts for approximately 39% of all man-made carbon emissions, a figure that would be considerably reduced if more buildings, large and small, were made of wood.

Trees have the ability to capture and continue to store carbon when used as construction material. Recent studies have shown that it is possible to build wooden structures up to 30 stories and through hybrid systems can be built even higher buildings.

The concept of “Big Wood” is a prototype of a mixed-use complex next to the Chicago River in the South Loop of Chicago. The mixed-use development containing a mix of housing, shops, a library and a community park. “Known as the birthplace of the skyscraper, Chicago is the best place to build a prototype of massive wood,” writes Charters.

thatssodaisy:

Since when was this

more beautiful than this

Reblog to end the impossible standards set by the media. All burgers are beautiful.

(via sarcasm-is-essential)