Vienna to build treemendous new skyscraper

Vienna will build a treemendous new addition to its skyline in 2016: a wooden skyscraper.

The timber tower will stretch 84 metres into the sky, housing not just apartments and offices but also a wellness Centre, hotel and restaurant, says the Guardian; a mixed use property made of almost one single material.

Wood will make up 76 per cent of the building, which may not sound as impressive as the phrase "wooden skyscraper" suggests, but that striking difference in construction process will have a significant environmental impact. Indeed, compared to the production of a concrete structure, making a building from wood will save 2,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

The project is the brainchild of designer Rüdiger Lainer and Partner architects and backed by Austrian property entrepreneur Günter Kerbler.

Developer Caroline Palfy said that the plan had roots in common sense: "I think it is important everyone now in 2014 thinks in different ways. We have wood, which is a perfect construction material for building. It was used 200 years ago and it was perfect then and is perfect now.”

It is far from the first time that wood or other unusual materials have been used to construct large structures. In London's Hackney, the nine-storey Stadthaus block is one of the tallest timber residential structures in the world. In New Zealand, following the Christchurch earthquake, a replacement for the city's cathedral was erected from cardboard.

"The main factor is that everyone wants to build higher and higher buildings. An 84-metre-high building in Europe is not usual and there are a lot of necessities that have to be realised," fire service spokesman Christian Wegner told the Guardian.

Indeed, fire tests are being undertaken to ensure the wooden property has a fail-safe sprinkler system.

After all, they are not completely barking mad.