Penda proposes Toronto Tree Tower built from cross-laminated timber modules
Plants and trees sprout from the modular units that make up this timber-framed high-rise, proposed by architecture firm Penda for Toronto. Penda, which has offices in China and Austria, collaborated with Canadian company Tmber for the Toronto Tree Tower project. They propose an 18-storey residential block that would stand 62 metres tall, with a modular structure made from cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Wood would also clad the building’s staggered walls, and trees would grow from the homes’ generous balconies. “Our cities are a assembly of steel, concrete and glass,” said Penda partner Chris Precht. “If you walk through the city and suddenly see a tower made of wood and plants, it will create an interesting contrast. The warm, natural appearance of wood and the plants growing on its facade bring the building to life and that could be a model for environmental friendly developments and sustainable extensions of our urban landscape,” he added.
Located in the Pampas plains, in the east of the province of Cordoba, Argentina, Capilla San Bernardo byNicolás Campodónicorises in a small grove, originally occupied by a rural house and its yards, both dismantled in order to reuse their materials, especially its one-hundred-year-old bricks. The site does not have electricity or any other utilities; nature imposes its own conditions.
In the limit between the trees and the open country, the chapel´s volume opens up towards the sun, capturing the natural light of the sunset in the interior. Outside, a vertical and a horizontal poles are placed separately and projected towards the interior. As a result, every day all year round, the shadow of these, slides along the curved interior, finishing its tour overlapping with each other.
