Ambitious concepts like Nikken Sekkei's proposal for the world's tallest timber skyscraper can accelerate the use of engineered wood but should not be the focus, argues Hajime Aoyagi in this Timber Revolution interview.

Aoyagi is part of a team at Japanese studio Nikken Sekkei that is working on the W350 Plan – a joint research project with wood manufacturer Sumitomo Forestry centred on a concept for the world's tallest wooden building in Tokyo.

The proposed tower would be 350 metres tall – around four times higher than the current tallest mass-timber building, Ascent Tower in the US and past the threshold to be considered a supertall skyscraper.

"It is not intended for immediate construction at this point in time, but by setting major goals, it aims to create a roadmap for technological development and uncover issues that need to be solved [in mass timber]," explained Aoyagi.

"Another objective is to raise awareness of the general public by asking why we need to use timber at all," he continued.

Despite the interest attracted by Sumitomo Forestry's and Nikken Sekkei's vision to reach record-breaking heights, Aoyagi believes this is not the most important aspect of the project.

"We should promote demand for wood in low-rise buildings"

For him, the true value of the concept lies in sparking interest in mass timber and encouraging its uptake in architecture – particularly in Japan.

"We do not think it is necessary to focus too much on high-rise buildings or pure mass-timber construction," he explained.

"If it is effective for that purpose, we should promote demand for wood in low-rise buildings and in hybrid structures that combine non-wood materials in opportunities and projects where they are easy to use."

Mass timber is an umbrella term for engineered-wood products, which typically consist of layers of wood bound together to create strong structural components.

Such products are increasing in popularity in the construction industry due to wood's ability to sequester carbon and its potential for lessening dependence on heavily polluting materials like concrete and steel.

According to Aoyagi, increasing the demand for mass timber in Japan could help push the country to achieve a "low-carbon age". However, this is currently hindered by the cost of domestic wood products in the country, caused by the decline of its forestry industry.

"Due to the decline of the forestry industry in the past and the difficulty of harvesting timber from steep mountainsides, domestic timber is more expensive than imported timber at the point of production," Aoyagi explained.

"Patent wars" limiting use of timber in Japan

Japan's forestry industry has been in decline since its peak in the 1980s when the number of artificial forests being planted began to slow and the country embraced cheaper foreign imports.

This decline has contributed to the dwindling number of forestry workers in the country, exacerbated by the ageing population of this workforce, and is leading to a lack of logging and reforestation.

As a large proportion of artificial forests in the country that were planted after world war two are now in need of logging, a lot of timber is going untended.

Costs of domestic timber in Japan are also soaring due to legal restrictions on both the use of wood in architecture and on which manufacturers are allowed to develop mass timber products, said Aoyagi.

"From a mass timber perspective, legal restrictions on construction in Japan limit the number of manufacturers and contractors who can produce fire-resistant materials," he explained.

"This means that materials costs remain high because competitive principles do not apply. In addition, 'patent wars' between developers regarding materials and joint details are making it more difficult for mass timber to gain widespread use."

Nikken Sekkei hopes that ambitious projects like the W350 Plan can help reverse this trend by helping to increase the interest in the use of mass timber, as well as physical demand.

Mass timber can help achieve "the low-carbon age"

"Our main objective is to improve the health of Japan's forests and decarbonise the country," Aoygai said.

"In Japan, demand for timber must be increased in order to restore health to forests," Aoyagi explained.

"The fact that carbon emissions for timber are low compared to concrete or steel in the manufacturing process means it is also a factor in the low-carbon age we strive to achieve."

Aoyagi believes so strongly in the potential of mass timber in bringing "the low-carbon age" in Japan that he also thinks the material could help bring about a new architectural movement centred on a "low-carbon consciousness".

This will see the industry become more focused on studying the carbon emissions of their designs, he said, and overtake current mass-timber trends such as the race to the sky.

"We have entered an era in which buildings are no longer considered within the parameters of a construction site, but from a global environmental perspective," he explained.

"I expect that the future trend will be to build with materials that can be properly traced. The direction will move toward a 'low-carbon consciousness' in terms of construction methods and processes."

W350 Plan could be "a reality in the near future"

Though there are no current plans in place to build the W350 Plan, Nikken Sekkei is continually working on the project with the aim of contributing to the uptake and advancement of mass-timber products.

"Research and development in both materials and design technology are progressing, and we are making daily efforts to make it a reality in the near future," said Aoyagi.

Aoyagi said that many of the project's findings cannot currently be disclosed, but he explained that some of the most interesting learnings so far relate to how the properties of wood can be altered to make it more suitable for building large structures.

"We discovered issues such as how to augment the material properties of wood, such as wood subsidence and cracking under conditions where large loads are involved," he explained.

The team is also exploring how to maximise the potential for using timber in hybrid structures alongside materials including concrete and steel.

"In Japan, where not only earthquakes but also wind loads have a large impact, we know that wood alone cannot handle the force of a building being uprooted by the wind," Aoyagi explained.

"We need to think flexibly, for example, by using hybrid structures that also incorporate steel and other materials where appropriate, without being overly concerned about using wood to handle everything."

The current iteration of the ambitious W350 Plan skyscraper imagines a hybrid structure of mass timber products and steel.

"W350 Plan is based on the premise of a hybrid wood-steel structure," Aoyagi said.

"The ratio of wood to steel is assumed at nine to one, or 185,000 cubic metres of wood," he continued. "We are trying to make [timber] applicable to high-rise buildings by using steel in the appropriate places and not sticking solely to wood."

Aoyagi is not the only industry figure advocating for improvements to forest health. In another interview with Dezeen as part of the Timber Revolution series, Forest Business Network co-founder Arnie Didier said that increasing the use of mass timber in architecture is driving good forest management practices in the United States.

Nikken Sekkei is an architecture and engineering firm from Japan, with headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is the second-largest architectural practice in the world.

Elsewhere, the studio recently used timber to create one of the largest wood-framed roofs in the world, and a communal building for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games' athletes' village that is built using 40,000 pieces of Japanese wood.

The images are courtesy of Sumitomo Forestry and Nikken Sekkei.

Timber Revolution
This article is part of Dezeen's Timber Revolution series, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether going back to wood as our primary construction material can lead the world to a more sustainable future.

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A set of giant wooden tables and chairs shelter the glass buildings of Sweets Bank, the headquarters of sweet company Shunkado in Hamamatsu City, Japan, designed by Nikken Sekkei.

Described by the practice as a "social media-friendly" building, the oversized furniture, which is thirteen times the regular scale, is modelled on furniture from Shunkado's cafe.

"The site's outsized, but carefully designed tables and chairs are intended as an expression of the Shunkado corporate slogan: 'we want people to spend family time at the table with sweets'," explained Nikken Sekkei.

"In the modern age of social media, in which a single photo can instantly capture hearts and minds, the image of the building itself becomes the medium, attracts people to regional cities, and creates memorable experiences for posting to the world."

A mixed-use facility, the building combines offices for Shunkado with a restaurant and cafe, as well as a branch of local bank Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin, the combination of which gave the project its name: Sweets Bank.

"The building is composed of two major elements: furniture as shelter from the rain and sun, and glass boxes that ensure comfort," explained the practice.

"The outsized table and chairs were designed to closely represent actual furniture, while overcoming challenges related to structure, finish, drainage and mechanical systems, creating a reality that enhances the city and attracts people," it continued.

The project is split into a pair of two-storey glass blocks. A smaller block to the south contains offices for the bank, while the larger block to the north houses a cafe and shop on the ground floor and offices for Shunkado above.

At the entrance to both blocks, the oversized tables and chairs create sheltered terraces, dotted with sculptures including an oversized gift bag, sake bottle, stool and a red pig.

The terrace appears to peel upwards at the site's southwestern corner, creating a vertical surface on which the name of the project is displayed in metal lettering.

Inside the cafe, giant cups and teapots have been used to create tables and sculptures, continuing the playful character of the exterior.

The offices themselves are more minimal and understated, with simple interiors framing views of the surrounding furniture through the large windows.

"The glass boxes were designed abstractly and simply detailed to serve as a furniture backdrop," said the practice.

On the roof, the tables are finished with imitation table settings, with mechanical services concealed by patterned covers designed to look like gift boxes.

Previous projects by Nikken Sekkei include the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, designed for the delayed 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games to be a celebration of timber construction. The studio also created the Olympic Village Plaza from 40,000 pieces of wood.

The photography is by Kenta Hasegawa unless stated otherwise.

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One of the largest timber-framed roofs in the world spans 90 metres over the arena of the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, designed by Japanese practice Nikken Sekkei for the delayed 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The structure, located a short distance from Tokyo's centre in Koto City, was originally unveiled in 2019 and has been the location for artistic, rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics as well as the wheelchair sport Boccia.

Located next to a canal on the site of a former timber storage area, the centre is a celebration of wood and its centrality to traditional Japanese architecture. Around 2,300 cubic metres of sustainable timber are used throughout the building.

"Based on the architectural concept of a wooden vessel floating in the bay area, timber is used wherever possible, specifically in the roof frame structure, facade, spectator seats and exterior walls, while carefully considering the characteristics of wood in each application," said Nikken Sekkei.

From its base, the centre's inverted pyramid form sweeps upwards to shelter an external concourse below, expressing the shape of the raked seating within with a stepped cladding of horizontal timber planks.

Referencing a traditional engawa, a verandah-like space found in Japanese architecture, the concourse is defined by two rings of steel supports: one vertical surrounding the entrances in the centre and another angled supporting the edge of the roof structure.

"By positioning the circulation concourse on the outside of the building and creating an open and broad approach space, the design attempts to avoid the impenetrable exterior typically found on large-scale sports facilities," explained the practice.

The roof structure is formed by a series of large, arch-shaped glued-laminated timber beams made using larch from the Nagano and Hokkaido prefectures, spanning a distance of 90 metres between the steel columns of the centre.

"We adopted a simple structure that uses single members of large glue-laminated timber with high heat capacity, rather than trusses containing a number of small members to achieve both fire resistance performance and structural stability," Nikken Sekkei said.

Steel cables attached to this roof structure support the arena's lighting rig, above the glulam stands that can accommodate 12,000 spectators. This number will reduce when the temporary seating is removed following the 2020 Olympic Games.

A corrugated steel roof covers the structure, following the form of the timber beams below to create the arena's distinctive undulating roof shape.

The centrepiece of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Japan National Stadium by Kengo Kuma Associates with Taisei Corporation and Azusa Sekkei Co also incorporated an extensive use of timber, with its roof structure made from steel and laminated larch and cedar trusses.

Both of these structures and more featured in Dezeen's roundup of the most architecturally significant buildings in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which took place during summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The images are courtesy of Nikken Sekkei.

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Tokyo studio Nikken Sekkei has designed a timber communal building at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games' athletes village, which was built using 40,000 pieces of Japanese wood.

The temporary structure, which will serve as the central meeting place for athletes within the Olympic Village, contains a cafe, bank, medical spaces, lounges, hair salons, retail spaces and a media centre.

The 5,300 square-metre communal space is located at the Harumi waterfront district of Tokyo on the eastern side of the athletes' village.

It was constructed from 40,000 pieces of sustainably Japanese cypress, cedar and larch, which were "borrowed" from local governments across the country.

"Use of wood from different regions throughout the building will express diversity and harmony," said the Olympics in a press release.

"In addition to revitalising the timber industry and contributing to the conservation of sustainable forests, use of Japanese lumber reflects the goal of reducing environmental impacts and realising sustainability by leaving a legacy that attests to the participation of all regions of the country in the Games."

Nikken Sekkei arranged the donated timbers to create a structure that draws on the design aesthetics of traditional Japanese buildings.

It is a low-lying, single-storey structure that is clad in long vertically and horizontally arranged beams and was topped with a corrugated metal roof.

Inside, wood was arranged in a lattice formation with the structure of the building celebrated and left exposed.

Each piece of wood used in the building was marked with a stamp that detailed the name of the area it was sourced from.

After the completion of the games, the structure will be dismantled and wood returned to the donating municipalities to be reused in local construction projects.

"Under the project, lumber borrowed free of charge from local governments across Japan will be used to construct the Village Plaza," said the organisers.

"Then after the Games, lumber from the dismantled Village Plaza will be used as a legacy in local governments' public facilities and elsewhere."

Nikken Sekkei previously collaborated with Japanese timber company Sumitomo Forestry to propose building the world's tallest wooden building in Tokyo.

The studio also designed the Ariake Gymnastics Centre for the games, one of only a few venues built specifically for the event.

The building is part of the Olympic organisers plan to promote sustainable initiatives at the game.

"Engaging the whole country and prioritising environmental sustainability is a core pledge of the Tokyo 2020 Games," said Tokyo 2020 Vice President Toshiaki Endo.

"[This] project is based on these principles, and is the first initiative of the kind in the history of Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Other initiatives aiming to make the games sustainable include the athletes' beds being created from cardboard frames, podiums made from donated plastic waste and medals made from recycled smartphones.

Images are courtesy of Tokyo 2020.

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Japanese timber company Sumitomo Forestry has revealed plans for the world's tallest wooden building in Tokyo, a 350-metre skyscraper that would also be the country's highest.

Sumitomo Forestry is proposing the 70-storey hybrid timber skyscraper to mark the company's 350th anniversary in 2041.

Named W350, the ambitious tower would be almost four times higher than the world's current tallest timber building – the 18-storey Brock Commons Student Residence in Vancouver, Canada.

At 350 metres, the skyscraper designed by Sumitomo's Tsukuba Research Laboratory in collaboration with Tokyo practice Nikken Sekkei, would also become Japan's tallest building.

Timber is expected to make up 90 per cent of the hybrid structure, with 185,000 cubic metres of wood planned to be used in its construction.

The building would use a "braced tube structure" with columns and beams made from steel and timber, supplemented by additional diagonal steel braces.

The multi-use tower containing a hotel, residential units, offices, and shops would be wrapped in large balconies covered in plants.

"The aim is to create an environmentally-friendly and timber-utilising cities where they become forests through increased use of wooden architecture for high-rise buildings," said a statement from Sumitomo Forestry.

"The greenery connects from the ground to the top floors through the balcony part, and it offers a view of biodiversity in an urban setting," it continued. "The interior structure is of a pure wood, producing a calm space that exudes the warmth and gentleness of wood."

Sumitomo Forestry estimates the building will cost £4.2 billion – "almost double that of a conventional high-rise building constructed with current technology."

However, the company is working to reduce these costs by developing new technology. It also intends the building to be part of a wider push to encourage the use of timber in urban areas to "change cities into forests".

Although historically the majority of buildings in Japan were constructed of timber, fire risk greatly reduced the number of wooden buildings. The construction of  buildings made from timber was given a boost in 2010, when the Act for Promotion of Use of Wood in Public Buildings was put in place.

In Tokyo, timber is being used prominently on Kengo Kuma's stadium for the 2020 Olympics.

The plans for W350 are the latest in a series of proposals for conceptual timber skyscrapers. PLP Architecture revealed a concept for a 300-metre-tall addition to the Barbican housing estate in London, while architecture firm Penda proposed a timber-framed high-rise for Toronto.

W350 Plan project credits:

Concept and timber engineering: Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.
Architectural and structural design: Nikken Sekkei Ltd
Chief design officer: Tomohiko Yamanashi
Senior design director: Tatsuya Hatori
Design director: Hajime Aoyagi
Senior project architect: Miwako Kase

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Huge Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei and Barcelona studio Pascual i Ausió Arquitectes have been selected to renovate the Camp Nou stadium, home of FC Barcelona.

Dubbed the New Camp Nou, the proposal from the two architecture firms will see significant alterations to the stadium in Barcelona, Spain, which was originally designed in 1957 by Spanish architect Francesc Mitjans Miró.

The triple-tier structure will remain, but the third tier will be extended and a roof covering more than 47,000 square metres will be added to make sure all seats are sheltered from the weather.

The capacity will be increased from 99,350 to 105,000. One of the main requirements of the brief was for all of the seats to have a good view of the pitch.

Images of the Japanese and Spanish design team's proposal also show red lighting around the outside of each tier, and colour-effects on the roof.

Nikken Sekkei and Pascual i Ausió Arquitectes beat seven other shortlisted teams, which included stadium specialists like HOK, HKS and Gensler, as well as Danish firm BIG.

"The Nikken Sekkei + Pascual i Ausió Arquitectes proposal stands out for being open, elegant, serene, timelessly Mediterranean and democratic," said a statement from FC Barcelona, which announced its decision today.

Each tier will feature a wide walkway around the outside with transparent barriers, and images also show ticket and entrance pavilions that rise up out of the ground with angled roofs.

"In short, it is a unique solution, reproducing the characteristic vision of the grandstand and canopy, from the inside out, a silent and powerful tribute to the stadium built by Francesc Mitjans in 1957," said FC Barcelona.

As part of the revamp, spaces will be provided for people with reduced mobility, spacing between seats will be improved, and aisles will be widened. Existing stairways will be updated to meet modern guidelines.

The New Camp Nou is part of Espai Barça, a wider project to overhaul all of the football club's buildings, including a training ground and a new sports arena called the Palau Blaugrana.

Last month, global architecture firm HOK and Barcelona-based TAC Arquitectes won a competition to design the new Palau Blaugrana. The 10,000-seat arena will contain a basketball court, while an auxiliary multipurpose court will be capable of hosting 2,000 spectators. The project also includes an ice rink.

"The Espai Barça foresees construction of an underground parking lot, thus freeing up a large public area that shall be accessible and open to the neighbourhood, located between the Camp Nou and the new Palau Blaugrana," said FC Barcelona.

Work on the New Camp Nou is expected to start in 2017 and will be carried out in stages. It is expected to be completed during the 2021/22 football season.

Nikken Sekkei is the world's third largest architecture firm according to the World Architecture 100 2016, which ranks companies based on the number of architects employed. The firm is over 100 years old and has offices in China, Vietnam, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, in addition to its headquarters in Japan.

In 1994 it launched an interior design arm, which designed its own office in Tokyo last year.

In 2015, the firm became embroiled in the row over the ditched Tokyo 2020 stadium design, after it teamed up with Zaha Hadid to try and win the project back.

More recently, Nikken Sekkei was selected to transform 24-kilometre-long stretch of disused Singapore railway into a High Line-esque park.

Founded by Catalan architects Joan Pascual and Ramon Ausió, Pascual i Ausió Arquitectes is based in Barcelona with a portfolio of residential, office and hotel buildings. Among its best-known projects are the refurbishment and renovation of the former AEG factory in Terrassa, which it turned into a school.

Other current high-profile football stadium projects include the new Chelsea FC ground by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, a stadium for Tottenham Hotspur by Populous, and Arup's design for AC Milan's new building.

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Japanese firm Nikken Sekkei has been chosen to transform a 24-kilometre-long stretch of disused Singapore railway into a High Line-esque park that extends across the entire island (+ slideshow).

The firm plans to create cycle paths, climbing walls, nature reserves, seating areas and water features along the disused railway corridor that stretches from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in the south to Woodlands Checkpoint in the north.

Like the popular High Line in New York, the project aims to create a new public attraction for Singapore. But with a length of 24 kilometres, it will be 10 times as long – connecting a series of different suburban areas.

"We captured this design opportunity, not merely as a landscape design assignment but more as public space design project," said Wataru Tanaka, director of integreated public design at Nikken Sekkei.

"We took the design approach to integrate the communities the rail corridor touches into the design itself to make a truly meaningful public asset within a broader urban context," he said.

The proposal, named Lines of Life, was selected by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as the winner in the Singapore Rail Corridor competition at the end of 2015.

The brief called for a comprehensive masterplan, including specific design solutions for 10 key nodes. Nikken Sekkei has developed a different strategy for all 10, with names like Northern Nexus, Canal Village, Passage of Light and Green Connector.

The firm has also broken the volume up into eight distinctive sections, with a total of 122 proposed access points.

A cycle path will span the entire 24 kilometres. Clear signage is also a key element in the design.

"It presents visionary ideas for the former train line to be planned and integrated seamlessly with its diverse surroundings, over many years," said University of Freiburg professor Wulf Daseking, a member of the judging panel.

"The plan is a wise guide with brilliant ideas that is also flexible in terms of implementation," he added. "Green areas, footpaths and bicycle paths as well as surrounding developments along the Rail Corridor are woven together in a very convincing way."

The firm has been tasked with developing a preliminary design and feasibility study for an initial four-kilometre stretch of the corridor, dubbed the Signature Stretch.

The Singapore Rail Corridor is the latest in a series of projects inspired by the High Line, which was designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, landscape architects James Corner Field Operations and planting designer Piet Oudolf.

Others include a promenade linking gardens and railways arches along London's River Thames, a three-kilometre-long elevated park in Italy and MVRDV's proposed Seoul Skygarden.

The URA also named two winning projects in conjunction with the competition. MKPL Architects and Turenscape International were awarded for a housing and garden scheme alongside the railway corridor, as well as for their plan for the adaptive reuse of the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

All three winning designs were presented to the public in an exhibition in the URA's atrium.

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