Tall & Urban News

New "Use-Neutral" Tower Typology Offers Futureproof-Adaptability

Use-neutral tower rendering looking north in Burnaby, B.C., Canada Rendering courtesy of B+H Architects
Use-neutral tower rendering looking north in Burnaby, B.C., Canada Rendering courtesy of B+H Architects
08 March 2021 | Burnaby, Canada

A group of like-minded architects, builders, and engineers, including B+H Architects, Mortenson, Coffman Engineers, and Robert Bird Group, are working on a new type of high-rise, one that they hope will be adaptable enough for a post-pandemic future. The new typology is "use- and program- neutral," with the intent that it will be modifiable for multiple uses. 

B+H architect Matthias Olt, Design Director in Architecture, describes the design concept, which is defined by a ring shape as being inspired by “organic structures like bamboo—a ring or tube is the most material-efficient and structurally effective building form. Equally relevant, every space module, window, and duct on this ring configuration can be identical, rotated, and replicated.”

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The tower is inspired by five key characteristics that will allow it to adapt and evolve over time:

Health and wellness
Tech companies and others who compete fiercely for the best talent in the world are realizing that workplace wellness is one of the most important decision points for many employees, pushing companies to create mandates about net zero footprints, carbon neutrality, and prioritizing spacesthat enhance employee well-being and contribute to corporate environmental performance goals. Mass timber, a replenishable product offers many of these benefits, the challenge has been how does it scale and how does it become more resilient?

Financial sustainability
Single-use buildings are vulnerable to major economic shifts or global catastrophes. A building that is designed to quickly and easily reposition to accommodate new, diverse uses can offer unique value. Working together, the team developed a proprietary method that creates towers that can be delivered faster, are more environmentally friendly, and can be “use and program” neutral—easily modified from office product to senior housing, to mixed-use, residential, hospitality or a mix of each—according to need.

Hybridization
The team realized that the operations and functionality of a building are mainly driven by the elevator core and its large floor area—office towers need several elevators, residential towers need fewer, hotels may need public elevators for amenity space and private elevators for hotel rooms, etc. If you’ve ever watched a building being built, it is almostalways the elevator cores that are built first, because they generally dictate the rest of the design.We realized that by moving the elevator core out of the main building, we could create a neutraluse tower.

Componentization and prefabrication
The tower is made of highly componentized and prefabricated ring formations comprised of a hybrid and integrated mix of mass timber, concrete, and steel, which is then stacked and assembled on site. By integrating mass timber with concrete slabs and steel, the team is able to scale the buildings to any size. Smaller buildings can be made of all mass timber. Assembling the components on site versus traditional construction techniques minimizes disruption to the neighborhood, delivers a higher quality product that is made in a controlled environment and most importantly increases speed to market. Its flexibility makes it attractive to financial markets, REITS, Investors, users, etc.

Biophilia
The elevator core is assembled alongside the tower and is as tall as the building, efficiently serving one or multiple towers. The elevator core and the towers offer an outside garden for every floor, access to air, nature, and outdoor space—a biophilic approach to architecture that seeks to connect building occupants more closely to nature by incorporating elements like natural lighting and ventilation, natural landscape features, wood and other components to create a more productive and healthy built environment for people to work and live in. The rings also offer efficient surface areas, the curving aspect efficiently manages the heat load, and the interior atrium provides air flow to each floor. In addition, curved buildings have been strongly linked to a reduction in human stress levels.

Proof of concept
The team is engaged with several investors and developers locally and internationally in testing multiple sites for specific building types and uses. Each team member—B+H Architects, Mortenson, Coffman Engineers and Robert Bird Group—brings critical expertise to these projects, which call for a high degree of collaboration throughout pre-planning, shop fabrication, cost estimating, and analysis of environmental factors (such as wind, seismic and code requirements). 

For more on this story, go to B+H Architects.