Tall & Urban News

Regenerative Tall Building Forests Proposed at COP26

SOM's proposed "urban sequoia" forests could capture carbon for other uses, and be built from less-carbon-intensive materials. Image credit: SOM | Miysis.
SOM's proposed "urban sequoia" forests could capture carbon for other uses, and be built from less-carbon-intensive materials. Image credit: SOM | Miysis.
23 November 2021 | Glasgow, United Kingdom

At COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) proposed a concept for creating buildings in an urban context with a goal of providing some of the functions of a forest.  

The central proposition of “Urban Sequoia” is that the built environment can absorb carbon. SOM’s prototype is a high-rise building designed to sequester as much as 1,000 tons of carbon per year. The design incorporates solutions and materials that use less carbon than conventional options and absorb carbon over time. Materials like bio-brick, hempcrete, timber, and biocrete can potentially reduce the carbon impact of construction by 50 percent or more compared to concrete and steel, according to SOM.  The design also incorporates direct air capture of carbon, with airflow being facilitated by the tower stack effect.

With integrated biomass and algae systems at the façade, the building could further produce materials with a wider application, such as transportation biofuels or building materials.  

For more on this story, go to SOM.