"Largest wooden building in Iceland" to occupy landfill site in Reykjavík

Architecture studios Jakob+MacFarlane and T.ark have designed a low-carbon cross-laminated timber building called Living Landscape that will transform a landfill site in Iceland's capital city.

Slated for completion in 2026, the 26,000-square-metre mixed-use building is set to become the "largest wooden building in Iceland" once complete.

Living Landscape has been developed by French studio Jakob+MacFarlane and local studio T.ark to give new life to the polluted landscape and offer a prototype for similar future developments in Reykjavík.

"The project recreates a fragment of authentic natural landscape on top of polluted land to compensate for years of pollution and heal the man-made damage to what has once been a beautiful coastal landscape," Jakob+MacFarlane told Dezeen.

Project is a Reinventing Cities winner

Once complete, the project will contain a mix of housing for students, elderly people and families, alongside workspaces, daycare facilities and local shops.

It is among the 49 winning projects of the Reinventing Cities competition, which was organised by global network C40 Cities to encourage the transformation of underused urban spaces into "beacons of sustainability and resiliency".

The projects strive to help urban areas meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change by minimising carbon emissions.

Above: Living Landscape will be a low-carbon cross-laminated timber building. Top image: it will transform a landfill site in Iceland

The Reinventing Cities programme encourages projects to minimise both embodied carbon – emissions generated during material production and construction – and operational carbon, which are emissions caused by the building's usage.

Jakob+MacFarlane and T.ark are aiming for net-zero emissions, which involves eliminating all possible emissions and offsetting any that cannot be eliminated by removing carbon from the atmosphere.

CLT will reduce embodied carbon "by almost 80 per cent"

According to Jakob+MacFarlane, this will be achieved in part by using a prefabricated cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure.

"The CLT construction reduces the embodied carbon of external walls by almost 80 per cent compared to a typical concrete structure used in Iceland," the studio explained.

"The [remaining] embodied emissions will be offset through either wetland recovery or forestry, making the building effectively carbon neutral."

Among the other materials used in the building will be Panoblocs, a type of prefabricated and insulated wall panel with a wooden exterior, which can be easily removed and adapted.

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Living Landscapes' operational carbon emissions are expected to be minimal, due to high levels of insulation and use of waste-heat recovery systems and thermostat-controlled underfloor heating.

However, the energy it will require will be sourced from an existing district electricity and heat network powered by renewable hydropower and geothermal energy sources.

Nature to be reintroduced to site

Reintroducing nature to the old landfill site will also be a key part of the scheme. There will be an undulating roof garden and farm, alongside a large central courtyard designed as a communal park for the residents.

"The idea of living with and around nature is key to our project," said Jakob+MacFarlane.

The courtyard will be modelled on Icelandic landscapes, incorporating a mix of rocks, water and plants, which is hoped to encourage insects and birds to occupy the site.

"We aim to enable a fully functioning local ecosystem composed of earth and rocks, water and plants, insects and birds," the studio explained. "Protected from freezing by geothermal heat, this green oasis will develop its own microclimate and, hopefully, become a new generator of life."

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Living Landscape is now being continually developed by Jakob+MacFarlane and T.ark with landscape architects Landslag and environmental experts EFLA.

Another winner of the Reinventing Cities competition was architect Arney Fender Katsalidis, who is developing a low-carbon neighbourhood in Rome. The mixed-use project will transform a disused railway site, make use of biomaterials and will feature reversible buildings.

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New York approves use of cross-laminated timber for six storey buildings

The New York City Council has approved the use of mass timber for the construction of buildings of up to 85 feet tall in the city.

Included as part of a major update to the New York City Construction Codes, the new regulations mean that mass timber, including cross-laminated timber, can be used as a structural material for low and medium-rise buildings across the city.

The new regulations mean that buildings up to 85 feet (25.9 metres) tall can be built from the materials. This equates to structures of six or seven storeys.

CLT projects up to 85 feet allowed in New York

"The updated Construction Codes now includes cross-laminated timber (CLT) as an approved Type IV construction material here in New York City," a representative from the New York City Department of Buildings told Dezeen.

"Maximum building heights for CLT projects would be up to 85 feet."

Although some mass timber buildings have been built in New York, previous regulations did not allow for the material to be used in many areas of the city. The buildings that have been built required extensive additional permits.

Revision "a step in the right direction"

The regulation was passed by the council as part of the first major code update since 2014. In total the update included 7,400 revisions to the city's construction codes.

The majority of the regulations will go into effect from the beginning of next year.

New York's decision comes as mass timber is being more widely adopted as a structural building material around the world.

In response to the revision, the AIA said it was "a step in the right direction".

"The legalization of some mass timber products, such as CLT, for shorter buildings, is welcomed by New York City's architects," said AIA New York director of policy Adam Roberts.

"New York City-based architecture firms have been designing mass timber buildings for years throughout the country and world," he told Dezeen.

"Prior to this code revision, the city had made the approval of mass timber buildings incredibly difficult, so the allowance for shorter mass timber buildings represents a step in the right direction."

"This is a great opportunity for New York architects"

Timber specialist architect Michael Green, who designed the largest mass-timber building in the US (pictured), also welcomed the news.

"With the opportunity to build in mass timber, New York can now join many cities around the world as an important leader in carbon sensitive large and tall wood building," Green told Dezeen.

"This is a great opportunity for New York architects, developers and builders to show what New York can do in wood."

"City still lags behind other areas of the country and world"

The revision to the city's codes follows an update to the International Building Code (IBC) by the International Code Council (ICC) earlier this year that allows mass timber buildings of up to 270 feet (82.2 metres) tall. This equates to around 18 storeys.

"In this instance, our city still lags behind other areas of the country and world," said the AIA's Roberts.

"It should be a wake-up call that places like Utah and Idaho have adopted the IBC mass timber code provisions, and yet New York City still has not," he continued.

"We applaud the city for finally allowing for some legalization of mass timber but recognize that this code revision leaves us behind the international standard."

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