Mass Timber Observation Tower Opens in Southern Germany

In a feature by Archinect (5-22-24), University of Stuttgart professor Achim Menges shared details of a new research-led observation tower project after its realization earlier this month in southern Germany.

The project, Wangen Tower, is a collaboration between the University’s Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE).

Menges’ eight-member team worked with Professors Jan Knippers and Gregor Neubauer to produce the prototype using CNC milling techniques and curved CLT panels. The result is a durable, high-performance structure made from locally sourced renewable materials as well as the first-ever built example of a multi-level building made using self-shaped structural timber components.

The research team describes: “The tower’s 23 m tall, pioneering structure is composed of 12 curved cross-laminated timber (CLT) segments, each with a slender cross-section of just 130 millimeters. The global shape of the tower, together with the local curvature of the CLT surfaces, results in a novel surface-active timber structure, which bears all the decisive horizontal wind loads and creates the tower’s distinctive, spiraled silhouette.”