Norway’s Third-Tallest Skyscraper Is 18-Stories Tall and Built With 100% Locally Harvested Pine Timber

Norway’s third tallest skyscraper is unique. The building was built using local pine, which was harvested straight from its own backyard and is at the center of lumber-based architecture. The building, known as Mjøstårnet (meaning tower of Mjosa), is located in Brumunddal, a small industrial Norwegian town that sits on the edge of Lake Mjosa. This small town is known for its role in the lumber industry, making it the perfect location to build the tallest wooden skyscraper in the world.

Mjøstårnet is 18-stories tall and features a hotel, office space, pool, and restaurant. The structure itself is nearly 300 feet tall. While it’s a tenth of the size of the largest skyscraper in the world, for a country where the average size of a building is three stories, Mjostarnet is quite the feat.

The Mjøstårnet was built with 100% diverse types of engineered wood, which were manufactured to be equally strong as steel. Everything, including the elevator shaft, features complete wooden construction.

Glulam, short for glue-laminated timber, is comprised of timber bound together with weatherproof adhesive. Glulam can be produced in different forms, including massive blocks used to make up the main load-bearing portions of the skyscraper. Engineering it in this way makes the wood extra dense and stronger than normal. Because of this, Glulam provides wooden skyscrapers with the same strength and stability as steel would to a classically built structure.

While building with steel and concrete are typical, building with Glulam and cross-laminated wood allows for the storage of CO2, rather than adding to the production of CO2 emissions.

Oftentimes, especially in locations like Scandinavia, timber can be locally sourced and produced. This eliminates a massive amount of emissions that would usually be produced when transporting building materials like concrete and steel to a construction site. The invention of cross-laminated timber and Glulam has provided the construction industry with a unique and sustainable alternative to producing stable and structurally sound buildings.