Timber High-Rise Completed in Tokyo, Japan

“Port Plus,” located outside central Tokyo, Japan, is the subject of a recent profile by BNN Bloomberg (11-5-23). The building is a training and education facility built by and for general contractor Obayashi Corp., a storied Japanese builder that traces its roots back to 1892.

Finished last year, Port Plus is comprised mainly of 540 wooden rigid cross-joints that are 2.8 meters (9.2 feet) by 4 meters (13 feet) tall. The structure offers a pivot away from the carbon-intense building materials like steel and cement that have dominated Japan’s postwar landscape and offers a new path for modern mass-timber construction in a country where wood has played a central role in temples, homes, and workspaces for centuries.

Japan’s domestic timber industry could also benefit from growth in wooden buildings. Of the 1,990 cubic meters of timber used in the construction of Port Plus, approximately 72% originated within Japan, with additional materials imported from Russia and Brazil. According to BNN Bloomberg and Obayashi, forests cover roughly two-thirds of Japan, and much of the wood used in the Port Plus building came from thinning stands of trees to boost the health of the ecosystem.