Abstract

Tall timber buildings are being constructed to taller heights each passing year. Treet, the worlds previous “tallest timber building” at 49m was surpassed by Brock Commons at 53m last year. Hoho in Vienna, which is under construction, is expected to top out at 84m this year. As the height of a building increases, the more critical the wind actions are on the structure. Tall timber buildings will be lighter than an equivalent tower built in more traditional materials such as concrete or steel, but little is understood about how this new breed of lighter tall buildings will behave dynamically under wind loading. There are numerous timber towers which have been proposed for heights over 100m, but with data only available for buildings up to 50m tall, and building codes which are intended for the use on steel or concrete towers, there is a need to understand how the wind dynamics should affect the design of the next generation of tall timber buildings.