A small Norwegian town built an 85.4 meter tower out of glued wood

An 18 floor tower on a frame of glued wood, raised four floors at a time.

By Made Over Weekend · 3 min read

Brumunddal is a small town in Norway, on the shore of Lake Mjosa, the country's largest lake, in an area known for forestry and wood processing. In March 2019 it opened Mjostarnet, the Tower of Lake Mjosa. It has 18 floors and stands 85.4 meters tall, and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat declared it the world's tallest timber building.

Inside are a hotel with 72 rooms, 33 apartments, five floors of offices, a restaurant and meeting rooms, about 11,300 square meters in all. Next door, in the same project, is a wooden swimming hall.

The tower was first planned at 81 meters. The developer, Arthur Buchardt of AB Invest, asked why not build it as tall as possible, and the team added 4.4 meters. To do it, the wooden beams at the top were changed from square edges to rounded ones, which lets the wind slip past, the same reason flag poles are round.

By rounding off the edges of the beams, we managed to reach 85.4 m.

Rune Abrahamsen, Moelven Limtre, to New Atlas

How it was built

Groundwork began in April 2017 and the first timber went up in September 2017. The architect was Voll Arkitekter, the main contractor was HENT, and Moelven Limtre made and raised all the wooden structure. Glulam, glued laminated timber made from many layers of solid wood bonded with glue, forms the columns, beams and big diagonals that carry the load. Cross laminated timber panels make the elevator shafts and stairwells.

The crew built the tower in five stages of four floors each, with no scaffolding on the outside. Large sections were put together at the Moelven factory first to check the fit, then assembled on the ground beside the building and lifted into place with a crane. The timber work took about two years.

What it teaches a weekend woodworker

Glulam is an idea you can try on your bench. Take three boards of the same wood, about the same width. Plane or sand the faces flat so they meet with no gaps. Spread an even coat of wood glue on the faces, stack them, and clamp them every few inches, starting in the middle and working out. Wipe off the squeeze out, wait a day, then plane the edges clean. You end up with a straight, stiff beam for a bench leg, a shelf bracket or a workbench top.

An 18 floor tower is just many boards glued up with care. Start with three of them this weekend and build something that stands.