Sustainable urban development in the heart of Hamburg. Roots stands for an attitude to life, a yearning for nature, authenticity and warmth.

Offices, housing, exhibitions: Rubner in collaboration with Garbe Immobilien-Projekte Ltd. and the architectural practice Störmer Murphy and Partners has realized the timber structural engineering for Germany's highest timber skyscraper, consisting of, among other things, a total of 181 residential units. Upon completion of the project with a gross floor area of approx. 20.600 m², the L-shaped structure and the 65-meter-high "tower" with 16 floors in timber will consist of more than 1.200 timber elements, thus creating a "second forest" in the heart of HafenCity, in which carbon remains stored for decades.

Thanks to the high degree of off-site prefabrication, it was possible to bring the complex assemblies in the factory shop floor, where they were resolved, and meet the site schedule. Highly load-bearing exterior walls, solid timber ceilings, 14-meters long and 3,2-meters high elements, some of which weigh 6 tons, have already been prefabricated as 3D modules; this allows Rubner, in charge of erection on site too, to complete a floor in about 3 weeks. The construction end is planned for 2024.

Key highlights of Roots’ timber construction:

• Factory prefabricated wall elements in timber frame construction cover a surface of 16,200m²
• More than 5,500m³ of softwood including 4,430m³ cross laminated timber and 820m³ special woods will be processed by Rubner Holzbau
• Timber use in this project will reduce CO2 consumption by approximately 26,000 tonnes compared to fabrication, transport, and disposal of conventional building materials
• High prefabrication rates of timber elements have considerably reduced construction period onsite with noise emissions kept within tolerable limits
  

Project details

Location: Hamburg

Completion Planned: 2023

Client: Garbe Immobilien-Projekte Gmbh, Hamburg and Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung (German Wildlife Foundation)

Architecture: Störmer, Murphy and Partners Gbr, Hamburg

Structural Engineering: Assmann Beraten Und Planen, Hamburg

Concrete Structure: Oevermann Hochbau Gmbh, Münster

Total Height: 73 metres

Timber Used in Construction: Approx. 5,500m³