The Ascent is an 86.6-metre-tall mass-timber tower located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, designed by Korb + Associates Architects. It has been certified as the world’s tallest timber building.
The 25-storey tower, which opened in July, has a concrete base, elevator and stair shafts, with the rest of the structure made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam. The tower structure is primarily constructed from a system of glued laminated timber (glulam) beams and columns supporting cross-laminated timber (CLT) floors. The exterior, meanwhile, is mostly glass.
The Ascent houses luxury apartments and retail spaces. It features a six-story podium at its base that houses retail and amenity spaces, as well as parking and a lobby. The 19 stories above hold apartments and culminate in a top floor with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and two sky decks. The cladding for the building is “almost exclusively” glass. The design process for the tower was informed by biophilic design principles.
The Ascent’s use of wood decreased construction time by approximately 25% compared to a conventionally constructed concrete building of the same size. Additionally, the timber in Ascent sequesters enough CO2 to be the equivalent of removing 2,400 cars from the road for a year.
