Build an Entire City with Wood

用木頭建造城市

There is a global race to build the tallest wooden skyscraper. The record was held by Mjostarnet， a tower of 85.4 metres in Norway—until Ascent， an structure of 86.6 metres， was completed in Wisconsin， US in July 2022. And it will be put in the shade in turn by other buildings: a 90 metre tower is planned for Canada， and a 100 metre one for Switzerland.

全球都在競相建造最高的木制摩天大樓。在挪威，85.4米高的Mjostarnet大樓曾保持著最高紀錄。直到2022年7月，在美國威斯康星州竣工的Ascent大樓以86.6米的高度打破了這一紀錄。而這一紀錄仍將被不斷打破：加拿大計劃建造一座90米高的大樓，瑞士計劃建造一座100米高的大樓。

A Swedish firm announced their plans to build the world’s biggest wooden city. Stockholm Wood City will be built in Sickla， an area in the south of the Swedish capital. Construction on the 250，000 square-metre site will begin in 2025. The completed wooden city will be able to have 2，000 homes， 7，000 offices and several restaurants and shops. The around $1.4 billion project was led by Atrium Ljungberg， a Swedish urban development company.

一家瑞典公司公布了建造世界上最大木制城市的計劃。斯德哥爾摩木之城將在瑞典首都南部的西克拉地區開工。這座占地25萬平方米的城市將于2025年開始建設。建成之后的木之城將擁有2000套住房、7000間辦公室以及若干餐廳和商店。這個耗資約14億美元的項目由瑞典城市開發公司 Atrium Ljungberg牽頭實施。

By using wood the company hopes to reduce the project’s carbon footprint by up to 40%， compared with building in concrete and steel， says Annica Anas， the company’s boss. Wood is a sustainable material that can be produced from renewable forests， which Sweden has in plenty.

公司老板安妮卡·安內斯表示，與混凝土和鋼鐵建筑相比，公司希望通過使用木材將該項目的碳足跡減少至40%。木材是一種可持續材料，可以從可再生森林中生產，而瑞典有大量的可再生森林。

The Swedish project will， as existing wooden skyscrapers do， employ large prefabricated sections made from what is called “engineered timber”. Instead of ordinary timber， engineered timber is a composite in which layers of wood are laminated together in specific ways. The wood grains in each layer arranged neatly to provide individual components of the building， such as floors， walls and beams， with extremely high levels of strength.

瑞典的這個項目將像現有的木制摩天大樓一樣，采用由所謂的“工程木材”制成的大型預制部件。與普通木材不同，工程木材是一種復合材料，其中木材層以特定的方式壓合在一起。每一層的木紋都排列整齊，為建筑的各個部分（如地板、墻壁和橫梁）提供極高的強度。

Another advantage is that the construction of wooden buildings will not be as noisy as it would be if the town were built from concrete and bricks， adds Ms Anas. This makes wooden buildings particularly suitable for urban redevelopment in general， since putting them up is less likely to annoy the neighbors.

安內斯女士補充道，另一個優點是，木制大樓建造過程不會像用混凝土和磚塊建造那般發出嘈雜之聲。這使得木制建筑特別適合城市重建，因為建造過程不太可能惹惱鄰居。

The biggest concern most people have about wooden buildings is the risk of fire. The buildings in Wood City will be fitted with several fire-protection systems， such as sprinklers and flame-resistant layers， as would also be found on their concrete or brick counterparts.

對于木制建筑，人們最大的擔憂是火災風險。木之城的建筑會像混凝土或磚砌建筑一樣配備多重防火系統，比如噴淋裝置和防火層。

At the same time， researchers are coming to believe that engineered timber is， by its nature， extremely fire resistant. To help win approval for the construction of the Ascent building， the US Forest Service carried out tests on the laminated timber columns it would use. After finding them difficult to burn， the columns were awarded the three-hour fire-resistance grade material because they maintained their structural integrity.

與此同時，研究人員逐漸相信，工程木材就其本質而言是非常耐火的。為了獲得Ascent大樓的建造批文，美國林務局對將要使用的層壓木柱進行了測試。測試結果顯示，它們難以燃燒，因為它們能夠保持結構的完整性，所以認定其為三小時耐火等級材料。

Word Bank

composite /'k?mp?z?t/ n. 復合材料；合成物

grain /ɡre?n/ n. 紋理；質地

component /k?m'p??n?nt/ n. 組成部分

integrity /?n'teɡr?ti/ n. 完整