来源：《经济学人》
原文见刊日期：2023年6月24日
wood、timber、lumber都有“木材”的意思
There is a global race to build the tallest wooden skyscraper. The record was held by Mjostarnet, an 85-metre tower in Norway, which hosts flats, a hotel and a swimming pool—until Ascent, an 87-metre structure, was completed in Wisconsin in July 2022. And it will be put in the shade in turn by other buildings: a 90 metre tower is planned for Ontario, and a 100 metre one for Switzerland.
全球都在竞相建造最高的木质摩天大楼。该纪录此前由挪威的Mjostarnet保持，它是一座85米高的塔楼，里面有公寓、酒店和游泳池，直到2022年7月威斯康星州87米高的Ascent建筑完工。但它也将被其他建筑所超越：安大略省计划建造一座90米高的木塔，瑞士计划建造一座100米高的木塔。
This week, though, a Swedish firm announced it was going for a different sort of record. It unveiled plans to build what could be the world’s biggest wooden city. Stockholm Wood City will be built in the south of the Swedish capital. Construction on the 250,000 square-metre site will begin in 2025. When complete, ten years later, it will contain 2,000 homes and 7,000 offices, along with restaurants and shops. The $1.4bn project is led by Atrium Ljungberg, a Swedish urban development company.
然而本周，一家瑞典公司宣布要创造一种不同的纪录。它公布了建造可能是世界上最大的木制城市的计划。斯德哥尔摩森林城将建在瑞典首都的南部。占地25万平方米的场地将于2025年开始建设。十年后完工时，它将包含2000个住宅和7000个办公室，以及餐馆和商店。这个价值14亿美元的项目由瑞典城市开发公司Atrium-Ljungberg牵头。
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 Anäs, the company’s boss. Wood is a sustainable material that can be produced from renewable forests, which Sweden has in plenty. When used for building, it locks up the carbon that the trees absorbed from the atmosphere while growing. As with other modern construction projects using timber, Wood City will still use some concrete and steel in places like the foundations, but the overall amounts will be greatly reduced. As wooden buildings are much lighter, their foundations can be smaller.
公司老板Anäs表示，与混凝土和钢铁建筑相比，公司希望通过使用木材将项目的碳足迹减少40%。木材是一种可持续的材料，可以从可再生森林中生产，瑞典有大量的可再生森林。当用于建筑时，它会锁住树木在生长过程中从大气中吸收的碳。与其他使用木材的现代建筑项目一样，森林城在地基等地方仍将使用一些混凝土和钢材，但总用量将大大减少。由于木质建筑要轻得多，它们的地基可以更小。
The Swedish project will, as existing wooden skyscrapers do, employ large prefabricated sections made from what is called “engineered timber”. Instead of ordinary lumber, chipboard or plywood, engineered timber is a composite in which layers of wood are laminated together in specific ways. The wood grains in each layer are aligned to provide individual components of the building, such as floors, walls, cross braces and beams, with extremely high levels of strength. And because these parts can be manufactured in a factory, where tolerances are finer and quality control is easier to maintain than on a building site, the use of prefabricated sections cuts down on the delivery of raw materials and allows construction to proceed more quickly.
瑞典的项目将像现有的木制摩天大楼一样，使用由所谓的“工程木材”制成的大型预制部件。与普通木材、刨花板或胶合板不同，工程木材是一种复合材料，其中木材层以特定的方式层压在一起。每一层的木纹都是对齐的，以提供建筑的各个组成部分，如地板、墙壁、交叉支撑和梁，具有极高的强度。由于这些部件可以在工厂制造，与建筑工地相比，工厂的公差更小，质量控制更容易维护，因此使用预制部件减少了原材料的运输，使施工速度更快。
Another advantage is that construction will not be as noisy as it would be if the town were built from concrete and bricks, adds Ms Anäs. This makes wooden buildings particularly suitable for urban redevelopment in general, since putting them up is less likely to annoy the neighbours. It should also be profitable. Ms Anäs is looking for a return on investment of 20% or better. “Sweden is progressive when it comes to wood construction,” she says. “But I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t work elsewhere.”
Anäs女士补充说，另一个好处是，建造过程中不会像用混凝土和砖块建造那样嘈杂。这使得木质建筑特别适合城市重建，因为建造木质建筑不太可能打扰邻居。木质建筑也应该是有利可图的。Anäs女士希望获得20%或更高的投资回报率。她说：“瑞典在木结构建筑方面是进步的，而且我看不出有什么理由说这在其他地方行不通。”