How to build a wood skyscraper

Mass timber has gone from novelty to trend. But how does it change the construction process?

Is there a way to replace steel and concrete with wood? That’s the idea behind mass timber, a relatively new construction technique that’s making its way from Europe to the United States.

In the above video, you can learn how mass timber changes the construction process. Vox’s Phil Edwards visited Ascent Milwaukee, the tallest mass timber building in the world at 25-stories tall, to see how it all comes together. Many different partners have to reinvent the construction process to make a building like this a reality, from design teams to engineers all the way down to the screwdrivers on site.

Further reading:

• Dave Robert’s coverage of mass timber, including the environmental implications.
• Here’s some of the USDA coverage of mass timber tests.
• Here’s a map of US mass timber projects.

For more videos like this, you can find all of Vox’s videos on YouTube.