Timber constructions are rapidly carving their rightful place in urban environments all over the world, and now, beautiful Sydney is home to the Australia’s largest commercial all-timber building. The International House by Tzannes Architects is a beautiful seven-story building with 7920 square meters total area constructed entirely with engineered or cross laminated timber. Located near the historic heart of the city, the International House is a beautiful all-wood design. With the exception of the single ground retail level, which is made out of conventional concrete, the striking building was constructed with engineered or cross laminated timber, including the floors, columns, walls, roof, elevator shafts, etc. The building is the first timber commercial building of its size in Australia. The project used a massive 3,500 cubic meters of sustainably grown and recycled timber. The architects chose to go with timber for its many sustainable features, but were also determined to create a design whose all-wood aesthetic would serve as an iconic landmark for the city. According to the architects, International House Sydney demonstrates that the commercial real estate market will accept mass timber construction as a viable and exciting alternative to conventional concrete construction, increasing opportunity for architecture to contribute more effectively to a lower carbon and more sustainable future for urban development around the world. Earlier in 2012 Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (mgb), has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver. He predicted that instead of concrete jungles our cities can become urban forests of wooden skyscrapers. He was right. Last month in Australia, Brisbane held groundbreaking ceremony of world’s tallest wooden office building. When complete in 2018, 45 meters of the 52-meter office tower will qualify as the world’s highest to be held aloft not by steel and concrete, but timber and glue.

In Melbourne, Australia, a new skyscraper will mimic the curves of a famous pop star Beyonce. Her moves have inspired fans at architecture firm Elenberg Fraser to design a 226-meter-high skyscraper that resembles her curvtastic form. Specifically, the building will be homage to the music video for Beyonce's 2013 hit "Ghost." The actual name of the building is the Premiere Tower, located at 134 Spencer Street in downtown Melbourne, which is the second most populated city in Australia after Sydney. Rather than flat or angular exterior walls, the new skyscraper will be composed of a series of waves, bulges, and curves. The designers say this makes the building highly efficient, while also serving as an artistic nod to the fabric-wrapped dancers in Bey's video. The curves really aren't just for show. The building's design it intended to respond to climate, wind changes, and the particular limitations of the site, according to the architecture firm. "This project is the culmination of our significant research," said the firm in a statement. "The complex form - a vertical cantilever - is actually the most effective way to redistribute the building's mass, giving the best results in terms of structural dispersion, frequency oscillation and wind requirements." The project has been financed by the Fragrance Group, a real estate company owned by Singaporean billionaire Koh Wee Meng Premiere. Tower will raise 68 stories over the west end of the city's business district. Inside, there will be 660 residential apartments and a 160-room hotel. Because the tower is tall and thin, most units on any upper floor will have a spectacular view of the cityscape below. In renderings of the interior, we can see that the undulating curves of the building have been brought inside, with ceilings and walls that hint at the building's overall shape.

The world's tallest vertical garden now adorns Sydney skyline. The One Central Park is already completed and offers its potential owners a unique combination of architecture and nature. One Central Park designed by Jean Nouvel in collaboration with his French compatriot Patrick Blanc, a botanist, the vertical garden incorporated in the facades is made of different plant species which provide natural regulation of incoming solar radiation, adapting to the seasons of the year. The majority of Central Park is being developed jointly by Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia - two global companies with a shared passion for sustainable communities. The vertical garden consists of 250 native Australian exotic plant species. The shrubbery covers 50 percent of the building's facade and according to the designers intends to extend the greenery from the adjacent park onto the building. The Central Park project by Ateliers Jean Nouvel consists of two adjoining residential towers. Nouvel's towers are 116 meters and 64.5 meters in height and are part of a larger mixed-use development that includes apartments, shops, cafes, restaurants and office units. The tallest tower features a large cantilever that contains 38 luxury penthouse apartments. On the underneath, there is a heliostat of motorized mirrors that direct sunlight down onto the surrounding gardens. After nightfall the cantilever is used as a canvas for a LED light installation by artist Yann Kersale. One Central Park is part of an "urban village" in downtown Sydney that features residential towers, retail shops and collaborative spaces for artists and architects. The dynamic setting was designed around a beautiful and spacious 64,000 square meter park. Much like New York's iconic Central Park, the grounds will serve as a tranquil respite from city life, with a large lawn for relaxation, chessboards, an open-air cinema, and occasional festivals and live music. One Central Park from Asia and Australia named the best tall building in the world for 2014 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

Instead of concrete jungles could our cities become urban forests of wooden skyscrapers>? Today swapping cement and steel for timber is the vision of a number of environmentally-minded architects who are planning high-rise buildings across the world. A Norwegian building society will this month start work on the world's tallest wooden apartment block, a 14-story structure which will rise to 49 meters, easily eclipsing the existing record holder in Melbourne, Australia. 'Treet', or The tree, will this year begin to rise up next to the Byfjorden in Central Bergen, after the Bergen and Omegn Building Society (BOB) begins work this month. As reported the Society it had now sold half of the 62 apartments. Ole Kleppe, who is managing the project for BOB, said that the builders planned to build the apartments around a gigantic timber frame formed of metre-thick columns of wooden 'glulam'. "The news is that we are combining load-bearing structures of glulam with apartments based on modules," he explained. "All other future high-rise timber projects of more than ten stories around the world today are somehow based on a concrete, steel or composite core." Once the modules are fixed in place early next year, the entire building will be wrapped in a glass and metal facade to protect the wooden structures from the notoriously wet Bergen climate. "The project is a pilot project to show how we can build high-rise timber projects that are sustainable," he said. "This project will bind approximately one thousand tons of CO2 in the wooden constructions -- an important contribution to reducing emissions of CO2." Recently a Yale University - led study has found that using more wood and less steel and concrete in building and bridge construction would substantially reduce global carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel consumption despite an established forest conservation theory. Forte, in Melbourne, became the world's tallest timber frame apartment building at 32 meters, when it was completed at the end of 2012. In 2012 Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (MGB), also announced about plans to build a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver.

The proposed 388-meter, 108-story Australia 108 tower has been given the green light by the Victorian Planning Minister, Matthew Guy. The city council had initially opposed the project because of fears it would overshadow the Shrine of Remembrance, a monument to the World War I dead of the Australian state of Victoria. Australia 108 will feature 600 apartments, the nation's highest hotel and restaurants seemingly floating 84 stories above the city. The 108-storey tower, which will be the 18th-tallest building in the world, is planned to rise near the 297 meters tall Eureka Tower. The new skyscraper designed by Nonda Katsalidis. He explained the Australia 108 will be the most speedily constructed skyscraper and could dominate Melbourne's skyline in little more than four years. He also added that during construction will be used prefabricated structural sections. Currently the tallest skyscraper of southern hemisphere is Q1 Tower. The 323 meters tall skyscraper put into operation in 2005 again in Australia. The tallest skyscraper in Melbourne is Eureka Tower, which is 297 meters tall.