Japan’s tallest all-wooden building reached completion in Yokohama in March after two years of construction.

Port Plus is a 44-meter tall, 11-story office/hotel building constructed by Obayashi Corporation. All of the above-ground posts and beams are comprised of three layers of wood. The building is also built to withstand an earthquake producing a seismic intensity level (shindo) of 7. This is the maximum intensity in the seismic scale used by Japan’s Meteorological Agency. The wood is also coated with a water and fire-resistant coating.

Wooden buildings can result in an offset in carbon emissions compared to concrete buildings. Construction of this building has produced carbon emissions that are just a 4th of what they would have been had the building been a standard reinforced concrete build. Approximately 72% of the wood used in the construction was domestically-sourced, while 26% was imported from Russia.

This project differs from the hybrid wooden and steel-frame buildings that have been popping up across Japan in recent years. Unlike a hybrid building, this one relies entirely on wood for the structural components.

Location 

Bentendori 2 Chome, Naka-ku, Yokohama

Sources: 
NHK, May 20, 2022.
The Kanagawa Shimbun, May 21, 2022.