Wangen Tower, designed by ICD and ITKE at the University of Stuttgart for the annual garden and landscape exhibition Landesgartenschau 2024, is the world’s first multi-storey building with a load-bearing structure of self-shaping cross-laminated timber elements.
Twelve curved CLT elements, with a cross-section of just 130 millimetres, twist upwards along the tower’s 23-metre height, creating a silhouette that responds to the landscape’s gentle hills. The principle is borrowed from biology. Inspired by the spruce cone’s moisture movements, the panels were shaped through a controlled drying process.
The method is an alternative to traditional energy- intensive press forming that requires heavy machinery.
Inside, light and shadow alternate on the curved timber surfaces along the spiral staircase’s 113 steps.
Externally, the tower is clad in vertically mounted solid timber panels of larch. Thanks to CNC-milled joint details and millimetre-precise prefabrication, the tower structure could be assembled on site in just three days.
Project Partners
Cluster of Excellence IntCDC – Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture, University of Stuttgart.
Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD)
Prof. Achim Menges, Martin Alvarez, Monika Göbel, Laura Kiesewetter, David Stieler, Dr. Dylan Wood with support of: Gonzalo Muñoz Guerrero, Alina Turean, Aaron Wagner
Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE)
Prof. Dr. Jan Knippers, Gregor Neubauer
Blumer-Lehmann AG
Katharina Lehmann, David Riggenbach, Jan Gantenbein
with Biedenkapp Stahlbau GmbH
Markus Reischmann, Frank Jahr
Stadt Wangen im Allgäu
Landesgartenschau Wangen im Allgäu 2024 GmbH
Text: Mattias Boström Photo: Christoph Morlok
