Ascent is all the buzz in Milwaukee. Officially announced as the tallest hybrid mass timber tower in the world, Ascent opened its doors in July 2022 for residents to call 700 E Kilbourn Avenue home.
Years in the making, the vision for Ascent started nearly a decade ago. But, Ascent’s concept was just the start to achieving this tall feat. To lay claim to the tallest mass timber building and construct a sustainable, luxury residential high-rise, the project team understood that extensive planning and collaboration needed to occur, including addressing and evolving building codes to enable a more sustainable future.
As Ascent rose to a staggering 284 feet, the project team fielded numerous United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) assessments, fire testing and inspections, and visits from news media outlets and world-renowned documentary filmmakers.
The project was a labor of love and collaboration between C.D. Smith, Catalyst Construction, Korb + Associates Architects, Thornton Tomasetti structural engineers and New Land Enterprises, the owner. C.D. Smith oversaw the site work, the core and shell build and MEP trade partners.
Above the concrete garage podium, the floors are built with cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam, a more robust, lighter prefabricated alternative to traditional steel and concrete. Mass timber offers many benefits to building owners, occupants and the environment.
• Mass timber is a sustainable building material with a low carbon footprint. It has fewer embodied carbons and requires less water and energy to produce than concrete or steel. It is also cleaner to construct, which aids in reducing carbon emissions during construction. Mass timber also locks in carbon from the atmosphere, benefiting everyone in the building and community for years to come.
• Mass timber is highly rated for seismic resilience and has vibration-resistant properties to withstand the impacts of explosions, earthquakes and high winds. The predictable way it burns and chars is unique to mass timber and it meets or exceeds burn codes in the event of a fire.
• Mass timber is prefabricated, lending itself to a faster build time. Additionally, materials that are prefabricated offsite require significantly less truck traffic on the construction site.
In July 2022, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) declared Ascent the World’s Tallest Timber-Concrete Hybrid Building. Officials from the State of Wisconsin, the City of Milwaukee and representatives from USDA and CTBUH attended the celebration.
"Building the world's tallest mass timber building requires bringing in subject matter experts from all across the world and combining that knowledge with best practices for building a high rise. C.D. Smith's track record in the latter, as well as their team's creative problem-solving and perseverance, was exemplary.”
-Tim Gokhman, Managing Director, New Land Enterprises
Date: Sept. 15, 2022 | Author: Molly Haack
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