An Eiffel Tower, Brumunddal style

The world’s tallest wood house will be built
at the brim of lake Mjøsa

In Norway, the quest to erect the world’s tallest wood building now seems to have become a sport in itself.

For a while, Kirkenes were planning to snatch the record, but it was the apartment complex Treet (The Tree) in Bergen that became the reigning world champion when it opened its 51 wooden metres back in December of 2015.

As is often the case, victory turned out to be a fleeting thing.

When the University of British Columbia completed work on all 53 meters of the Brock Commons student housing project last September, Treet was reduced to just a very pretty, very tall building.

However, the record now seems to be headed back towards Norwegian shores.

In 2018, Mjøstårnet (The Mjøsa Tower) will be built in the town of Brumunddal, right next to Norway’s biggest lake, Mjøsa.

The building is a hotel where both the main construction and panelling will consist of glue laminated timber and massive wood.

According to the website Horecanytt, the hotel will reach a height of around 80 metres, a space of around 8,000 square metres, and a price tag of around NOK 450 million.

As for the building materials, they will for the most part be sourced from local producers.

“In the same way that the Eiffel Tower signifies Paris, Mjøstårnet will signify Brumunddal”, says property investor Arthur Buchardt to Ringsaker Kommunes Næringsmagasin.

“The tower will produce the same amount of energy that it spends. This will be achieved through solar thermal energy, solar cell panelling and heat pumps directed at both earth and water. This whole project will demonstrate ‘the green shift’ in practice.”

Apart from the hotel, Mjøstårnet will contain office spaces, and will also be connected to a large swimming pool on the ground floor.

“The three walls that surround the big room containing the swimming pool will have windows along the entire facade, allowing light into the entirety of the hall. The windows are placed at a height that allows swimmers to gaze out onto the landscape”, says Øystein Elgsaas from Voll Arkitekter, the architecture firm responsible for Mjøstårnet.

At the same time, Elgsaas underlines the interplay between Mjøstårnet and the Mjøsa river.

“The facades of Mjøstårnet will be dressed in wood panels in a stylized and repeating pattern inspired by the movement of the water and the way light dances on the ripples of its surface.”

In addition to Mjøstårnet, three smaller apartment complexes, also wood, are planned for the area.

Activities on and around lake Mjøsa