Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2016 | Page 66

grow our homes. Equilibrium Consulting, a
timber engineering expert, provided insight
on structural matters and Metsä Wood had
its own experts to rely on for material and
construction.
And can it be done, you may ask?
According to final designs of the Plan B
team, the size and the basic structure of the

Photo: City of Helsinki Media Bank / Lauri Rotko

64 Nordicum

wooden ‘Empire’ are the same as in the original Empire State Building in New York. (Of
course, they have yet to build it.)
Designing a wooden skyscraper
proved to a stroke of marketing genius as
well, since the international media quickly
picked up the story and ran with it.
Now, the Finns are not usually known

for their ‘flash’ (with the exception of Teemu
Selänne), but this type of exposure may be
just what the doctor ordered. Next chapter
in the story: a true wood construction renaissance? And real wooden skyscrapers? O

Sami J. Anteroinen