Wood high-rise construction

[tomh009]

At first it's easy to think wood = bad idea for a high rise but the way the material is made and used makes it incredibly safe. There have been some tests on cross laminated timber that show it can have an equivalent fire resistance as concrete, withstanding extremely high temperatures for hours. The likelihood of a wooden highrise burning down is unlikely. Still, it's hard to disassociate wood and fire haha.

I tend to think more along the line, not of fire code, but of noise. Concrete buildings tend to be a little more quiet, and for residential stuff, that's a good thing. Years ago we rented an apartment that was wood frame, and you could hear the neighbours upstairs like they were in the next room. Another apartment I had in Hamilton was concrete and you rarely heard anything, same with the place in Scarborough.

The wood-frame high-rise buildings are likely built with concrete floorplates, which mitigates the noise through the floor. Possibly your apartment had wood floors, too?

On the other hand, many concrete buildings are built using steel frames, which are prone to transmission of noise and vibrations. A wood frame would actually be better than a steel frame in that regard.