The Urbach Tower (also known as Urbach Turm, Station 7, or Turm an der Birke) is a tall experimental structure that serves as a lookout point and shelter overlooking the municipality of

Urbach, Baden-Württemberg Urbach is a municipality in the district of Rems-Murr in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is east of Stuttgart. It belongs to the metropolitan region of Stuttgart. History Middle Ages On 25 May 1181 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor "Barbarossa" ...

Description

The tower is one of sixteen small buildings constructed along the Rems river valley in the spring of 2019 for the Remstal Gartenschau 2019. The design and structural engineering for the tower was completed by the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE), at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...

in collaboration with the Wood Materials Science Group at

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

and the construction company Blumer-Lehmann AG in Gossau. The tower is open to the public and is directly accessible by foot or bike. The tower is constructed from 12 curved

cross-laminated timber Cross-laminated timber (CLT) (a sub-category of engineered wood) is a wood panel product made from gluing together at least three layers of solid-sawn lumber, i.e., lumber cut from a single log. Each layer of boards is usually oriented perpendicu ...

building components produced using an experimental self-shaping manufacturing process. This process was invented in 2018 by researchers at the

and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. The self-shaping or self-bending of the wood is enabled by the smart assembly of flat, bi-layered plates where one layer is designed to intentionally shrink or swell with changing moisture but is restricted by the other layer while paralele fiber orientation. This results in extensive "self" shaping analogous to the Bimetallic strip. The shaping can be controlled based on the composition of the bilayer. The high curvature of the tower is unique for wood construction. It is used to enhance structural performance and to create a unique interior space with convex curvature despite the concave and sharp edges of the exterior. The structure has the appearance of a double curved geometry but is actually made from an arrangement of single curved cylindrical parts. The building is protected by a larch wood facade coated with a titanium oxide surface treatment that protects the wood from

ultraviolet light Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

. Rather than darkening, this will cause the surface to turn a lighter whitish color over time.

References

{{coord, 48, 10, 1, N, 9, 33, 54.4, E, type:landmark_region:DE, display=title Buildings and structures in Rems-Murr-Kreis 2019 establishments in Germany Observation towers in Baden-Württemberg Towers completed in the 2010s