Building the White City in timber

Tel Aviv’s Districts Plan for Districts 3 and 4 brought a revolution in planning certainty to the city-centre urban-renewal market. It replaced outdated plans and precisely defined vested packages of building rights, whether through strengthening and additions under TAMA 38/1 or demolition and reconstruction under TAMA 38/2. Yet in the side streets and inner streets of these districts, developers, residents and the local authority face a series of rigid, objective physical barriers.
To overcome similar barriers while advancing environmentally ethical, fast and efficient construction, the industry in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia is moving towards an advanced engineering model: hybrid construction.
This model combines a rigid concrete core for protected spaces and circulation systems with a mass-timber structure—Mass Timber / CLT / GLULAM—for the rest of the building. This article analyses the challenges of narrow streets, presents innovative projects from the United States, the Netherlands and Denmark that fully comply with fire, earthquake and environmental standards, and calculates the precise allocation of time that completely changes a project’s viability.

The physical challenge: narrow streets and no room to manoeuvre

The side streets of District 3, from the seafront to Ibn Gabirol Street, and District 4, east of Ibn Gabirol, have narrow street sections, limited pavements and a permanent shortage of parking. Implementing rights for six storeys plus setback floors encounters several objective technical constraints:
• Restrictions on projections and rigid building lines: the Districts Plan strictly prohibits projecting elements, such as laundry screens and air-conditioning systems, beyond statutory building lines. Every centimetre of the site is carefully calculated, forcing architects to devise complex engineering solutions within the building’s own envelope.
• No staging space—a “site without a site”: on a typical Tel Aviv plot in an inner street, building lines lie very close to plot boundaries. Developers have nowhere to store building materials, deposit sand or position concrete mixers, and no space for loading and unloading without completely blocking the street’s single traffic lane.
• Parking requirements and underground infrastructure: the obligation to provide conventional or mechanical parking requires complex excavation and shoring on small plots, alongside sensitive existing buildings and high groundwater levels, particularly in District 3.

The anatomy of density: what problems does traditional construction create?

Attempting to address these challenges with conventional construction—an in-situ concrete frame, blocks and plaster—creates systemic failures:
Urban logistical paralysis: hundreds of concrete trucks, mixers and earth-removal trucks must reach the site over months and years. Every floor-slab pour means closing the street entirely, causing major traffic jams on feeder streets and seriously restricting access for emergency vehicles, including ambulances and fire engines.
Prolonged environmental nuisances: constant heavy-equipment noise, clouds of dust and air pollution in dense residential neighbourhoods. These nuisances generally continue for two to three years for a single project, provoking strong opposition from neighbours and constant friction with municipal inspectors.
Safety hazards: lifting materials over pedestrians, working at height in an active public space and managing scaffolding in narrow streets significantly increase the risk of workplace accidents and loss of life.

Projects worldwide (1): BALTIC POINTE, Utah, United States

The move to hybrid mass-timber construction is not theoretical: it is already proving itself worldwide in locations requiring particularly high structural resilience. The pioneering Baltic Pointe project in Draper, near Salt Lake City, a highly seismic area, is a classic example, but it is not alone. More than 1,600 similar projects already exist across the United States.
As extensively reported in The Salt Lake Tribune, the state’s first large mass-timber building combines exceptional advantages:
A proven hybrid concept: the building rests on foundations and a rigid core, while all other structural parts use mass-timber beams and panels designed to carry enormous loads. The technology permits construction up to 25 storeys.
Exceptional fire and earthquake resistance: contrary to stereotypes, thick CLT panels demonstrate fire resistance even greater than steel, thanks to an external char layer that protects the timber core. Timber’s low self-weight also gives the building flexibility and a critical advantage in resisting seismic forces.
Environmental improvement: while concrete and steel industries generate enormous carbon emissions, the timber frame absorbs and stores atmospheric carbon, and processing it requires a fraction of the energy used in conventional construction.

Projects worldwide (2): MARMORMOLEM, Copenhagen, Denmark

A new development with a total floor area of 28,000 square metres on the waterfront of Copenhagen’s Nordhavn district, rising to a height of 36 square metres, was designed by the international architectural practice Henning Larsen. Marmormolen pushes structural boundaries, combining offices, retail and an extensive public programme. On completion, it is set to become Copenhagen’s largest timber building.
“We have refined the use of timber for smaller buildings, and it is no longer considered experimental or niche,” says Associate Design Director Mikkel Eskildsen. “Marmormolen is a major leap towards using timber as the default structural system for future large-scale projects.”

Projects worldwide (3): THE ARK, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

The Ark is a distinctive, surprising and sustainable building comprising 125 apartments over a total area of 14,850 square metres. Almost the entire structure uses sustainably sourced larch and spruce supplied by Binderholz. This reduces the carbon dioxide emissions associated with construction compared with traditional concrete building. Exposed timber elements inside the apartments create a warm, natural atmosphere, making it one of the most innovative buildings in the new Aan het IJ urban area.
“As a team, we have long recognized timber as a material of the future”—Nanne de Ru, founder of Powerhouse Company.
The international architectural practice Powerhouse Company, which also designed Valckensteyn in Rotterdam with 82 mass-timber apartments, developed the project to combine minimal environmental impact with maximum residential quality and comfort for future occupants. Located between the Buiksloterkanaal canal and lively Docklandsweg, the building offers a balance between activity and tranquillity. Its design responds to this setting with a smooth, straight frontage along Docklandsweg and a sloping waterfront façade with beautiful views. Asymmetrical side façades and large windows create a dynamic appearance and optimise daylight. Construction began on 1 April 2025, with apartments expected to be completed in summer 2027.

The engineering model: a rigid concrete core and a mass-timber frame

Adapting this technology to Tel Aviv’s side streets requires intelligent hybrid design:
• Stage A—wet works, concrete: the project begins with excavation, shoring and reinforced-concrete basements and underground parking. Above ground, the building’s “rigid core” is constructed: the lift shaft, staircase and stack of protected rooms required by the Home Front Command.
• Stage B—dry works, timber: once the concrete core is in place, all remaining components—floor slabs, supporting columns, internal walls and envelope walls—are assembled from Binderholz mass-timber panels, CLT / BBS.

Estimated timetable: how long is spent on concrete and on timber?

For a typical Tel Aviv project in District 3 or 4—a residential building of approximately six storeys plus setback floors above a basement and parking level:
Conventional construction, all concrete: [----------------------- approximately 24 months ----------------------------------]

Hybrid construction, concrete + timber: [--- Concrete: 6–7 months ---][-- Timber: 3 months --][-- Early finishing --] (saving approximately 6–8 months)

• Concrete works, Stage A: approximately 6 to 7 months. This stage includes the most complex infrastructure work on site: excavation and shoring, approximately 2–3 months depending on groundwater depth; casting the basement and parking floor, approximately one month; and constructing the vertical concrete core of protected rooms, lift and stairs over the building’s full height, approximately 2–3 months.
• Timber works and frame assembly, Stage B: only approximately 2.5 to 3 months. At this stage, the site changes completely. Binderholz timber panels arrive directly from the factory, cut to millimetre precision under DfMA. A small number of trucks unload them, and a small crew assembles them onto the concrete core using mechanical connections and screws, at the rapid rate of one storey every one to two weeks.
The timetable result: whereas traditional construction takes nearly 14–16 months to erect the frame and envelope, because of lengthy concrete curing, formwork and plastering, the hybrid model allows a complete, enclosed structural frame within approximately 9–10 months overall. Additional factory-made elements can also be ordered, achieving precise fabrication and significantly shortening finishing works.
Analysis of economic and public benefits

Shortening construction by so many months, alongside a dramatic reduction in noisy “wet works” on the street, delivers enormous benefits:

Social benefits for the public and local authority
• Quiet and quality of life: the period of greatest nuisance—concrete mixers, pumps, excavation and dust—is reduced to just a few months during core and basement construction. Timber-frame erection is quiet, completely dust-free and does not disturb neighbours.
• Traffic flow in narrow streets: timber-panel trucks arrive at precisely scheduled times according to assembly stages, on a just-in-time basis. Prolonged street closures over weeks and months for slab pours are unnecessary, preventing transport paralysis in the neighbourhood.
• A safe, organised site: safety levels on an industrialised site are incomparably higher. Complex external scaffolding systems are not needed for many months, reducing risks to pedestrians in the narrow street.
Economic benefits for the developer
• Dramatically lower financing costs and site overheads: shortening the overall project by 6–8 months saves enormous sums in bank-financing interest and fixed site-management, crane-rental, security and fee costs.
• Major savings on residents’ rent: in TAMA 38/2 demolition and reconstruction projects, developers pay monthly rent for displaced residents’ alternative apartments. Shortening the project by more than six months saves hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of shekels directly in the profit line.
• Earlier cash flow: rapid delivery allows early discharge of Sale Law guarantees, release of surplus funds from the financing bank and a swift move to the next project.
• Marketing advantage and a premium product: apartments combining a protective concrete core with advanced timber engineering offer exceptional thermal and acoustic insulation. Green credentials, together with a commitment to deliver significantly earlier than competitors, make the project considerably more desirable and profitable.

Conclusion

The physical density and narrow spaces in the inner streets of Districts 3 and 4 are existing facts that will not change. Continuing to force outdated conventional construction methods into this sensitive urban environment harms developers’ profitability and makes residents’ lives miserable.
Combining a strong, protected concrete structure for basements and protected rooms with a fast, quiet mass-timber frame for the rest of the building is the key to addressing Tel Aviv’s urban-renewal challenge. Saving many months of construction, reducing environmental disturbance and achieving engineering precision make advanced construction an essential logistical and economic necessity.

This article was originally published on korabuilding.com —