A new timber tower brings wood architecture into sharp focus in Paris and highlights ways to craft buildings that are both sustainable and look great: we spoke to project architects LAN, and explore the genre through further examples

Think of Paris and more cream-coloured limestone than wood architecture comes to mind. But a new 50m-tall apartment building might just start a trend. Named ‘Wood Up’, it’s one of the first wood towers to grace a European skyline. The project was designed by French architectural firm LAN (Lan Architecture Network), headed up by Benoît Jallon and Umberto Napolitano, and developed by REI Habitat, which specialises in wood.

Wood Up sits next to the Seine between Paris and the suburb of Ivry, in a far-flung yet quickly developing corner of the 13th arrondissement. A boxy structure with big windows criss-crossed by sand-coloured wood columns and beams, it stands out in a landscape where neighbours include the city’s busy ring road, an incinerator, and Jean Nouvel’s off-kilter Tours Duo.

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