The 73 metre high Haut tower, located in the Amstelkwartier area of Amsterdam, will include 55 apartments, public plinth Hortus bicycles and an underground car park. It will have a total gross floor area of approximately 14,500 m2 and is to receive the BREEAM Outstanding label, the highest possible sustainability score.

Building in wood is one of the most talked about innovations in sustainable construction internationally, due to the large storage capacity of CO2.

Austrian architects say a wooden skyscraper to be built in Vienna will be the tallest of its kind in the world at 84-metres (276ft).

Using wood provides an answer to the Municipality of Amsterdam’s quest for CO2 neutrality.Haut’s wood can store over three million kilograms of CO2. In addition 1.250m2 of PV (solar) panels will help the building produce renewable energy, while waste water is purified through a constructed wetland on the roof. The parking garage in the building has space for electric (shareable) cars.

Arup will work in partnership with Lingotto, Nicole Maarsen, TEAM V Architecture and Nederlandse Energie Maatschappij.

The municipality of Amsterdam selected this team for their vision of the city of the future in which nature and architecture are balanced. Haut also stands for haute couture: designed customized architecture.

The design offers the first buyers unlimited freedom of choice in dwelling size, number of floors and the location of rooms, outdoor spaces and voids. Within a strong and simple façade design, with white-gray floor tapes and high windows, the balconies seem to have randomly been slid in and out.

Arup said the wooden ceilings of balconies and large overhangs on the sharp corner at the Spaklerweg make Haut’s architecture expressive and iconic.