Optoppen : viability tool goes live
The Optoppen viability tool is designed for building owners, developers and city planners to understand the opportunities for extending their existing buildings vertically. It was developed by a Whitby Wood-led consortium, funded by Built by Nature. The tool is an interactive web app, created by consortium partner Mule Studio based on structural calculations by our engineers. It is part of a wider online platform at optoppen.org
In the launch announcement article in AJ this week, project lead and Whitby Wood director Kelly Harrison described the Optoppen solution as “win, win, win” as it creates “the most space possible with the buildings we already have, and the most readily-available, resource-efficient materials”.
Optoppen, or ‘topping up’, increases the useable space in a building through lightweight roof extensions, using timber (and other bio-materials) in the process to create carbon sinks on top of cities, contributing to urban decarbonisation targets and densification strategies. Whitby Wood is working on several vertical extension projects right now in London. Contact us to find out more!
Built by Nature is a network and grant-making fund — backed by philanthropic funding — with a mission to accelerate the timber building transformation in Europe, and a vision for a built environment that works in unison with nature.
The Optoppen project implementing partners ….
Whitby Wood
Creative City Solutions
Holland Houtland
Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Mule Studio
New Urban Networks EU
Rising Tide