The World's Tallest Timber Tower Just Reached the Sky Over Sydney

Atlassian’s HQ Tops Out as the World’s Tallest Wooden Tower

Sydney’s Atlassian Central has just topped out at 180 meters (591 ft), claiming the title of world’s tallest hybrid timber tower and more than doubling the previous record, Milwaukee’s Ascent at 86.6 meters. Designed by SHoP Architects and BVN Architecture, it’s less an incremental milestone than a full reset of what timber construction can do.

Wood, Reimagined for the Skies

Timber has always felt like a material for low buildings, for cabins and quiet domesticity. Atlassian Central argues otherwise. Its structure combines a concrete core, a steel exoskeleton, and roughly 10,000 cubic meters of engineered timber, mostly glue-laminated columns and cross-laminated timber panels, the hybrid approach that has become the industry standard for building tall in wood.

The benefits go beyond looks. Engineered timber enables faster, drier, prefabricated construction, with a fraction of the carbon footprint of a conventional tower. BVN is targeting a 50 percent cut in embodied carbon and a 50 percent gain in operational energy efficiency compared to a standard office building, a rare instance of ambition and sustainability actually aligning.

BVN Principal Peter Titmus called the milestone hard-won, noting that hybrid mass timber has reshaped how tall buildings get built, full stop.

A Building Designed to Be Lived In, Not Just Looked At

The 39-floor tower is mostly office space, centered on a four-story collaboration atrium built for daylight and airflow. There’s also a hostel, a series of garden terraces, and a rooftop garden, while a heritage building on site is being restored into the lobby.

What remains is the facade: solar panels and an automated cooling system, with completion expected by year’s end.

Of course wood can go this high. Of course a material this old still has something new to say. Atlassian Central doesn’t just set a record, it fully rewrites the ceiling.