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architecture magazine – Issue 1 2024
Latest edition free online and available to download as a PDF.
Sara Kulturhus wins the
Swedish Wood Award
Architect: Oslotre Photo credit: White arkitekter
The winner of the 14th Swedish Wood Award is Sara Kulturhus, a 20-storey arts centre with a distinctly wooden feel inside and out. Oskar Norelius and Robert Schmitz, the lead architects from White, developer Skellefteå Municipality and the structural engineers from DIFK and TK Botnia, together with contractor HENT Sweden, have created a building that richly deserves the spotlight.
New typology ties culture district together
Architect: Office Park Scheerbarth & Photo credit: Jan Bitter
Until the early 19th century, the Holzmarkt area on the River Spree was a main timber port for Berlin. Just over ten years ago, the area was developed into a cooperative cultural district with a concert hall, nightclub and restaurants attracting 500,000 visitors every year. Now the area’s first wooden building has landed among the mixed and seemingly improvised architecture. Clad in bright red wood, the three-storey
building serves as a main entrance to the area.
Tree trunks and rounded shapes in a new frame
Architect: t Helen & Hard & Photo credit: Sindre Ellingsen
An office block that was considered exemplary in the 1970s has now been updated for the modern age using softly rounded forms. The old concrete carcass has been preserved, with a new timber frame also added. Turned pine trunks set the tone in the inviting new atrium.