Written by Wood Campus
Environmental | News
“It’s vital to make construction climate-neutral, and wood is a natural material. With Sara Kulturhus, we’ve shown that even on a large scale, you can build in a climate-smart way. There’s no reason to avoid sustainable solutions,” says architect Oskar Norelius.
Sara Kulturhus stands proudly like an exclamation mark in the middle of Skellefteå, a city in northern Sweden. Rising to 80 metres over 20 floors, it is one of the tallest wooden buildings anywhere in the world – housing cultural facilities such as a theatre, art gallery, library, concert halls and a museum, along with restaurants and a hotel. The idea is that the arts centre, which opened in September last year, will serve as a living space for the city’s inhabitants.
“Sara kulturhus is attracting a great deal of attention because it’s unusually tall and uses a lot of wood. But at the same time, it’s a really local project, rooted in the community. You can feel it when you’re there. It’s a public building and a shared space for many people. I believe it’s going to age well and play a key role in a city that is going places,” says Oskar Norelius from the architectural firm White, who is joint chief architect along with his colleague Robert Schmitz.
Building in wood was a given from the outset.
“The past 20 years have seen an increase in our understanding and knowledge of how our planet is affected by the material choices we make in construction. We can use wood with a clear conscience. Personally, I also love the properties of wood, which is a great material to work with. Wood can be placed in new contexts to create a whole new kind of architecture,” says Oskar Norelius.
Collaboration with the local wood industry was a core tenet of the project. Raw material and talent are both readily available around here.
“Interest in climate-neutral building is as strong internationally as it is in Sweden, and there are a huge number of projects on the drawing board right now. But not every country has as long a tradition of building in wood, and restrictive regulations can be an obstacle. This means that Sweden, with its relatively large-scale wood industry and supply of raw material, is a long way head of the curve,” adds Oskar.
The International Award for Wood Architecture is issued by the international press to reward excellence in the field of wood architecture. The Award wishes to stimulate the development of innovative architectural thinking using wood, whilst establishing links between countries where wood construction will play an increasingly important role. This year’s winner will be announced on 7 April at the International Wood Construction Forum in Nancy, France.
“We were very proud to see Swedish architecture and wood expertise being recognised with three Swedish nominees – Sara Kulturhus in Skellefteå, Hoppet Preschool in Gothenburg and the wind turbine on Björkö in Gothenburg’s northern archipelago. Having Sara Kulturhus in the final among such tough international competition just shows how far we’ve come with wood construction in Sweden. This project has largely been developed using local cutting-edge expertise, which makes the whole project even more impressive. Sara Kulturhus stands as proof that it is perfectly possible to build sustainable, large-scale architecture of international repute,” comments Alexander Nyberg from Swedish Wood, who is responsible for the Nordic region’s biggest architecture magazine Trä! and a jury member for the International Award for Wood Architecture.
More News
Data & the Three Pillars of Sustainable Forestry
According to Rolf Schmitz, co-founder and co-CEO of CollectiveCrunch and the creator of Linda Forest software solutions, digitising the world’s forests is essential to understanding and fighting climate change. If a tree falls in the forest, it hardly matters if it...
FSC awareness doubled since pre-lockdown
Awareness of the FSC logo in the UK has increased 45% since 2019[1], and the proportion of those claiming both good and rough knowledge of the logo has more than doubled. With data from the Office for National Statistics revealing that nature had supported people’s...
Persimmon gets green light for timber frame factory
Planning approval has been granted by Charnwood Borough Council for Persimmon to build its new Space4 timber frame factory near Loughborough. The factory is believed to be the biggest of its kind in the UK and will produce timber frame units for up to 7,000 homes a...
BWF research shows homeowners positive over timber
New research from the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) reveals signs that timber windows and doors are viewed positively by homeowners, but that misunderstandings over their performance persist. The survey of 1,500 homeowners unearthed the main factors guiding...
Asia’s largest timber building
‘Like entering a forest’: Inside Asia’s largest timber building Singapore CNN — Singapore has long billed itself as a “garden city,” a term coined in the 1960s by the country’s founding father and former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. In the decades since, the island...
Call for Entries live for Wood Awards 2023
The call for entries for the Wood Awards 2023 is now live! Enter your wood-centric building, furniture or product before 23 June 2023 and have your work recognised as the best in the UK. Architects, engineers, installers, furniture makers, product designers – or...
Timber Shortages Ease
The timber shortage has brought price hikes and delays, but there is good news as supply increases. A timber shortage which has frustrated homebuilders all year is “highly likely” to be over, according to the Timber Trade Federation (TTF). This, the TTF says, is...
Grand Entrance For UC4 Glulam
A new school auditorium for Horris Hill Preparatory School on its rural campus near Newbury, Berkshire, has been transformed using structural engineered timber and a Use Class 4 (UC4) treated glulam portico. The choice of materials for the new David Brownlow theatre...
Australian architects declare net zero carbon for national building code
AUSTRALIAN architect members of the global organisation Architects Declare are having their say on the National Construction Code updates to make sure every new home – without costing more – will raise the required standards of sustainability. Submissions to the...
The 2021 wood awards winners announced
Six structures and two product designs have been announced as the Wood Awards 2021 winners at a ceremony on 25 November held at the Building Centre, London. Established in 1971, the Wood Awards is the UK’s premier competition for excellence in architecture and product...