The penultimate case examine in our Timber Revolution sequence is a 20-storey mass-timber constructing slightly below the Arctic Circle – the Sara Kulturhus Centre by Swedish studio White Arkitekter.
Standing 72.8 metres tall within the Swedish metropolis of Skellefteå, the landmark construction turned one of many world’s tallest mass-timber buildings when it was accomplished in 2021.
The Sara Kulturhus Centre is constructed nearly solely from mass timber, and was designed by White Arkitekter to convey town’s lengthy custom of making picket buildings “into a brand new period”.
It additionally goals to exhibit the potential of engineered wooden as a structural materials that may cut back reliance on concrete, pace up development and cut back structure’s carbon footprint.
“By combining the native timber custom with modern know-how and engineering, town’s wooden heritage is now being introduced into a brand new period,” stated venture architect Maria Orvesten.
“With its 20 storeys, Sara Kulturhus Centre will not be solely Skellefteå’s new landmark – it is usually one of many world’s tallest picket buildings,” she informed Dezeen.
The mixed-use constructing comprises an artwork gallery and museum, together with a library, theatre and 20-storey resort. They’re unified by a construction constructed nearly solely from glued laminated timber (glulam) and cross-laminated timber (CLT), developed with the structural engineering firm Florian Kosche.
The construction is estimated to retailer 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is double the quantity believed to have been emitted throughout development and due to this fact sufficient to make the constructing carbon unfavourable over its lifetime, in line with White Arkitekter.
“Embodied carbon emissions from supplies, transport and development in addition to carbon emissions from operational vitality throughout 50 years are lower than the carbon sequestration in wooden throughout the constructing,” stated studio companion Robert Schmitz on the time of completion.
“For this reason we declare that the constructing is carbon unfavourable.”
The carbon-negative footprint of the Sara Kulturhus Centre will not be all that makes the mass-timber constructing distinctive, in line with venture architect Orvesten.
Its mixed-use program demanded a sequence of bespoke improvements to make sure that the mass timber might meet the required spans, adaptability wants and acoustic efficiency. This “unleashed a world of beforehand unimagined design potentialities”, she stated.
“Sara Kulturhus Centre has broadened the chances of timber as a structural materials,” defined Orvesten.
“There have been no ready-made options after we began, we needed to invent them as we went,” she continued. “It takes information, however it’s doable to construct each excessive and with massive spans in wooden.”
For Orvesten, one of the fascinating components of the venture is the bespoke hybrid components, the place mass timber has been utilized in tandem with metal and concrete to take advantage of its properties.
“One of the fascinating options in Sara Kulturhus Centre was the hybrid options primarily based on materials optimisation,” she stated. “We used the fitting materials in the fitting place, primarily based on the qualities of the fabric.”
For instance, trusses made out of wooden and metal are used to create massive open foyers and cut back the variety of structural columns, making certain they are often simply tailored for numerous occasions.
“With this answer, the wooden handles stress and the metal handles tensile forces,” she added. “By doing this, we use the qualities of every materials in an optimum manner.”
Elsewhere, timber is mixed with concrete, corresponding to within the constructing’s prime three flooring to scale back the impact of wind and cease it from swaying.
Different key particulars of the Sara Kulturhus Centre’s structural design are the resort rooms, that are contained in prefabricated modules stacked and supported by metal trusses on glulam pillars.
The resort rooms had been prefabricated to assist minimise waste and, in line with a report concerning the constructing, additionally “saved one yr in development time”.
Ending touches of the mixed-use constructing embrace CLT carry shafts and a large picket staircase that’s designed for use for all the pieces from a stage to a gathering house. A glass-lined facade frames views of the uncovered picket components inside.
All the wooden used within the constructing was sourced from forests inside a 60-kilometre radius of Skellefteå, with prefabricated components manufactured in Västerbotten and Renholmen in Sweden.
The place left uncovered, the wooden is handled with flame retardant to stop the danger of a speedy unfold of fireside.
The constructing is powered solely by renewable vitality, offered partly by a geothermal warmth pump and 1,200 sq. metres of rooftop photo voltaic panels.
The completion of Sara Kulturhus Centre in 2021 adopted a pledge by the White Arkitekter in 2020 that each constructing it designs can be carbon impartial by 2030.
The studio hopes the venture will assist to lift the standing of mass timber and encourage its uptake in structure.
“As architects, we now have a giant accountability to scale back our local weather influence,’ stated Orvesten. “Wooden is the one renewable and carbon-neutral constructing materials in the present day.”
“Mass timber is a sustainable different that gives distinctive alternatives to create nice structure that stands the take a look at of time.”
The pictures is by Patrick Degerman until in any other case acknowledged.
Timber Revolution
This text is a part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution sequence, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether or not going again to wooden as our main development materials can lead the world to a extra sustainable future.
