A new wooden skyscraper has risen between the towering trees of Sweden’s Bothnian coastline that has everybody talking. This 20-story, 75-meter-high Sara Cultural Centre has been built entirely in timber.
According to Robert Schmitz, the architect,
“Everyone thought that we were a little bit crazy proposing a building like this in timber. But we were quite pragmatic, so we said that if you can’t make everything in timber, then we can at least do some of it that way. But during the design process, we all came out and said that it’s more efficient to build everything in timber.”
Construction of Wooden Skyscraper
This cultural center is home to six theater stages, a library, two art galleries, a 205-room hotel, and a conference center. It’s built from over 12,000 cubic meters of wood that was harvested from forests.
This design is part of a wider effort in the city of Skelleftea that is tackling the climate crisis one new build at a time. It’s an example for local construction companies to wean off environmentally harmful materials.
According to United Nations Environment Programme, building work is responsible for more than 38% of global energy-related carbon emissions in the year 2015 and has only increased since then. The production of cement is the largest single industrial emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. We need more wooden construction as wood sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it for good.
The Beauty Of This Wooden Skyscraper
This second tallest world tower will capture 9 million kilograms of carbon dioxide throughout its lifetime. The building also boasts solar panels which can power the edifice and store the remaining energy in the basement.
The tower has a built-in AI system that analyzes and makes an AI system. This AI system analyses world decisions about the building’s energy usage based on the availability of energy.
According to Tomas Alsmarker, head of innovation at Swedish Wood, Sweden, as a country, has seen a remarkable change in building materials over the last five years.
“For all buildings up to eight stories high, the question is not whether it’s possible to do it in wood. You should ask why we should not do it in wood.”
