Architecture studio White Arkitekter has completed Sara Kulturhus Centre, a timber development featuring the world's second-tallest wooden tower, which it claims will be carbon negative over its lifetime.
Built from a combination of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam), the project in Skellefteå includes a theatre, gallery, library, museum and a hotel.
The Sara Kulturhus Centre is in Skellefteå, located just outside the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden
The project follows a 2020 pledge by the Swedish architecture studio that by 2030, every building it designs will be carbon neutral.
Sara Kulturhus Centre was designed to be a landmark destination in the city, which is just south of the Arctic circle in northern Sweden. The hotel tower stands above the cultural centre. Photo by Ã…ke Eson Lindman
"We designed Sara to become a landmark in Skellefteå, marking the most central location of the city," said White Arkitekter partner Robert Schmitz.
"The building is planned to add life to the city centre, opening on all sides to show both public spaces but also the work behind the scenes," he told Dezeen.
It is the second tallest mass-timber building in the world. Photo by Ã…ke Eson Lindman
The mass-timber building contains the Skellefteå Art Gallery, Museum Anna Nordlander, Västerbotten Regional Theatre and the city library on its lower levels and is topped with a 20-storey hotel.
At 75 metres tall, it is the world's second-talles...