In a recent report on embodied carbon from the Rocky Mountain Institute, the authors noted that “considering wood as a carbon-sequestering material is a point of contention among industry experts.” In Sweden, they say, “Hold my öl (beer),” as they build tall, gorgeous buildings with the most sophisticated wood technologies, and say that “timber is a cornerstone in the transition to net zero.”
One such building is the Sara Kulturhus cultural center, pictured above. The architects, White Arkitekter, describe it:
Skellefteå is a mining town, but also had a traditional timber industry and a history of wooden buildings, most of which were demolished and replaced with brick.
Modern technology, indeed. The building is a demonstration project of what you can do with wood. These roof trusses are so dramatic, with big chunky compression members sticking down.
Wood panels on the walls both absorb sound and bounce it in different directions; the acoustics are probably wonderful. “The project aims to broaden the possible applications of timber as a structure material for complex and high-rise buildings, sparking advancement in sustainable construction. The very diverse programme has called for a range of innovative solutions in mass timber construction to handle spans, flexibility, acoustics, and overall statics.”
The hotel tower is built of prefabricated modules made of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) stacked high between elevator and stair cores made of CLT. “Integrated structural design has eliminated the need for concrete entirely from the load-bearing structure, speeding up construction and drastically reducing the carbon footprint.”
Digging into White’s Road Map for 2030: Our strategy for a climate-positive future, one realizes that green sustainable building is about a lot more than just building with wood; they get the principles that have been discussed by the World Green Building Council and are mentioned in the RMI report. Here’s a long quote from a document that is worth reading:
As the road map notes, building with timber is only one part of a larger picture of sustainable design. The issue of the carbon footprint of mass timber construction is controversial on both sides of the Atlantic, although the issue of its beauty isn’t, nor its contribution to the gorgeousness of the Sara Kulturhus and the warmth of the wood—so much biophilia that I feel more relaxed just looking at it. It’s truly “a showcase for sustainable design and construction where all forms of culture live side-by-side.”
As White Architekter concludes, everyone in the industry should be doing this.
And the time to start building that climate-positive future is now.
