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    • thorgalle
      Top reader this weekScoutScribe
      2 years ago

      Interesting. I've heard & read a few times that biological (renewable) resources are the building materials of the future. I'd like to understand the climate effects of (responsible?) deforestation and replanting however, and how it compares with the lifecycle of concrete. Something this article skimps over.

      While a normal building site is a noisy, toxic place of fumes and dust, a timber one is a picture of serenity. “The people building this would never go back to steel and concrete"

      In keeping with the city’s advanced (and municipally owned) energy network, the building uses artificial intelligence to monitor energy use and predict heating needs, as well as communicate with surrounding buildings. Excess energy produced by the building’s solar panels can be sent to the nearby travel centre, for example, or saved in batteries in the basement. If the cultural centre needs more heat, the surplus from a neighbouring building being cooled can be transferred over. “Many buildings now have a brain,” says Patrik Sundberg of Skellefteå Kraft, the city’s energy company. “But we have added ears. It will be listening and learning all the time.”

    • KapteinB
      Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
      2 years ago

      Skellefteå (pronounced “she left you”)

      I mean, not really? I always thought the å was more pronounced, but I can't really hear a you there either.

      There’s one downside, though, at least from the hotel perspective: “The raw wooden walls absorb stains like red wine much faster than a painted wall,” says Sara Johansson, from the Elite hotel group, “so we have to be ready to clean much faster!”

      Or maybe paint the walls? The rooms also look terribly barren, give them some paint too. Though I guess the more they treat the wood, the less eco-friendly the structure as a whole becomes.

      It’s fire-safe, too. CLT is very slow to ignite, designed here with an additional 4cm sacrificial layer on each side that would char in the event of a fire, protecting the structure for 120 minutes. The surfaces have also been treated with fire retardant, and the complex is fully sprinklered, powered by batteries rather than the usual diesel engine.

      I'm glad to see this, because the first thing that came to mind when I read the words "20-storey wooden skyscraper" was fire hazard.

      This wooden wonder might seem like a novelty one-off, a trophy to showcase the local timber industry, only feasible because of the location. But the architects are keen to emphasise that the same process could be replicated anywhere, many hundreds of miles from a forest. “We are currently studying how far we could transport this building without undoing the carbon saving,” says White Arkitekter’s Robert Schmitz. “We think it could probably go twice around the world and still be carbon neutral.”

      Also, let's not forget, there's still quite a lot of woods in the world, where structures like this one can be built from locally sourced raw materials.

      • DellwoodBarker2 years ago

        Great find! (…and We Be Vibin’ ~ each of your highlights selected Here, as well.)😉