Swedish Wood

ARTICLE On a hill in the Norwegian mountain village of Sinnes stands a house dedicated to the surrounding forest. Made entirely of wood, the building is a modern take on the Norwegian cabin, with the playfully cheeky name Timber Temple.

ARTICLE This elongated wooden house in Bohuslän is like no other – designed like a tied-arch bridge, it spans between two rocks to make minimal impact on nature. This makes its footprint less than one square metre.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Trä! caught up with Professor Lesley Lokko during her brief visit to Sweden as keynote speaker at the Architecture Gala. Lesley Lokko is the founder of the African Futures Institute (AFI) in Accra, Ghana, and has been appointed curator of the Venice Biennale in 2023.

ARTICLE Japanese architect Takaharu Tezuka spent six months drawing the 56 metre long ornamented panel that envelops Niijima Gakuen Junior College Hall & Chapel. The result is an imaginary forest walk where trees’ leaves and branches work their magic on the light in the space.

Skellefteå has had a wooden construction strategy in place for almost 20 years.  “Wood is the natural way to meet our demands for sustainable construction, a sustainable society and sustainable energy,” says Therese Kreisel, Planning Manager.

The European Confederation of the Woodworking Industries, CEI-Bois celebrates its 70th anniversary at the prize-winning, engineered timber culture house in Skellefteå on the 15th of June. The city of Skellefteå has become a symbol of forward thinking and sustainable urban development. We met with Silvia Melegari, Secretary General of CEI-Bois to ask what makes the city special.