Sara Cultural Centre

Location: Skellefteå,Sweden
Design firm: White Arkitekter
Typology: Other
Years: 2016–2021
Status: Complete

Facade facts

Facade summary: A contrasting envelope consisting of a low-rise timber-clad base and a high-rise tower wrapped in a double-skin glass curtain wall that reveals its load-bearing mass timber interior.
Documented intention: The facade was designed to be highly transparent to showcase the timber construction from the outside,celebrating its structural integrity, while maintaining excellent thermal insulation in Sweden's cold climate.
Street relationship: The ground floor is highly glazed and setback, establishing a direct connection between the street level and the inner cultural public spaces.
Climate relationship: The double-skin facade serves as an insulating thermal buffer. During winter, solar heat is trapped inside the cavity to preheat incoming air,while in summer, the cavity is ventilated to prevent overheating.
Window pattern: Rhythmic modular floor-to-floor glass panels on the tower, irregular punch windows on the timber podium.
Glazing: Triple glazed low-E units on the inner skin, single monolithic glass on the outer skin.
Depth: The double-skin facade features a deep air cavity (approx. 300-500mm) that creates physical and visual depth.
Rhythm: Highly vertical rhythm generated by the closely spaced glulam structural columns visible behind the glass.
Glass: Glass — Tower double-skin envelope — Highly reflective /Clear
Engineered Timber (Spruce/Pine CLT and Glulam): Engineered Timber (Spruce/Pine CLT and Glulam) — Behind tower glass facade and low-rise exterior cladding — Natural wood grain
Aluminium: Aluminium — Mullions and transoms on the curtain wall — Anodized
Double-Skin Facade: A ventilated double-glass envelope with an outer single glazing layer and an inner high-performance triple-glazed unit, accommodating solar shades in the intermediate air cavity.
Unitised Curtain Wall: Prefabricated glass panels shipped directly to the site for rapid installation.
Opaque Timber Cassette System: Used on the low-rise podium, comprising insulation and pre-installed external timber rainscreens.

Description

The building's envelope is split into two distinct expressions. The low-rise podium features a rustic timber facade made of prefabricated timber elements and wood siding. The 20-story hotel tower utilizes a high-performance double-skin glass facade. The outer layer is a single sheet of clear glass, protecting motorized solar blinds within a ventilated cavity. The inner layer is composed of structural double or triple-glazed units. This transparent envelope fully exposes the internal Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) walls and glulam columns.

Visual analysis

The tower facade creates a dynamic visual play: by day, it reflects the changing sky while showing the warm wood tones beneath; by night, it glows from within, turning the structural timber columns into a prominent visual element of the city skyline.