Over the next ten years, Sweden’s standing timber volume is set to increase by over 500 million cubic metres, a result of its long-standing forestry act that states an obligation to replant trees after felling. However, a closer look reveals a troubling truth: 81.6% of a tree is typically wasted in the conversion of the tree to timber. In the wake of the current climate crisis, the proposal advocates that growing timber demand should not be met through increased and widespread logging activity, but rather through maximising the potential of every local tree harnessed for construction.

A timber institute is proposed in suburban Stockholm, strategically located as an extension to a forested area that is not subject to urban logging restrictions. The architecture critically revisits timber construction through the understanding of a single tree as a simultaneously abundant yet sacred resource. A tailored architecture is derived from the properties, materiality and cycles of a local pine tree, to tactically choreograph the processes of treating and utilising the tree as an architectural element, both living and processed. Overall, the project proposes an architecture that inspires a shift in attitudes and methods around the employment of timber and trees in architecture.