VIVACE in one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world

Right in the centre of the city of Skellefteå, just below the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, culture is getting a new home – at the Sara Cultural Centre. The long tradition of timber construction in Sweden was the main inspiration for White Architects’ design for the new cultural centre, which emerged from an international competition.

The proposal was named Sida vid sida – side by side; a tower complex in wooden construction that places art, performance and literary organizations side by side in a spectacular setting. In the process, Sara Cultural Centre will be the new home to Västerbotten Regional Theatre, Anna Nordlander Museum, Skellefteå Art Gallery and the city library. In addition, the complex also houses a new hotel. With its 20 floors, 205 hotel rooms and several auditoriums, the cultural centre is one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world and is at the same time the new landmark of northern Sweden, a dynamic venue for culture, entertainment and conferences.

The SARA concert hall has a capacity of 1200 seats. Our Norwegian distributor was assigned to install the VIVACE electronic room acoustic system. The aim was to ensure that the acoustics of the hall would be suitable for large symphonic concerts, small chamber music performances, as well as theatre and lecture events. The system works with 80 loudspeakers and 38 microphones and has 8 acoustic presets and also offers a voice-lift function. Thus, the acoustics of the concert hall can be variably adapted to the most diverse requirements at the push of a button.