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Leave it to the Nordics to reimagine the future, not with glass and steel, but with something infinitely more poetic: wood. Stockholm’s Wood City is poised to become the world’s largest timber-built urban district, a sustainable love letter to architecture’s most elemental material.
Set in the city’s southern Sickla district, this ambitious 250,000-square-metre development by Swedish developer Atrium Ljungberg, with design direction from Danish architects Henning Larsen and Sweden’s own White Arkitekter, is a project with a conscience. The plan: 2,000 homes, 7,000 office spaces, shops, cafés and culture, all formed from renewable timber. The goal: to create a city that breathes.
Wood is Sweden’s oldest modern material. It has rhythm, scent, a sense of humanity that concrete never quite managed. It stores carbon, it calms the mind, it makes construction quieter, cleaner, and more tactile. In short, it feels alive. The project’s architects describe it as “a paradigm shift” – a new kind of city designed to balance progress with planetary care.
The aesthetic follows suit. Expect the kind of Scandinavian restraint that allows light, material and proportion to take centre stage. Buildings will feature green roofs, wide terraces, natural ventilation, and large panes of glass that draw daylight deep into the interior. Energy will be locally stored and shared. Even the urban rhythm is designed around the five-minute principle – everything you need within a short stroll.
Beyond sustainability stats and timber engineering, what makes Stockholm Wood City truly compelling is its attitude. It’s an architectural gesture that feels both humble and radical. A move away from the high-gloss and high-rise toward something rooted, regenerative, and real.
Atrium Ljungberg’s choice of Sickla is telling: a once-industrial neighbourhood now shifting into a creative hub. Here, history and innovation sit side by side, as they often do in the best Scandinavian experiments. The timber city won’t tower; it will weave itself into the landscape, echoing Sweden’s long relationship with its forests.
Construction begins in 2025, completion is set for 2027, and already the world is watching. Stockholm Wood City is more than an eco-district; it’s a manifesto. Proof that modernity doesn’t need to shout to be heard.
Because in the end, the quiet revolution will be built in wood.
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Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.