5 bold buildings designed with mass timber rib elements

The Saint-Exupéry Multifunctional Building in Yutz, France, is a standout example of innovative urban architecture. The building brings together community services, educational and cultural spaces, offices and areas for leisure under one roof.

At the heart of the building are Sylva™ CLT Rib elements, which form the building’s lightweight, high-performance roof. These elements allow for impressive long spans and maximum flexibility in order to accommodate different set up on different floors, from large multipurpose rooms like the canteen to smaller association offices. Thanks to precision manufacturing and prefabrication, assembly was rapid and caused minimal disruption to the surrounding neighbourhood.

Read more: Bâtiment multifonctionnel Saint Exupéry

Residence Drdla in Žďár nad Sázavou, Czechia, sets a new standard for affordable, low-carbon housing in the Czech Republic. This pioneering project represents a strategic move toward decentralising affordable housing and comprises 34 rental apartments for essential workers.

The buildings were constructed using modular mass timber systems. The structure features 600 m³ of Sylva™ CLT Walls and 500 m³ of Sylva™ CLT Rib Roof elements by Stora Enso.

Thanks to a high degree of prefabrication, the buildings were completed in just 15 months. Each apartment meets modern energy standards and comes fully equipped with a kitchen, appliances, built-in wardrobes, beds, and dining tables.

Read more: Residence Drdla

The sports facility at Berlin’s Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark marks a fresh chapter for this historic athletic venue. Designed in collaboration led by MAX Holzbau and Stadt.Haus.Mensch, the building showcases innovative mass timber construction using Stora Enso’s prefabricated Sylva™ kit of parts.

The building’s defining feature is the 114 m² ceiling made of Sylva™ CLT Rib elements, preassembled by MAX Holzbau. These lightweight, long-span elements reduce material use by nearly half compared to standard roofs while creating bright, open interiors. Precision prefabrication ensured fast installation and a smooth construction process.

Read more: Jahn Sportpark

The Høyt Under Taket Climbing Centre, designed by Snøhetta, is an ambitious showcase of precision-engineered mass timber construction. Spanning 1,500 m² and rising 15 metres high, the structure was built using Stora Enso’s prefabricated Sylva™ CLT Walls and Sylva™ CLT Rib elements. The design allows the climbing surfaces to be mounted directly onto the load-bearing timber frame. This approach eliminated the need for bulky steel substructures, reducing both material use and building volume while enhancing structural integrity.

Technically, the project demanded exacting tolerances to handle complex loads and create uninterrupted spans. The Sylva™ CLT Rib elements were chosen for their ability to withstand pressure loads while maintaining a lightweight, high-performance profile. Each element was CNC-cut to match the BIM model, ensuring millimetre precision and seamless assembly. Prefabricated elements were engineered to capture horizontal forces, enabling multi-level climbing routes.

Read more: Høyt Under Taket Climbing Centre

Read our article: Architectural freedom engineered with CLT rib panels

EcoDataCenter in Falun, Sweden, is one of the country’s largest data centres. It is an example of how mass timber can be used to provide a large-scale mass timber building with high security class and high demands on fire safety at a large data warehouse. Choosing mass timber over non-renewable materials reduces the building’s embodied carbon footprint and therefore the overall carbon footprint.

EcoDataCenter is the world’s first large-scale data centre built using mass timber, fully powered by renewable energy. The use of mass timber was a key feature of this building where rib panels as well as Sylva™ CLT Floors, Roofs, and Walls were used.

ByggPartner, Dalahusgruppen, EcoDataCenter and Stora Enso worked closely together to build the first two phases of the data centre campus with a total area of approximately 35,000 square metres. Now EcoDataCenter 1 campus is extending again with Halls E and F, a project that is the result of a long-term collaboration in technology and wood construction.

Read more: EcoDataCenter

Read our article: The World’s First Mass Timber Data Centre