Stockholm: The Latest Architecture and News

Tham & Videgård Arkitekter is the latest to investigate the potential of tall wooden structures. Planned for a site in the former transport harbor of Loudden, which will soon be revived as a new urban area, the practice's mixed-use scheme proposes to integrate 240 apartments within a cluster of four wooden high-rise buildings that reach up to 20 stories.

“The buildings are constructed entirely in one material, Swedish solid wood, from the frame to the facade, finishes and windows,” says the architects. “Through consistent use of a renewable material like wood, the result is a sustainable, well insulated and robust house structure with good potential to perform well over time, and minimize the total energy consumption.”

Named for its location at the intersection of Vasastaden and "the Haga city" of Hagastaden, Belatchew Arkitekter's "HagaTwist" has been selected by Atrium Ljungberg as the winner of an invited architectural competition for the construction of a public building in Stockholm. Envisioned as a "meeting place" for visitors, workers, and locals alike, the project will feature a flexible program and incorporate a restaurant and rooftop terrace.

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The Södermalm district of Stockholm will be receiving a unique new addition to its collection of residential housing. Utopia Arkitekter has proposed a redevelopment plan along Hornsbruksgatan that will include three apartment buildings and a new metro station. In total, the plan will create 29 units: twelve apartments and seventeen town houses. Rising two to three stories above the street, the connected roofs of each of these buildings will act as an extension to the nearby Högalid Park.

The City of Stockholm has named Caruso St John, working with Swedish practice Scheiwiller Svensson, as the architects for a renovation of Gunnar Asplund's 1928 Stockholm Public Library. The work will see alterations to the interior spaces of the main building and annex, as well as the three additional "bazaars" built to the west of the original building between 1930 and 1953, however there will be no alterations to the external appearance of the building.

Read on for more about the renovation.

UPDATE: OMA has released new images of the Norra Tornen project (previously named “Tors Torn”), as the close-to 300 apartments planned for the residential towers have been put on the market. The ground-breaking of the Stockholm towers is currently set for May 2015.

OMA has won the design competition for Tors Torn in Stockholm, beating out four competing practices for the opportunity to build the third tallest twin skyscrapers in Sweden.

Existing urban guidelines call for a gateway to the new Hagastaden area of Stockholm, and OMA’s proposal accommodates a mixed-use program with a set of “rough-skinned” towers. The protrusions and inversions at different heights produce an alternating pattern of indoor living spaces and protruding outdoor spaces. OMA explains that their design “challenges the expected uniformity and homogenous façade treatment that is often assigned to tower structures. Instead, it extends the skin to expose the individuality of the separate living units in the two blocks - a true vertical, urban agglomeration."

More on OMA’s winning proposal after the break…

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Bloomberg Philanthropies has awarded its 2014 Mayors Challenge to Barcelona, selecting its plan to deal with the problems of an ageing population over the proposals of 20 other European cities shortlisted earlier this year. The award, developed to promote the most creative and transferable solutions to intractable social problems such as public health, unemployment and transportation, carries a €5 million prize for Barcelona to put toward implementing the plan. In addition, four runners-up - Athens, Kirklees, Stockholm and Warsaw - will also receive €1 million each for their own plans.

"To meet the biggest challenges of the 21st century, city leaders must think creatively and be unafraid to try new things – and the Mayors Challenge is designed to help them do that," said Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Read on after the break to learn more about the proposals of Barcelona and the four runners-up

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Within days of David Chipperfield being appointed to design the Nobel Foundation’s new home in Stockholm, heritage protesters began to assemble a campaign to prevent the project from fruition.

Declaring they are “opposed to star-architects constructing their angular spectacles of glass and steel right in the middle of the protected historic environment, as monuments to themselves, at our expense and the city’s,” as stated in an online petition, the protesters seem particularly upset that the project would require the demolition of multiple historic structures. Thousands have even joined a Facebook group to voice disapproval.

However, despite the backlash, the Nobel Foundation refuses to bow down and believes the protest will not succeed.

More on the protest, and structures slated for demolition, after the break...

With minimal intervention, Swedish architecture firm visiondivision claims that the underused structure beneath Stockholm’s Tranebergsbron bridge could be transformed into a pedestrian walkway and informal cinema. If built, this proposal would not only remove pedestrians from the dismal walking space provided alongside the bridge’s bustling car lanes, but it would also dramatically shorten the walking distance between the city island of Kungsholmen and western suburb of Bromma.