Tag: scandinavia | ArchDaily

The Evolving Practice of Designing Light in Scandinavian Environments

Olivia Poston — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Scandinavia is shaped by environmental conditions that test both human endurance and architectural ingenuity, with long winters defined by limited daylight, low sun angles, deep snowfall, and cold winds that transform everyday movement, gathering, and habitation into deliberate acts. In this context, architecture is never neutral, and hospitality is never incidental. Buildings that welcome visitors across cities, forests, and coastlines must respond directly to darkness and cold, not by denying them, but by creating interior worlds that offer orientation, warmth, and psychological relief. The act of welcoming in Scandinavia is therefore inseparable from the climate, grounded in the understanding that shelter, light, and human presence are fundamental resources in Arctic environments.

In Dialogue With Nature: An Architectural Journey Through Landscape Installations in Denmark and Norway

Moises Carrasco — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Scandinavian design has long been admired for its minimalist aesthetic and functionality, which places value in the simple things, deeply rooted in the concept of Hygge. This reverence goes beyond interior design and extends also to the natural world, resulting in high-quality architecture and landscape installation design that enhances human connection to untouched environments. Rather than imposing grand structures upon the environment, the Scandinavian approach is one of subtle and precise intervention. These projects are not meant to dominate but to enter into a dialogue with the existing landscape, using thoughtful design to potentiate its inherent shape, color, and texture. The goal is to complement and enhance, creating spaces that serve a functional purpose while simultaneously deepening the visitor's connection to their surroundings.

A Scandinavian soul in a Mexican metropolis: BoConcept’s vision for Riga Bosques

Tom Howells — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 01:30:00 +0000

When the seeds that would bloom into BoConcept were planted by cabinet makers Tage Mølholm and Jens Ærthøj, in the small Danish town of Herning in 1947, its founders could hardly have foreseen that their nascent furniture company would eventually become a global leader in contemporary Scandinavian design.

The Eco-Friendly Floating Cities of the Future

Lindsey Leardi — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 07:30:00 +0000

As the world population grows, designers look to develop the seas. Architecture and planning firm, URBAN POWER strategically designed nine man-made islands off the southern coast of Copenhagen to combat many of the city’s impending challenges. The islets, called Holmene, address demands for tech space, fossil-free energy production, flood barriers, and even public recreation space.

Architectural Adventures: Scandinavia Architectural Tour

Rene Submissions — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 18:38:00 +0000

Discover the unique and inventive architecture in three Nordic countries on an 11-day journey with Architectural Adventures. The cutting-edge designs that enliven the skylines and streets of Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo illustrate the rich past and present of this corner of the globe. Delve into the global significance of buildings, rich history of the region, and learn from local architectural experts what drives the innovation in Scandinavian design. Enjoy behind-the-scenes access to award-winning complexes, opera houses, public spaces and cultural centers, learning first-hand from architectural influencers in the region and get an insider’s look at the region’s architectural past, present and future.

Praksis Arkitekter Selected as Winners of Scandinavia's Most Prestigious Architecture Award

AD Editorial Team — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Praksis Arkitekter has been awarded 500,000 DKK as winners of Nykredit's Architecture Awards, the most prestigious architectural distinction in Scandinavia.

Opportunity Space

Rene Submissions — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Europe’s migration crisis has intensified the need for cities to develop new tools and strategies to help people build skills, earn a living, and establish their place in society. To address this challenge, New York-based design nonprofit Van Alen Institute has launched Opportunity Space, a competition inviting multidisciplinary teams to propose a temporary mobile structure in Malmö, Sweden that will support a wide range of social programs.

The winning team will receive a $10,000 prize, a $5,000 travel budget, and up to $25,000 to implement their proposal in and around Malmö’s Enskifteshagen Park for two months in spring 2017.

OMA & Bengler Present PANDA, An Investigation of the Share Economy at the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale

Patrick Lynch — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 11:15:00 +0000

PANDA, an exhibition by OMA & Bengler, opens today at the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale – After Belonging.

AD Classics: Nordic Pavilion at Expo '70 / Sverre Fehn

Luke Fiederer — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 04:00:00 +0000

Though architectural history is replete with bricks, stones, and steel, there is no rule that states that architecture must be ‘solid’. Sverre Fehn, one of the most prominent architects of postwar Norway, regularly made use of heavy materials like concrete and stone masonry in his projects [1]. In this way, his proposal for the Nordic Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo in 1970 could be seen as an atypical exploration of a more delicate structure. Representing a very different aspect of ‘Modernity’ than his usual work, Fehn’s “breathing balloon” pavilion stands not only in contradiction to Fehn’s design canon, but to that of traditional architecture as a whole.

Look Inside a Selection of Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish Architecture Offices, Photographed by Marc Goodwin

James Taylor-Foster — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 04:00:00 +0000

Architectural photographer Marc Goodwin has recently completed "the ultra-marathon of photoshoots:" twenty-eight architectural offices in twenty-eight days, spread across four capital cities – Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Helsinki. His aim was to understand what sort of spaces architects in the Nordic countries operate in, and how they differ between each respective country. From former boathouses to stables and coal deposits, Goodwin has captured some of the most unique working environments the profession has to offer.

Santiago Calatrava's Turning Torso Wins CTBUH's 10 Year Award

Karissa Rosenfield — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 14:15:00 +0000

Rotating a full 90 degrees along nine pentagonal sections, Santiago Calatrava's "Turning Torso" was deemed the world's first twisting skyscraper upon its completion in 2005. Still Scandinavia's tallest tower, the 190-meter Malmö skyscraper has been awarded a 10 Year Award by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) for its continued valued to the surrounding area and successful performance across a number of categories, including environmental, engineering performance, vertical transport, iconography, and others.

Gottlieb Paludan Architects Awarded Scandinavia’s Largest Architecture Prize

Eric Oh — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 06:00:04 +0000

The 2015 Nykredit Architecture Prize has been awarded to Gottlieb Paludan Architects (GPA) for their contribution to the design of public utility and industrial buildings. Founded by the Nykredit Foundation, the 500,000-DKK prize has become Scandinavia’s foremost architectural award, with past winners including Jørn Utzon, Bjarke Ingels and CEBRA.

Snøhetta's Illustrated Travel Guide for Oslo

Patricia Arcilla — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Sleek, contemporary, and unapologetically eclectic, the work of Norwegian firm Snøhetta is as diverse as it is synonymous with modern Scandinavian design. Spanning everything from architecture and master planning to installation art and product and packaging design, Snøhetta's projects are characterized by the marriage of efficiency, quirky charm, and an eye for beauty. Offering a broad selection of suggestions for visitors to Oslo, Snøhetta's guide to the nation's capital is no different. Reflecting the favorite attractions of architects, artists, and brand designers from within the firm, the guide includes a windowless bar, jazz-punk band, and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, even encompassing the work of Oslo-based design contemporary, Element Arkitekter, in Lærernes hus. Read the rest of the seven travel selections here.

Curatorial Team Announced For The 2016 Oslo Triennale

James Taylor-Foster — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The After Belonging Agency (ABA) have been announced as the curatorial team for the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale for their proposal In-Residence, On Residence, and the Ways We Stay In-Transit.

Designing Invisible Architecture: Bird Hides by Biotope

James Taylor-Foster — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Biotope, a three-strong Norwegian practice based in the Arctic town of Varanger, have designed bird hides since 2009. For them, architecture is "a tool to protect and promote birds, wildlife and nature" - an approach reflected in their carefully crafted, environmentally integrated fragments of the 'invisible': small shelters that must blend into and be absorbed by their surroundings. Their diligent work has seen Varanger become established as one of the best birding destinations in Northern Europe and their unique design solutions are now being sought across Scandinavia.

SOM Wins Competition for Sweden's Tallest Tower

Rory Stott — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

SOM, working alongside Danish practice Entasis Arkitekter, has been selected to design a new residential building in Gothenburg that will be Sweden's tallest tower. Coming out on top against an international shortlist that included Zaha Hadid Architects, SOM's 230m tall proposal 'The Pole Star' features four connected prisms which twist 90 degrees near the top.

Sverre Fehn’s Drawings for Venice's Nordic Pavilion To Be Exhibited in Oslo

James Taylor-Foster — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Norwegian architect and Pritzker Laureate Sverre Fehn’s original drawings for the Nordic Pavilion in Venice are to be presented alongside Ferruzzi’s monochromatic photographs of the building in an exhibition at the National Museum of Architecture in Oslo. Venice: Fehn’s Nordic Pavilion documents the incredible task undertaken by Fehn who, at the age of thirty-four, won the competition to design the pavilion and subsequently won international acclaim when the building was completed in 1962.

Zaha Hadid and SOM Among 5 Competing to Design Scandinavia’s Tallest Tower

Karissa Rosenfield — Wed, 28 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Zaha Hadid Architects, SOM, Ian Simpson Architects, Manuelle Gautrand Architects, and Wingårdhs Arkitektkontor are all competing to design what will be the tallest tower in Scandinavia. Submitted anonymously, the five shortlisted proposals have just been unveiled by Serneke, who has envisioned the skyscraper as an integral piece to a larger 32,000 square meter mixed-use masterplan in Gothenburg that has been in the making for more than ten years.