Anders Berensson Architects was commissioned by “Stockholm Centre Party” to make a dense and green city on top of the train track area next to Stockholm Central Station. Stockholm is growing and to accommodate population growth the city needs to build more houses. One of the most sustainable way of doing this is to densify the existing neighborhoods and take advantage of existing infrastructure.
The train track area in the West part of Stockholm City is one of Stockholm’s most central locations with a high attraction value. Given the cost of covering the existing train tracks and the area’s central location, the new proposal aims to build a tight and high city area in order to make room for as many people as possible in central Stockholm. In order to build denser the firm has designed a new type of city block for Stockholm.
The proposed city blocks exist out of thin towers which can be varied in height to accommodate more people but also adapt to light conditions and views. The proposal is apartment buildings scaled down to its smallest component, one stairwell surrounded by apartments to get the smallest footprint possible. With these smaller volumes, the design can be more flexible and adapt to parameters such as views, sight lines and light conditions and still get more living space.
The design also makes larger parts of the area accessible to the public since both courtyards and roof terraces is crossed by public paths. The sky walk on the roof terraces will be one of the longest parks in Stockholm with best view in town. The proposal also makes the waterfront accessible for people in Stockholm. To control views and light conditions for the new houses zoning regulations for building heights is a major part of the proposal.
Every other row of houses is low, max 4 floors with a courtyard and every other row of houses is high 7 to 30 floors. About 90% of all apartments will receive a lake view and the sun will shine through the lower parts of the blocks to reach down to street level during the afternoon. The new city area will host about approximately 5800 apartments, 8000 work places and about 300 shops. The new city area will be the highest and densest in Stockholm.
Because of the areas location the firm believes it is a suitable area for higher buildings given that in the present situation there is very few apartments next to the area that will be negatively affected from shading or blocked views. When the new area meets a residential district the building heights are lower. The highest part of the area is towards Stockholm Central Station where there are good communications and where many people want to live. Source by Anders Berensson Architects.
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Architects: Anders Berensson Architects
Client: The Stockholm Center Party
Year: 2015
Images: Courtesy of Anders Berensson Architects