With one foot in history and one in the future, Damen is a groundbreaking design rooted firmly in the present. The area Svanen 5 in Norrköping, Sweden, has an attractive location by a public square, close to the quayside and within walking distance from the new travel centre, which provides excellent conditions for a mixed-use building.
Damen offers a new solution for parking that takes advantage of today’s cutting-edge technology for optimising the utilisation rate and reducing built-in volume. This is done through an automated parking solution that requires a lower floor-to-ceiling height and at the same time reduces unsafety as no one enters the garage. The use of lifts and automation eliminates the need for space-consuming ramps.
Image © Belatchew Arkitekter
To prepare for a future when parking garages may no longer be needed, there is already a strategy in place for a simple conversion into other functions. The innovative parking solution frees up land to make it possible to create a courtyard with greenery adjacent to the planned office building. Both the office building and the parking solution are open, with good access to daylight and views outwards.
In the office building, flexible floor plans can accommodate a workplace in change where the use of premises is constantly changing and the need for different types of meeting places increases. The building’s flexibility manifests itself in two different parts: in the office spaces, where the majority of the floor plan is flexible, and at the southern gable-end.
Image © Belatchew Arkitekter
This is designed to be a vertical streetscape with flexible spaces for cultural activities, learning facilities and recreation. This second zone creates an open contact area between the businesses and the public, with a multi-faceted palette of meeting places, rooms for joint activities and site-specific solutions that take advantage of the context and the view.
The internal activity is visible in the facade, which creates a unique architectural expression. The architectural form in the facade design is also used for natural sun protection. Source and images Courtesy of Belatchew Arkitekter.