Regeneration of Gjuteriet in the former Kockums wharf area, Malmö

KS has been selected, in a competition with three other practices, as architects for the redevelopment of Gjuteriet, a former foundry in Malmö. The building from 1910 is one of the most prominent historical landmarks within the Kockums shipyard area and an integral part of the city´s history. The former industrial hall represents an interesting preservation challenge in its current state, lacking roof and having its brick facades partially eroded by frost, exposing the steel frame. The commission aims at maintaining the building as a central piece within the greater urban development of Varvsstaden with public programmes and content on the ground level, while at the same time designing for a single tenant with very high expectations. “Getting Gjuteriet to meet the present through conservation and careful sustainable development of new qualities is something that truly triggers our creativity”, says Stefan Sjöberg. The client is Varvsstaden, a joint venture of Balder and Peab.

KS’s lecture tour around North America: Polar Shift

Stefan Sjöberg will be lecturing in the north of USA over two weeks in April – May 2019. The journey begins with three lectures in three cities around Alaska. Stefan was invited by the Alaska Design Forum to present the work of the practice in sustainable urban development and architecture. The discussion on the topic of “Polar Shift” will be angled from a Nordic perspective, comparing various regions with a similar cold climate, offering an exchange and comparison of experience. The last stop will be a lecture at the University of Oregon.

Tour dates:

Anchorage April 29 at 19.00, Anchorage Museum

Fairbanks April 30 at 18.00, The Blue Loon

Juneau May 1 at 18.00, 360 North

Eugene May 5 at 18.30, School of Architecture and Environment

Kjellander Sjöberg invited to City Development Competition in Denmark

Kjellander Sjöberg, in collaboration with GHB Landskab, has been selected for the Faaborg Harbour and City Development Plan competition. Three teams have been invited to create a development plan for Faaborg with a special focus on three areas for densification – around centrally located industries, the harbour and the railway station.

The basis for the competition is an attempt to turn around a decrease in population by creating positive and vibrant city environments, both for residents and tourism. How to connect the old city centre to the surrounding countryside and archipelago, and how can the town and port be secured against flooding? The task includes work with three focus areas: massing studies, climate adaptation and culture.

The competition will be conducted as an open process, enabling dialogue between the participating teams and the jury and advisors, to contribute to and build knowledge. The winner will be announced in December 2019. The client is Faaborg council and Realdania.

The other two teams are Adept together with Mandaworks and SLA together with Praksis Arkitekter.

Photo: Faaborg-Midtfyn Kommune

KS nominated for EU Mies Award 2019

We are thrilled to announce that KS’s Elderly Care Skärvet in Växjö is nominated for the prestigious international European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2019.

The EU Mies Award is a continuous process focused on how architects are thinking and working in Europe today. The Prize objectives aim at promoting and understanding the significance of quality and reflecting the complexity of Architecture’s own significance in terms of technological, constructional, social, economic, cultural and aesthetic achievements. It seeks to recognise and commend excellence in European architecture.

– We are very proud to be nominated with an elderly care, a project carrying such an important role in society. The design is an innovative response to a combination of challenges involving both the construction and the building type. Lena Viterstedt, partner in charge.

Elderly Care Skärvet combines four sections of different types of tile patterns creating a vivid and varied facade. Apart from design and material use, Skärvet is designed to achieve LEED platinum and Skanska’s top-level environmental classification. The elderly care is a part of the neighbourhood Skärvet, a starting point for a new urban district in Växjö. KS, together with Skanska, won the land transfer competition for the development of the site in 2014.

Etaget wins Design S Award

Kjellander Sjöberg has been awarded the Design S – Swedish Design Awards 2018. The residential building Etaget won in the category Architecture – best completed project.

Design S – Swedish Design Awards is Sweden’s biggest and most comprehensive design award, backed by the entire design industry. The award is aimed at professional designers, architects, individual specialists, producers and companies that work with design in a broad sense. Design S – Swedish Design Awards works in partnership with several industry organisations that together with Svensk Form (Swedish Form) select the jury and contribute to the award’s enormous span within all disciplines of design.

The jury’s motivation:
An inspired residential building rises from a dense streetscape, with a mission to reestablish the city’s sense of dramatics, to shake some life into the surrounding neighbourhood. The building revels in the many challenges presented by the site and density, playing with volumes and materials all the way up to the terraces and ledges of the green roofs’ communal spaces and viewpoints. In surroundings still in part characterized by the monotony of industries and offices, this architecture shapes its own order and rhythm, with a complexity whose references range both far back and far ahead in time.

Etaget is an infill residential building combining an existing context with new build. The volume, made up of staggered cubes, has a distinct silhouette, discernible both at a distance and from the surrounding streets. The focus is socio-ecological sustainability, green spaces are used to provide experiences within a compact city.

Client: Tobin Properties
Architect: Kjellander Sjöberg
Interior architect: Koncept
Landscape architect: Urbio

KS wins competition for new landmark

Kjellander Sjöberg has won the invited architecture competition for the development of Nacka Port with the proposal Klinten, two high-rise buildings that will become a landmark and a western entrance to Nacka. The city block, with its higher and lower part, meets the surrounding city and becomes a node for the new urban development area, a district with mixed program such as housing, work places, commerce and services.

“The project group has concluded that Kjellander Sjöberg’s proposal is the most convincing in its unification of architectural quality and functional demands. The proposal presents an outstanding and well thought-out analysis and understanding of the site and its surroundings. The proposal suggests a rich variety of places for social interaction and generates interesting meetings of the building and its surrounding urban spaces. With its dense urbanity and creative program, the building has a strong symbolic(al) identity being the gate to Nacka. The project is characterized by an overall sustainability concept that, besides choosing environmentally friendly construction materials, provides residents and visitors with a sustainable urban experience of green structures, flexible surfaces, spaces for temporary activities and places for cyclists and pedestrians. The two towers as well as the lower buildings express strong dynamics needed for the context. The architecture has a consistent expression that is engaging and urgent both from up close and from a distance.” Excerpt from the jury statement

Hans Willehader, the new business development manager for KS region south

Effective from 1st April 2018, Hans Willehader is the new business development manager at Kjellander Sjöberg’s Malmö office. The new role marks a positive addition to the KS’s practice and enhances its presence in southern Sweden. Hans has extensive experience in project management and creative and business development in offices such as Arkitema, BIG and White in Sweden and Denmark.

What will be your focus at Kjellander Sjöberg?

I will focus on strengthening KS’s presence and position in southern Sweden, which is very exciting and engaging! We have already received several positive reactions from the market, something inspiring to bring into the further development of the practice.

What does your new role at KS represent?

I’m looking forward to being part of, and to further develop the strong architectural milieu and the vibrant society-oriented discourse that characterize KS. From my perspective, sustainability-related design approach is an increasingly important aspect of the built environment and our projects. A growing part of the market actors see this as an important foundation in all processes. And those we want to attract to KS as collaborators!

What are the biggest future challenges for architecture offices working in southern Sweden?

Although the market in southern Sweden, and in Stockholm, is slightly cooler right now, I see a bright future and believe that there will be plenty of assignments within different parts of the business; for example, refurbishment and renovation projects. One of the key issues for us at KS is to ensure/establish a wide project portfolio. If the residential market cools down even more, we will offer architects experienced in the whole process and in other areas, such as urban planning, educational and commercial projects. It is also important that we continue to develop the close relations between our offices in Malmö, Stockholm and London, keeping a common culture, principal views and flexibility enabling exchange of experiences and skills.

I am very positive about KS’s future as a unique and creative architectural practice, attracting even more of talented people in the upcoming years and working on new and exciting projects.