New school in Burkina Faso

KS designs a project in West Africa

A school building designed by Kjellander Sjöberg is currently being built in the village Nakamtenga in Burkina Faso. The project is an initiative of the organization Yennenga Progress, which has already built another school in the area. The project proved to be a great success in the village; children make rapid progress and the school also attracts students from the surrounding villages. The need for classrooms is extensive across the whole region.

The building’s robust concept derives from a modular frame system across three dimensions. This provides opportunities to create spaces for the stairs, entrance balconies, canopies and solar protection within the same system.

The school is built entirely by local builders and craftsmen, thus creating much needed local livelihoods. The building’s foundation is in place and the classrooms will be ready for the start of term in September.

The project is volunteer based and carried out pro-bono by Kjellander Sjöberg.

Nordic team finalists in Malmö

Sustainable lifestyle in a climate-smart block

Kjellander Sjöberg has been selected as one of the four finalists in the design competition”Sharing for Affordable and Climate Smart Living”. The competition aims to find climate-smart solutions for Sege Park which will become Malmö’s new showcase for sustainable urban development, comprising 800 new housing units, within ten years. Sege Park is one of six in the Nordic competition series “The Nordic Built Cities Challenge”.

KS has together with the Danish landscape practices Sted and BOGL, along with LTH students and Atkins consultancy, developed the proposal It Takes a Block. It focuses on the lifestyle aspects of creating a sustainable society and how it can be supported by the built environment.

The second phase of the design competition will be carried out in the spring of 2016, in parallel with a land transfer competition for the area, offering a possibility for collaboration across both processes.

The four finalists will be exhibited at the Form/Design Center in Malmö from 3rd February until 6th March 2016.

Klara Strand becomes an urban node

KS transforms key property in central Stockholm

Kjellander Sjöberg is commissioned by NIAM to develop the Klara Strand block into a new welcoming urban node. The block is strategically situated near Stockholm Central Station.

By means of renovation and extensions, the vision for Klara Strand is to increase the intensity and range of activities in the area as well as integrate the building more clearly into the cityscape. By focusing on urban qualities and by opening up towards the surrounding urban fabric, the property is established as an important key point within the city.

The project works across various scales and dissolves boundaries between landscape, city, building and interior. The first phase of the project comprises a vivid bazaar with shops and cafés that open towards the Klarabergsgatan street, as well as a new interior street with meeting places for both the public as well as for private and commercial use. Estimated completion of the first stage is June 2016.

KS Woorkbook

Kjellander Sjöberg, 2015

Kjellander Sjöberg Workbook is our tool to reassess and improve the way people interact with the built environment, in order to create sustainable architecture and urban design.

KS’s work method emphasizes the process itself and is based on an open dialogue and close collaboration within both project teams and with our clients and partners.

Kjellander Sjöberg has, over a long time, established an extensive experience base and a particular approach to sustainability in its broadest sense. In order to raise the quality of resource-conscious projects, Kjellander Sjöberg has developed the KS Workbook – a unique tool and a process guide for a wider cooperation on forming the physical environment; for architecture and urban planning processes where sustainability is fully integrated in each step. The KS Workbook introduces a way of initiating a broader dialogue and means of achieving common goals using critical thinking and direct reflection, leading to more specific input and higher value to the end result.

Introduction to the KS Workbook
Today’s society has a unique opportunity: to imagine and create built environments and contemporary, inclusive lifestyles, that exist within nature and resource constraints. The search is on for new forms of human settlement, business, and culture based on long-term visions and adaptive potential.

KS believes that many – close to all – answers can be found in meaningful, precise and sensitive design of the urban fabric. Good architecture and planning often inherently achieve material sustainability. It also provides the spatial context for thriving public space, and the social dynamics of progress and renewal. We have a strong belief in teamwork and the collaborative process, and we seek simplicity and clarity in complex issues, involving many stakeholders and diverse objectives. This book is our tool to strengthen the design processes we participate in, by helping us and our clients to reveal the new potential in resources, space, and society. It is also a contribution to a shared process – for broader dialogue, critical thought and reflection – leading to better-directed interventions and more valuable projects.

KS Workbook has been developed in collaboration with John Manoochehri at Resource Vision.
Design by THIS IS Studio, London.

KS wins in southern Stockholm

Mix of urban and nature qualities

Kjellander Sjöberg has won the urban design competition for the Magnolia site by the centre of Sköndal in southern Stockholm. The design increases the openness of the area, connecting the adjacent urban fabric with valuable cultural and natural surroundings. The supplementary urban fabric generates a rich mixture of housing typologies, programmes and activities, creating a new network of public spaces and parks as destination points for the whole city of Stockholm.

The design proposal seeks to redevelop the public realm and consists of a new square, a pocket park, a shared-street and four new blocks with approximately 200 residential units in mixed forms of tenure, along with care and nursing homes. The development will focus on generating inclusive life conditions, ecosystem services and an environment that gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists.

The site is owned and managed by the Foundation Stora Sköndal, which is an idea driven, non-profit organization, engaged in diaconal-social work. KS’s commission is to develop a structural plan with programming and a guideline document in collaboration with the City of Stockholm and the Foundation Stora Sköndal.

The public hearing for the DDP is due in the spring of 2016 and construction is planned to commence on site during 2017.

View from Stadshagsberget

Kjellander Sjöberg’s and Wallin’s latest collaboration

KS is, in close collaboration with the developer Byggnadsfirman Erik Wallin, developing two new housing volumes with 90 apartments. The project is situated in the Stadshagen district on Kungsholmen in central Stockholm. Stadshagen is characterised by its open green structure, its rich recreational possibilities and the vicinity to the waterside. The building volumes are designed to overlook the Karlberg creek and the rooftops of Vasastan with both nature and urban life just around the corner.

The project is a part of the new Stadshagen masterplan; which is a growing extension of the dense city center around St. Eriksgatan and Flemminggatan. The project’s small and compact housing units have got strong, efficient floor plans and high end interior design finishes.

The detailed development plan is currently going through public hearing. It is estimated for approval in the early 2017. Construction is due to commence in 2018.

KS opens new office in Malmö

Kjellander Sjöberg is proud to establish a new branch in Malmö!

The practice has won several competitions and is continuously receiving more architectural and urban planning commissions in the Öresund region, therefore the time has come for the Stockholm based architects to open up the doors to a new office on Saltimporten in Malmö.

Malmö is an important city due to its strategic urban visions and its explicit focus on quality in architecture and urban design. KS is impressed by the city’s expansion and the energy with which the city addresses current issues concerning social opportunities, sustainable development and the focus on creating an interconnected city, which provides a higher quality of life for all citizens.

We look forward to a successful collaboration Malmö!

KS at Almedalen

The new urban life

Kjellander Sjöberg takes their dicsussion platform Think Tank to Almedalen 2015. This session is about “The new urban life – Better principles, better cities”

What type of urban qualities should we allow for while planning new neighborhoods and improving existing urban environments? What should be included in the public space of the city, who should be able to participate and how? This edition of Think Tank is about the city’s communal spaces as a public resource – about its content and interstitial spaces.

As cities are built more densely, new lifestyles and needs emerge. New programmes, dreams and urban behaviour combine to create new cities, with possibilities to improve social interaction, quality of life and climate issues. Shared public resources must be utilized to their full potential – for multiple uses and activities simultaneously. Boundaries between work, housing, education, leisure and the private and public spheres should be more flexible.

What are the implications of the above on the urban fabric? What role should be assigned to public meeting spaces? Who should have the right to use them? We focus on the social potential, on involving local communities in the planning process, on urban greenery, food and culture. The aim is to achieve a more open and tolerant programming of urban spaces, where spontaneous events and temporary activities can take place, in brief: a generous and rich urban environment.

What are the underlying principles such a city is shaped by?

The focus is on the following driving forces:
Community potential & participation – Christer Larsson, Director of City Planning, Malmö municipality
Food & culture – Jan Åman, Atelier Slice / Atelier Food, founder and cultural entrepreneur
Urban greenery & ecosystem services – Mattias Gustafsson, URBIO, landscape architect and CEO

Time and place:
10-11 am, 30th June 2015
Arkitekturträdgården, Strandgatan 16A, Visby

The event is open to all.

KS’s project in Tyresö has won

New collaboration between KS and Tobin Properties

Kjellander Sjöberg’s commission for designing a new housing project by the golf course in Tyresö, proceeds in collaboration with Tobin Properties.

Tyresö is an expansive area with a wealth of natural landscapes and coastline; with excellent public transport and road connections to central Stockholm. Here, in one of the area’s most attractive locations, KS and Tobin Properties develop a new, exciting, mixed urban scheme. A series of residential blocks with varied facade expressions are proposed next to Tyresö Golf Club, set around a small local street and green courtyards. The buildings along the golf course are interconnected with the green golf landscape and its related activities. Each floor and housing block will offer flats of varying sizes, respectively. Innovative floorplans and lush balconies, offering views of the landscape, characterize the project throughout.

KS invited to Pittsburgh p4

Kjellander Sjöberg in the USA on the 16-17th of April

Kjellander Sjöberg has been invited to Pittsburgh for the launch of the Pittsburgh p4 – an international summit and conference initiated by The City of Pittsburgh and The Heinz Endowments – a foundation and property owner. The event is the first step in a major effort to form a new model for Pittsburgh’s future growth and sustainable urban development that is innovative, inclusive and equitable. The central and unifying framework is p4 – People, Planet, Place and Performance.

The conference is a two day workshop on the 16-17th of April. Pittsburgh’s mayor William Peduto has invited prominent local leaders and key experts to join forces with national and international guests, with an emphasis on leaders from Nordic metropolitan regions. The objective is to discuss, envision and plan Pittsburgh’s continuing emergence as a post-industrial leader.

The future is now, Arkitekten

The article discusses innovative technological tools that are available to architects and designers, enabling design solutions that almost sound like science fiction!

Kjellander Sjöberg’s CEO, Mi Inkinen and partner Ola Kjellander, discuss the opportunities that 3D technology offers their industry.
“Renders are one thing, but everyone knows that they can be manipulated. Being able to show a physical model in the early stages to clients and politicians is an advantage. Simultaneously it enables us to experiment in a different way than you can on a screen. “says Mi.

Both Ola and Mi believe in the 3D-printer as a tool which can regain some of the architect’s lost authority. When you can print out parts of the building itself, you are no longer dependent on subcontractors’ too often mediocre stock range.

Arkitekten, April 2015, no 3, pp 32-37

The new urban life, Dagens Industri, Weekend

Kjellander Sjöberg’s Lena Viterstedt – partner / creative director and Saki Azodi – communications / architect, discuss the urban density of Stockholm and new forms of urban life in the city, in DI Weekend no. 12-2015.

With soaring housing prices, the four walls of homes are increasingly pressed into a bare minimum, relocating practical tasks out to communal spaces. “It will become more common for residential buildings to have shared workshops, car pools or roof gardens that for example, can supply a restaurant located in the same building. This facilitates for increased interactions amongst residents, providing other forms of values, which makes up for the smaller flats.” Explains Lena Viterstedt.

Dagens Industri, Weekend, 27 mars 2015, no 12, pp 3, 16-19

KS at The Light Symposium

Stefan Sjöberg is giving a talk at The Light Symposium 2015

The Light Symposium will be held in conjunction with the International Year of Light 2015, an initiative composed of a large consortium of scientific bodies together with UNESCO, with the objective to raise awareness of the potential inherent in light, lighting and lighting technology and to provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health.

The event will offer sessions with internationally renowned speakers and aims to provide a wide and deep perspective on the topic and to raise the level of the discussions and general knowledge in the field of Architectural Lighting Design. Stefan Sjöberg is invited to discuss the relationship between daylight and architecture on the 19th of March at KTH in Stockholm.

“Light reveals the essence of architecture, defining space both in urban environments and peoples everyday life.” Stefan Sjöberg.

Läs mer om The Light Symposium

The Educator of the Year 2014

Kjellander Sjöberg appointed Educator of the year 2014

The Swedish Association of Architects presented five awards at the annual Architecture Gala 2014. These were received by architects and others who have put in an extra effort to improve the world (around them). Kjellander Sjöberg was appointed as the Educator of the year 2014 for the collegial discussion platform Think Tank. Delighted and honoured by the award, we feel very encouraged to continue our efforts! Keep an eye out on our website and Facebook page for upcoming events in 2015.

The jury evaluation for the Educator of the Year:
A generous and collegial platform for current and interesting discussions about the city, people, space and architecture. Open to everyone and a key motor and driving force to the architectural and social discourse in Sweden. Sharing is caring! The award for the Educator of the year goes to Kjellander Sjöberg’s Think Tank.

Ream more on the Sveriges Arkitekter's website
Read more about Think Tank