KS in Cologne to discuss circular construction

KS Malmö Director Johan Pitura has been invited to partake at the ‘19th Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy’, being held 14-16 September in Cologne, Germany. The congress – titled ‘Act together, act faster, think further: shaping cities for everyone’ – will address how cities and communities can respond to growing pressures and overlapping crises, exploring new ways of working that enable planning and transformation to happen more quickly, collaboratively and in the common interest.

Johan Pitura will participate in the breakout session ‘Circular construction in practice – implementation support for municipalities’, organised by Baukultur Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V., on Wednesday 16 September. The session will explore how re-use and recycling are transforming the building sector, focusing on deconstruction, the certification of re-used components and the development of material cycles.

The congress is arranged by The Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, in cooperation with the Conference of German Building Ministers, the Association of German Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB). It will be held from 14th to 16th September 2026 at the Palladium in Cologne and other locations.

Image: © Baukultur NRW

Time for Garden City Day

Stefan Sjöberg has been invited as a speaker to the Garden City Day. Interest in Garden Cities is growing, both here in Sweden and internationally. They offer an affordable alternative, giving more people the opportunity to own their homes while enjoying the many benefits of green, sustainable environments. The event will explore the history of the Garden City Movement and its future potential from a broad perspective, encompassing living environments, financing, architecture, and sustainability.

Kjellander Sjöberg will highlight the completed 2010 project Sparsamheten in Stockholm for the developer Wallin Bostad, as well as the ongoing planning work for the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community in England, which will provide 7,000 new homes.

This full-day seminar is organised by Architects Sweden, the Government’s Home Ownership Commissioner Stefan Attefall, ArkDes, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, and the Swedish Federation of Wood and Furniture Industry.

Time and place:
19 November 2025, 9:00 – 17:30
ArkDes i Stockholm
Exercisplan 4
Stockholm

Read the programme on Architects Sweden
Read more about Sparsamheten
Read more about TCBGC

Shop Talk 13: Circularity and transformation #3

Collaboration in renewal processes

A roundtable on circular strategies and transformation – exploring how we can adapt and creatively re-use heritage environments and buildings with varying levels of significance. What issues and conflicts of interest tend to arise in regeneration processes involving existing industrial and urban contexts? What role does the already-built environment play and how can we best utilise its values? This session digs deeper into the challenges and difficulties that occur, and explores good examples of how to address them.

We have an excellent, highly competent and fantastic panel!

This Shop Talk is part of a series of conversations around circular strategies and transformation.

Guests:
Emelie Ekström-Howard, Riksantikvarieämbetet
Anna Haraldsson, Revelop
Martin Lagergren, Tyréns Cultural Heritage
Anna Lindgren, AMF
Marcus Lindh, Atrium Ljungberg
Henrik Nyberg, In3prenör
Lovisa Olsson Kihlborg, City of Stockholm
Stefan Sjöberg, Kjellander Sjöberg
Mi Inkinen, Kjellander Sjöberg

Time and place:
7 November, 8:00 – 9:30 am
Kjellander Sjöberg
Rosenlundsgatan 40
118 53 Stockholm

KS lecture on circular transformation in Vienna

Our Malmö Director, Johan Pitura, has been invited to give a lecture on circular transformation in Vienna on Tuesday, 4th November. The event is organised by “Architektur in Progress”, the leading platform for young, innovative and forward-looking architecture in Austria and the rest of the world.

Description from the program:
“Transforming industrial heritage: the circular revitalisation of the former Kockums’ industrial area into a vibrant and diverse district in Malmö is one of the most exciting examples of how resource consumption and climate impact can be minimised through environmentally friendly construction processes. Kjellander Sjöberg Architects have played a key role in this. Their Malmö Director, Johan Pitura, uses the example of the formerly redundant Gjuteriet to explain the impressive transformation into Oatly’s forward-looking headquarters. He will demonstrate the importance of focusing on sustainable strategies and establishing clear targets early in the process – both for feasibility and for architectural quality.”

Time and place:
4th November 2025, 7 pm
Smartvoll
Kirchengasse 23
1070 Vienna

The Developer and Festival of Place – Homes session

Stefan Sjöberg, Kjellander Sjoberg Architects, will present Hartree alongside Mike Bodkin from TOWN. They will unpack the vision and drivers behind shaping a bespoke, human-focused, community-centred, mixed-use, green, biodiverse urban quarter within the emerging Northeast Cambridge area.

How providing good, much-needed homes for the community often starts with the bigger picture of engagement and listening, forming the basis for placemaking; creating a supportive urban fabric that provides a range of homes and workplaces, rich neighbourhood spaces that draw inspiration from local cultural heritage:

Human-scale streets – pleasant places to be in and enjoy
Good density providing a comfortable microclimate, both in private areas and public realm
Living with nature in healthy settings that mitigate extreme climate impacts
A sense of pride and belonging, offering social value and opportunities for everyone
Many places to play, meet, cycle and sit
Shaped by local communities and by many
Shared communal amenities that add value and make life more affordable and joyful

Hartree will provide 5,600 new homes of mixed tenure; 6,000 workplaces of various formats; two schools; restaurants; shops; studios and cultural destinations. Designed by Kjellander Sjöberg Architects as masterplan lead, for the developers LandsecU+I and Town, with Cambridge City Council and Anglian Water.

Masterplan team includes:
Landscape architects: LOLA
Plot-testing architects: Bell Phillips, Haworth Tompkins, NOOMA, Feilden Fowles and Alison Brooks Architects
Sustainability and Quality of Life: Useful Projects
Engineering & transport: Pell Frischman
Mobility: Urban Movement
Public Engagement: ECF & Town
Viability: Turner Townsend

The Homes session will be taking place on the Pineapples stage 14.00-14.45 in the Playbox room at the Festival of Place, 2nd July at Boxpark Wembley.

Conservation and creative transformation in Aarhus

Kjellander Sjöberg’s Johan Pitura was one of the invited speakers at the ‘Conservation and Creative Transformation’ conference in Aarhus on 18th March 2025.

The need for expertise regarding conservation and transformation is one of the most crucial topics for the construction industry right now. For several years, the organisation Building Green has held conferences on sustainable development – which have become key places to meet up, discuss challenges, and learn from each other.

This time, the aim was to get a solid understanding of why and when adaptive reuse makes sense, and how transformation can contribute to social regeneration. The conference will offer inspiration for repurposing old buildings while ensuring both quality and financial viability.

The construction industry is in a period of substantial change, where the existing building stock plays a central role in the necessary shift. We can no longer afford to demolish buildings and replace them every time they don’t meet our requirements or needs.

Instead, we must focus on making the most of the square footage we already have. This requires us to get better at investigating and realising the opportunities and potential within existing buildings, and at finding creative solutions to adapt them for future needs.

Conservation, renovation, revitalisation, and reuse are strategies that can breathe new life into existing buildings.

Swedish Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency

Kjellander Sjöberg, as part of the Architects Declare initiative, will host the first networking event in 2025 in Malmö. On Tuesday, 4th March from 12-1 pm, the new series of monthly lunch meetings will kick off. These sessions, held simultaneously in Malmö, Stockholm and Göteborg, will take place every first Tuesday of each month for all participant of Architects Declare to discuss the 12 commitments of call to action, two points at a time.

Architects Declare is a network of architectural practices committed to addressing the climate and biodiversity emergency. The initiative was launched in the UK in the spring of 2019 and has now spread to more than 28 countries around the world. Swedish Architects Declare has been signed by over 300 Swedish architectural practices.

Shop Talk 12: Roles in sustainable urban development

Transition and systemic change – what does it mean for the industry?

The urban development sector is undergoing a transformation and is on the verge of a systemic shift. A likely scenario is that the amount of new construction will decrease dramatically, with a renewed focus on the existing built environment, on the transformation and maintenance of what already exists, ranging from neighbourhoods to urban blocks, buildings, and interior adaptations. At the same time, we must meet societal needs for versatile spaces – for community, care, education, work, production, leisure, health, services, and homes.

What does this transition mean for us? How will our professional roles as urban planners, architects, engineers, developers, contractors, and administrators change? How will it affect work processes, skills, continuing education, and business models? What new roles are needed?

This Shop Talk is part of an ongoing discussion series about the transition towards a circular and sustainable society.

Guests:
Patrik Lundberg, Skanska Fastigheter
Jesper Wallgren, Finch
Carin Daal, Stena Fastigheter
Sofia Lagerblad, Stena Fastigheter
Andreas Eggertsen, Malmö City Council
Kristoffer Nilsson, Malmö City Council
Johan Holmqvist, IVL Swedish Environmental Institute
Erik Larssen, Stadsverkstad

Time and place:
5 December 2024, 8:00 – 9:00
Engelbrektsgatan 7
211 33 Malmö

Symposium: When work creates a city!

Kjellander Sjöberg has been invited to take part in a symposium on transformation of industrial areas, taking place at the end of the 25th anniversary of the Industrial Heritage Trail from November 6th to 8th, 2024 in the former salt warehouse of the Hansa coking plant in Dortmund, Ruhr Region of Germany.

KS Malmö Director Johan Pitura will give a keynote on reimagining of industrial heritage, presenting transformation of Gjuteriet for Varvsstaden, and join a panel discussion with invited international experts from Germany, Netherlands and Italy.

The symposium is a cooperation event between the Regional Association Ruhr (RVR), Baukultur NRW, the Foundation for the Preservation of Industrial Monuments and Historical Culture and the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). It is supported by the Ministry of Regional Identity, Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Time and place:
6th – 8th November 2024
Hansa coking plant
Emscherallee 11
44369 Dortmund (Germany)

Architecture Matters Pittsburgh & New York

Kjellander Sjöberg joining a delegation trip to the USA from October 7-11, offering public workshops and panel discussions with leading experts from Sweden and the USA to explore how architecture and urban design can enhance experiences, promote well-being, and contribute to the green transition. The discussions will also delve into the potential of sustainable timber construction and showcase successful built examples from Sweden.

The trip, titled “Architecture Matters,” is organized by the STHLMNYC platforming collaboration with the Swedish Institute, Architects Sweden, in conjunction with the Architecture Week in Pittsburgh and Archtober, New York City’s annual architecture and design festival.

In Pittsburgh, the focus will be on “challenges beyond design,” exploring how architecture can drive meaningful change. In New York, the discussions will center around how architecture can help push boundaries and drive innovation forward. There will also be a focus on wood as a renewable material and explore its potential as a design asset.