Challenge

  • Land acquisition contest with stiff competition from Sweden’s top architectural firms.
  • How do you create long-term and sustainable architecture which simultaneously appears naturally integrated?
  • How do you make an area easily accessible, pleasant and attractive from the start?
  • How do you adapt buildings so that they function today as well as in a different future?
  • How do you combine recreation with innovative construction and technological solutions?

Process

  •  With exciting new ideas and innovative solutions, create a neighbourhood where everyone is happy and feels safe and welcome. Think in a smart and sustainable way with a focus on social integration, flexibility and greenery – while achieving this in an economical way.
  • Create an innovative ‘BoRum’ concept with flexible apartments that can be adapted for different target groups and those in different phases in life. The concept should be based on a new way of adapting a floor plan, where many of the apartments are also equipped with rooms for rent with separate entrance.
  • Create a pleasant, lively urban square environment that attracts passers-by and invites them to explore the local streets in the area. Create a varied and detailed backdrop to the square that gives a feeling of security, care and comfort.
  • Create a diverse palette of facades to establish a sense of natural evolution over time. Torghusen should vary in shape, facade, material and height and should be designed with great care so that it is beautiful, timeless and interesting to look at. Modern materials should be mixed with more established techniques. Small shops and restaurants should open up onto the square encouraging life and activity.
  • Create green, organic courtyards with a variety of materials giving a sense of peace and harmony. The increased interest in sustainable lifestyles should be reflected through the accessibility of a common woodland garden – a cultivated environment where everything that grows is edible and available to all residents. Each apartment should also get their own cultivation plot. By creating good conditions for urban farming, integration amongst residents is also promoted and social ties are strengthened.

Result

  • Our proposal won the competition.
  • Torghusen is under construction and a new attractive neighbourhood with long-term and sustainable architecture is being created in Uppsala.