Within days of David Chipperfield being appointed to design the Nobel Foundation’s new home in Stockholm, heritage protesters began to assemble a campaign to prevent the project from fruition.
Declaring they are “opposed to star-architects constructing their angular spectacles of glass and steel right in the middle of the protected historic environment, as monuments to themselves, at our expense and the city’s,” as stated in an online petition, the protesters seem particularly upset that the project would require the demolition of multiple historic structures. Thousands have even joined a Facebook group to voice disapproval.
However, despite the backlash, the Nobel Foundation refuses to bow down and believes the protest will not succeed.
More on the protest, and structures slated for demolition, after the break...
The new centre, which is planned for a central water-front location along the Blasieholmen, will require the demise of an 1876 Axel Fredrik Nystrom-designed Customs House and the city’s last to remaining wooden harbor warehouses built in the early 1900s, as BDOnline reported.
Though protesters acknowledge the Nobel Center’s importance to Swedish history, they insist the project is relocated to another, less invasive location.
However, as the Nobel Foundation’s Annika Pontikis points out, the site was gifted to the Nobel Foundation by the city, who has preserved it for a significant cultural project “with international outreach” that would transform the area into a prominent cultural destination. Thus, believing the new centre would be the best choice.
Chipperfield plans to submit the project for planning by the end of the year.
You can review the project's design, here.
Reference: BDOnline
