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Nobel Foundation: The Latest Architecture and News

Chipperfield Reduces Scale of Stockholm Nobel Center

David Chipperfield Architects has unveiled a scaled down proposal for Stockholm's Nobel Center. A response to concerns regarding the competition-winning scheme's proposed location along the city's historic Blasieholmen, the modified design hopes to "better" integrate itself into its context and establish a "lively interaction" with the people of Stockholm.

"While the fundamental concept of the ‘Nobelhuset’ remains the same, the building has been reduced significantly in size," says Chipperfield. "It now has a clearer division into a base, middle and top floor that relates to the surrounding structures on the Blasieholmen peninsula."

Norrmalm City District Sides with Nobel Foundation

With opposition seemingly mounting against the Nobel Foundation’s plans to build a new, David Chipperfield-designed center along Stockholm’s Blasieholmen, advisors for Norrmalm's neighborhood management has spoke up in favor of the project believing to be an opportunity to enhance the urban fabric and make the area more family-friendly. "The administration believes that the new park should be as green as possible and that more play environments for children and youth a priority in the development of public spaces," reads the statement, highlighting the open space provided in the plan. Their response is just one of many that will help sway Stockholm’s City Planning and City Council final decision later this year.

Opposition Mounts Against David Chipperfield's Nobel Center in Stockholm

Stockholm’s City Museum (Stadsmuseet) has spoke out against David Chipperfield’s competition-winning Nobel Center, saying the design is good but not at its proposed location. The museum, whose mission is to “preserve the city’s cultural heritage,” does not believe the new center should be build along the city’s Blasieholmen, as its site is “one of the few parts of the city that still allows close interaction with the old port.”

Furthermore, the City Museum strongly urged against the Nobel Foundation's plans to demolish the site’s three historic structures - an 1876 Axel Fredrik Nystrom-designed Customs House and the city’s last two remaining wooden harbor warehouses built in the early 1900s. Agreeing, the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) has also spoke up, saying the proposal is “too big” and does not take “sufficient” consideration of the cultural environment and cultural heritage.

Chipperfield's Stockholm Nobel Centre Faces Harsh Opposition

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...

Chipperfield Among 3 Competing for Stockholm's Nobel Prize Headquarters

Out of the 11 high-profile, anonymous entries shortlisted in early October, only 3 are still in the running to design the Nobel Foundation’s new headquarters in Blasieholmen.

With completion aimed for 2018, the Nobel Center plans to become on of Stockholm’s most attractive destinations. Not only will the Center’s large auditorium host the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, but it will offer key amenities to serve its surrounding public; In addition to a library, restaurant and retail shop, the Center will include spaces for exhibitions, school programs, events, and interdisciplinary meetings.

The proposals, listed in no particular order, are:

Proposals Unveiled for Nobel Prize’s New Home in Stockholm

BIG, OMA and SANAA are amongst 12 architectural heavyweights competing to design the Nobel Foundation’s new home in Blasieholmen, Stockholm. Currently in the competition’s first stage, the architects have submitted anonymous entries for jury review.

Once complete, the building hopes to become one of Stockholm’s main attractions. It will not only serve as the Nobel Foundation's primary home, but also provide facilities for research and education, as well as public exhibition spaces, a conference center, library, cafe, shop and more.

Read on for the complete list of participating architects and a sneak peak of the proposed schemes.