Stockholm: The Latest Architecture and News

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If we think about how the educational system worked in the past, we can quickly see that both the teaching style in schools as well as the school’s infrastructure were very different from the current system. The educational model of the twentieth century could be defined as being similar to the "spatial model of prisons, with no interest in stimulating a comprehensive, flexible and versatile education."

However, we are now at a time when social, economic and technological developments have created a more global society and where information and learning are becoming more affordable. This radical change has transformed the societies in which we live, leaving the current educational model based on a rigid and unidirectional teaching obsolete. 

As such, there are schools that have not only broken the mold of traditional teaching but have formed new educational standards, exploring new paradigms and opening up new possibilities within the design of educational spaces. Since architecture and educational models often reflect the ideology of a society, how is the school of 21st century defined? 

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Stockholm's Southeast Kungsholmen is slowly transforming. Veidekke and Utopia Arkitekter are preparing a redevelopment proposal for the town — and they're beginning by building an architectural gem. In addition to creating ambitious architecture, Utopia Arkitekter plans to add more housing developments closer to public transport. Their first project? The sector of Kungsholmen, Bolinders Plan, named after Jean Bolinder, who ran a mechanical workshop in the area.

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White Arkitekter has teamed up with the City of Stockholm to redevelop Södra Skanstull, a neighborhood characterized by obstructive overland infrastructure bridging the south of Stockholm to the island of Södermalm.

In order to reclaim these underused areas of the city, the revitalization project will create pedestrian and cyclist boulevards, as well as 65,000 square meters of space for culture, sports, and offices, 22,000 square meters for commerce, and 750 new apartments. The project will additionally identify, map, and upgrade existing facilities.

One of the key challenges faced by the European currency union, the Euro, was that of their design. In 2002, when the banknotes entered circulation across large parts of the European Union, the imagery that they possessed had to represent a continent of cultures. The answer: to create fictitious illustrations or, as the European Central Bank states, "stylised illustrations [of windows, doorways and bridges], not images of, or from, actual constructions." In a recent exhibition architect Anna Pang, in collaboration with Johan Holkers and Rolf Stålberg, have attemped to present the "fictive architecture" of the Euro as sugar sculpture.

White Arkitekter with developer Midroc has won a competition for a new residential development to be located in the Royal Seaport district of Stockholm, Sweden. Drawing from the industrial history of the site, the buildings feature concrete ramps and rustic wooden floor treatments, and have been clad with brick facades and masonry arches to frame the street level and establish an identity for the community.

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Photographer Chris Forsyth has released the latest images from his photo series Metro. Having previously gone underground to capture the surreal beauty of Montreal’s metro system, Forsyth traveled to Europe to shoot stations in Munich, Berlin and Stockholm. His photographic style portrays the stations in their best light – bright, clean, colorful and completely absent of people.

"Seeing the design strengths of various metro systems, from the hand painted cave-like stations in Stockholm, to the well-lit modern platforms of Munich’s U-Bahn, I really began to feel the how good design can change your day for the better,” says Forsyth. “Whether it be awe-inspiring or simply bright and colorful, I can only imagine how it feels to start your daily commute in one of these metro stations."

Continue after the break for a sampling of Forsyth’s favorite photos from the series.

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Dreem Arkitekter have been announced as the co-winners of a competition to design a new urban plan for a three block area in the Stockholm neighborhood of Kista. The project will include a large mixed-use complex consisting of residential, commercial and active public spaces, and is anchored into the neighborhood through a cornerstone residential tower. Together with joint winner ÅWL, the offices will finalize the project this fall.

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Earlier this month The Guardian reported that the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav, has denounced David Chipperfield's designs for Stockholm's new Nobel Center (Nobelhuset) in the Dagens Nyheter (DN), a national Swedish newspaper, as both too volumetrically large and badly sited. The practice's initial proposal, which was lauded by the awarding jury for its “lightness and openness,” is a glass and stone structure which attempts to “convey dignity” and embody the ideals of the Nobel Prize.

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