Hasta La Ideas

A gigantic golden chasm welcomes visitors to this shopping centre in Malmö by Swedish architects Wingårdhs (+ slideshow).

Located to the south of the city in Hyllie, the Emporia shopping centre is Wingårdhs‘ first realised building from a competition-winning masterplan of proposed housing and office blocks. Once all the buildings have been completed, the “amber entrance” will be the only section of the shopping centre visible from the surrounding new streets.

“The main idea of our winning competition entry was to hide inward-looking retail behind a wreath of residential and commercial buildings,” said the architects.

The curving golden glass stretches across a gridshell structure, which curves up and back to allow daylight to penetrate the entrance courtyard. From here, shoppers are led towards three storeys of retail arranged around a figure-of-eight plan.

The roof of the structure accommodates a large park with a faceted landscape made up of lawns, terraces and pavilions.

“In the future the roof will be developed with outdoor dining and a spa facility,” added the architects. “Like amusement parks, shopping centres need to offer new attractions at regular intervals.”

Atriums in bold shades of blue, green and red help shoppers to navigate the building, while the adjoining car park can be identified by an assortment of coloured panels.

Wingårdhs is led by architect Gert Wingårdh. Past projects by the studio include a thatched visitor centre at Sweden’s Lake Tåkern and a high-rise hotel in Stockholm. See more architecture by Wingårdhs »

Other shopping centres on Dezeen include a former bullring in Barcelona and a rippled concrete building in Hong Kong. See more shopping centres »

Photography is by Tord-Rikard Söderström, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Here’s a project description from Wingårdhs:

Emporia

Emporia is first and foremost an urban planning project in which offices, housing, and retail come together in a mixed-use development along Boulevarden and Stationsgatan in Hyllie, on the south side of Malmö. The main idea of our winning competition entry was to hide inward-looking retail behind a wreath of residential and commercial buildings. The whole shopping complex would thereby eventually become integrated into the fabric of the city.

It is a huge development, of which only the corner building with the Amber Entrance has yet been completed. This entrance will be the only part of the Emporia shopping centre that remains visible when the development is completely built out. The idea of lining the streets with mixed-use buildings demanded a strong form that could attract visitors from Station Square to come in and shop. A sequence of vaults from a previous competition proposal, along with a memory from the Pantheon, reemerged in a bronze-ochre tone. Double-bent glass encloses the diagonal slit that cuts through the building. Here the weather of the Öresund Strait, its fast-moving clouds chasing glimpses of sun, becomes present and tangible.

The diagonal entrance from Hyllie Station Square leads deep into the block. Inside, retail is organised around a three-storey figure eight. Shops are grouped together around boldly coloured atriums, each with a different theme. On the north side of the complex, a ramp leads into a rainbow-coloured parking garage (for 2500 cars) with direct access to the figure eight. To the east is a surface parking lot (for 500) right outside the supermarket.

The rooftop park is designed as a bit of cultivated nature. Its vegetation (sedum, prairie grass, and trees) and its sun-facing, wind-sheltered patios are accessible from both inside and outside the building. The hills that provide protection from the wind are actually hiding mechanical rooms. In the future the roof will be developed with outdoor dining and a spa facility—like amusement parks, shopping centres need to offer new attractions at regular intervals.

Emporia can expand upward and to the west, but not in any of the other directions. The freestanding residential buildings facing Boulevarden have yet to be built, as do those that will stand atop the podium along Stationsgatan on the south side.

Emporia’s interior challenges established shopping centre conventions. Its bold colours and bent sight lines break with the norm, as do the project’s size and ambition—which have made it possible to do custom designs for everything from ceilings, floors, and storefronts to signage, ropes of hanging plants, furniture, and cast glass door handles.

Our motto has been “no intermediate scale” — because that is the realm of the products on display. Large-scale patterns and intricate details characterise the interior. The terrazzo floor is typical of this approach, with its oversized triangular joint pattern, its gradual shift from white to graphite in seven steps, and its flashing inclusions of coloured mirror glass. The design has been wrought with extraordinary attention to detail, down to the leather-wrapped handrails and the colour of the stitching on the built-in seating.

Emporia also includes a quantity of art seldom seen in a commercial environment. A lighting installation (ninety-nine bollards) by Petteri Nisunen and Tommi Grönlund lifts the Amber Entrance, bronze sculptures by Joep van Lieshout and a glass art piece (4 x 81 m) by Silja Rantanen adorn the Sea Entrance, and a line painting on film at an extremely outsized format (20 x 114 m) by Per Mårtensson clads the façade of the parking garage. On the interior is a series of photos by Signe Maria Andersen.

Architect: Wingårdhs through, Gert Wingårdh, Johan Eklind and Joakim Lyth
Interior architect: Wingårdhs through, Helena Toresson
Graphic design: Wingårdhs through, Jennie Stolpe
Landscape design: Thyréns AB (Anders Dahl, Pamela Sjöstrand)
Landscape design (roof park): Wingårdhs, Landskapsgruppen Öresund AB
Client: Steen & Ström Sverige AB

The post Emporia shopping centre in Malmö
by Wingårdhs appeared first on Dezeen.

This thatched visitor centre by architects Wingårdhs sits beside the shallow waters of Sweden’s Lake Tåkern, the annual nesting habitat for over a hundred species of bird (+ slideshow).

Traditional building techniques were employed to cover the walls and roof of the building with golden reeds, which will fade to grey over time to to match the nearby bird-watching tower that Wingårdhs completed in 2009.

The thatched exteriors are typical of the temporary hides constructed by bird-watchers and they provide nesting materials and hiding places for small birds such as pipits and wagtails.

Above: photograph is by Tord-Rickard Söderström

Despite its traditional cladding, the visitor centre has an asymmetric form that folds around an entrance courtyard.

“This is quiet architecture, using traditional local materials to break new ground with crystalline geometry,” explain architects Gert Wingårdh and Jonas Edblad.

Above: photograph is by Tord-Rickard Söderström

Timber lines the walls inside the visitor centre, while a skylight runs along the ridge of the roof, bringing in natural light as well as allowing visitors to look up to the sky.

A series of wooden bridges and boardwalks connects the building with the bird-watching tower and car parking area, making each building accessible to visitors in spite of the bumpy terrain.

Above: photograph is by Tord-Rickard Söderström

Other thatched buildings on Dezeen include a conceptual skyscraper and a domed bar.

Above: photograph is by Tord-Rickard Söderström

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s some more information from Wingårdhs:

All the way out where the forest ends and the reeds begin, a visitor center hovers low on piles set carefully into the water’s edge. The building is clad in thatch, camouflaged like a birdwatcher’s blind, hiding its contents from the natural world that surrounds it.

This is quiet architecture, using traditional local materials to break new ground with its crystalline geometry. Steep roofs transition seamlessly into walls. The steep pitch gives them longevity. The ridge, where a thatched roof is most vulnerable, is transformed into a glazed skylight.

Above: photograph is by Tord-Rickard Söderström

The visitor center is the main feature of a series of measures that celebrate Tåkern’s qualities. The path to the building passes a number of landscape exhibits that reveal, for example, changes in the environment. A short distance away stands a bird-watching tower, designed as a sibling to the visitor station.

Above: site plan – click above for larger image

The whole scheme is interconnected by boardwalks that make the terrain accessible for all. A 140 meter long ramp makes it possible to reach the five meter level by wheels.

Above: site buildings and elevation – click above for larger image

Among the many exhibits is an aquarium that joins the interior of the visitor center with the pond that has been advantageously exposed next to the building. The center has a closed, sheltering form, resulting in minimal energy consumption. A few strategically placed generous openings connect the building with its surroundings.

Above: floor plan – click above for larger image

Location: Lake Tåkern, Sweden
Main building: 680m2

Above: long section – click above for larger image

Address: Glänås, Sweden
Architect: Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB trough Gert Wingårdh, Jonas Edblad. Team: Ingrid Gunnarsson, Aron Davidsson, Jannika Wirstad and Peter Öhman.
Plan: Ödeshög municipality

Above: cross section – click above for larger image

Client: County of Östergötland
Contract form: General contractor

Above: detailed section – click above for larger image

Contractor: Bird watching tower: Håkan Ström AB
Buildings: Skanska Östergötland

Above: south elevation – click above for larger image

Gross area: circa 750 sqm
Year of construction: Bird watching tower: 2008- 2009. Buildings: 2010-2012

Above: north elevation – click above for larger image

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by Wingårdhs appeared first on Dezeen.