The makers of highly functional, modular bags for everyday use and extended travel, Stockholm’s Unit Portables are celebrating their their second year of superlative bag design by teaming up with Berlin-based clothing brand recordOutboundLink(this,…
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Swedish studio Belatchew Arkitekter wants to transform a Stockholm skyscraper into a wind farm by covering it in thousands of electricity-generating bristles.
Belatchew Arkitekter‘s Strawscraper concept for transforming Henning Larsen‘s Söder Torn tower involves adding a 16-storey extension over the top of the building, then covering the entire facade in hairy-looking plastic straws designed to move with the wind.
The straws would use piezoelectric technology to convert motion into electricity, without the noise and other environmental problems of a typical wind farm.
“What is usually considered to be the most static of all things, the building, suddenly comes alive and the construction gives the impression of a body that is breathing,” explain the architects.
Completed in 1997, the 86-metre-high Söder Torn is one of the tallest residential towers in Stockholm. It was designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen, who famously walked away from the project after planning compromises caused the building to lose 16 of its intended 40 storeys.
The new proposals would reintroduce the proportions first proposed by Larsen, adding a restaurant between the existing apartments and the new wind farm, as well as a viewing platform with panoramic views across Stockholm.
Other unusual skyscraper proposals on Dezeen include designs for thatched towers in London and a concept for skyscrapers constructed from rubbish in São Paulo. See more conceptual architecture.
Here’s some more information from Belatchew Arkitekter:
Strawscraper – an Urban Power Plant in Stockholm
Belatchew Arkitekter presents Strawscraper, the first project to come out of the newly established Belatchew Labs. Strawscraper is an extension of Söder Torn on Södermalm in Stockholm with a new energy producing shell covered in straws that can recover wind energy.
What was supposed to become a building of 40 flights became 26. Söder Torn on Södermalm in central Stockholm was finalised 1997, but the architect Henning Larsen had already left the contract after having lost influence over the design of the tower.

Belatchew Arkitekter wants to give Söder Torn its original proportions and at the same time explore new techniques that could create the urban wind farm of the future. By using piezoelectric technology a large number of thin straws can produce electricity merely through small movements generated by the wind. The result is a new kind of wind power plant that opens up possibilities of how buildings can produce energy. With the help of this technique surfaces on both old and new buildings can be transformed into energy producing entities.
Furthermore, an additional aspect is revealed when the constant movement of the straws creates an undulating landscape on the facades. What is usually considered to be the most static of all things, the building, suddenly comes alive and the construction gives the impression of a body that is breathing.
The straws swaying in the wind gives the building a constantly changing facade further reinforced at nighttime with lighting in changing colours.
The straws of the facade consist of a composite material with piezoelectric properties that can turn motion into electrical energy. Piezoelectricity is created when certain crystals’ deformation is transformed into electricity. The technique has advantages when compared to traditional wind turbines since it is quite and does not disturb wildlife. It functions at low wind velocity since only a light breeze is sufficient for the straws to start swaying and generate energy.
The existing premise on top of the building is replaced with a public floor with room for a restaurant. The new extension creates, a part from the energy producing shell, room for the citizens with the possibility to reach a lookout platform at the very top of the tower with an unmatched view of Stockholm.
The post Strawscraper by
Belatchew Arkitekter appeared first on Dezeen.
Swedish designer Richard Lindvall has converted a car park near Stockholm into a restaurant and nightclub with copper pipes stretching across its walls and ceiling.
The restaurant serves Polish food, so Richard Lindvall visited a few factories in Poland to find inspiration for the project and came with a concept for an industrial interior filled with raw materials rather than soft furnishings.
The designer left many of the concrete surfaces exposed inside the old car park, while others he lined with plain white ceramic tiles. “The natural raw atmosphere of the space was kept and used as a base for the concept,” he says.
Some of the copper pipes snake across walls to function as radiators, while others create a lighting framework overhead and more can be found as plumbing for sinks in the toilets. Copper is also used for the facade of a large fireplace.
The bar is made from concrete, as are the shelves that span the walls behind it. Industrial lights hang from the ceiling, which the designer sourced from an old factory in the Czech Republic, and a hunting trophy is mounted to the wall.
Metal stools surround concrete tables in the dining room. Other details in this space include framed photographs by Mattias Lindbäck of the construction workers who installed the interior.
Other recently completed restaurant and bar interiors on Dezeen include a penthouse bar and nightclub in Paris with black trees inside and a bar in Vienna with a faceted ceiling of upside-down peaks.
See more restaurants and bars »
The post Restaurang & Bar Nazdrowje
by Richard Lindvall appeared first on Dezeen.
News: twelve international firms including OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, BIG and SANAA have been shortlisted to design a new headquarters and visitor centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden.
Situated on a small peninsula called Blasieholmen (above), the building will become the new home of the Nobel Foundation, which has been based in Stockholm since it was set up in the name of philanthropist and inventor Alfred Nobel in 1900.
Also shortlisted are British architect David Chipperfield, 3XN from Denmark, Snøhetta from Norway and Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor from Switzerland.
Public spaces for exhibitions, conferences and events are also included in the proposed programme, as well as a library, cafe, restaurant and shop.
“We are confident that we will secure the necessary financing to begin the architectural competition and carry out the project during the current calendar year,” said Lars Heikensten, executive director of the Nobel Foundation.
The remainder of the shortlist comprises Swiss architects Marcel Meili and Markus Peter, French firm Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Swedish studio Wingårdhs and Danish architects Lundgaard & Tranberg.
See all architecture in Sweden »
Photograph is by Jeppe Wikström.
Here’s the announcement from the Nobel Foundation:
During the winter there has been a selection process to choose the architects who will be invited to participate in the planned architectural competition to design a Nobel Center at Blasieholmen in Stockholm. In total, over 140 architects have been considered by a specially appointed evaluation committee. Of these, 12 have been selected to be invited to the architectural competition.
We are now happy to be able to announce the names of the 12 architects selected:
» Kim Herforth Nielsen – 3XN, Denmark
» Bjarke Ingels – BIG, Denmark
»David Chipperfield – David Chipperfield Architects, England/Germany
» Jaques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron and Ascan Mergenthaler – Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland
» Johan Celsing – Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor, Sweden
» Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal – Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, France
» Lene Tranberg – Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter, Denmark
» Marcel Meili and Markus Peter – Marcel Meili, Markus Peter Architekten, Switzerland
» Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon – OMA, Netherlands
» Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa – SANAA, Japan
» Kjetil Thorsen – Snøhetta, Norway
» Gert Wingårdh – Wingårdhs arkitekter, Sweden
Within the two-stage competition, the architects’ task will be to design the building that will become the new home of the Nobel Prize in Stockholm. The building will house the Nobel Foundation, together with associated activities that the foundation initiates within research, educational efforts, museum operations and digital media. The building will contain public rooms for exhibitions, scientific conferences, meetings and events, as well as a library, restaurant, café and shop. The ambition is that the Nobel Center will become one of Stockholm’s main attractions.
Important criteria in selecting the architects included design and artistic abilities and experience working in intricate urban environments where historical context and the natural environment must be considered with sensitivity. Practical considerations included the architects’ ability to develop the project in close cooperation with the client over the course of a lengthy planning process and their experience managing construction projects cost-effectively. The names of members of the jury will be published in conjunction with the start of the competition.
“The competition will begin once the majority of the project’s financing has been secured. Encouraging discussions are currently on-going with several donors, and we are confident that we will secure the necessary financing to begin the architectural competition and carry out the project during the current calendar year,” says Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.
The post Shortlist announced for Stockholm
Nobel Prize centre appeared first on Dezeen.
Ilse Crawford of Studioilse has converted a 100-year-old house in Stockholm into a boutique hotel filled with richly coloured wood, leather and velvet (+ slideshow).
First built in 1910, Ett Hem was originally home to a government official and his wife, who gave the building an arts and craft style with timber-panelled walls and decorative ceilings.
Studioilse‘s renovation includes a series of communal rooms where guests are encouraged to relax in each other’s company. These areas centre around a kitchen, containing large dining tables and an assortment of seating areas.
Other rooms include a library with bookshelves stretching up to the ceiling, plus a glazed conservatory where guests can choose to sit for breakfast or dinner.
“The idea is a comfortable cultured house you can enjoy as if it is a friend’s,” said Ilse Crawford. “Sit in the kitchen, have a drink in the sitting room, pick up a book in the library or snuggle down by the fireplace.”
She added: “We hope that people who travel a lot will feel so happy there they wouldn’t want to stay anywhere else.”
There are six guest suites, five double bedrooms and one duplex suite on offer at the hotel. Each room comes with a mixture of vintage and modern furniture pieces, as well as a brass cocktail cabinet.
Art and photography decorates the walls in each room and a few of Crawford’s own furniture designs are also included.
London designer Ilse Crawford spent nine years leading interiors magazine British Elle Decoration before launching her own London studio. Her best-known projects include interiors at Shoreditch House in London and Grand Hotel in Stockholm.
See more stories about Ilse Crawford, including an interview we filmed about her studio and work.
Photography is by Magnus Mårding.
Here’s some more information from Ett Hem:
The Ongoing Story of Ett Hem
Built in the first years of the twentieth century, this building was home to a government official and his wife, a lady with a love for the aesthetics of Karin Larsson, who collected objects, textiles and furniture from all over Sweden. This was a time when the home became the focus of art and life, and design was integrated into the everyday. The influence of the Arts & Crafts, the romantic notion of national character and the delight in the design of useful things, combined with an impulse to embed a family in a place through architecture. All together this created a very special moment for domestic architecture in Sweden.
Ett Hem, built in 1910, dates from this moment. The house in Sköldungagatan was designed by architect Fredrik Dahlberg. With its protective brick shell it weaves a coat against the harsh Swedish winter. In its interiors it has both the robust, dark-timber-lined rooms of public life, the masculine realms. And the feminine realm of the private. Upstairs the house evokes the summery whiteness and lightness of Carl Larsson’s super Scandinavian interiors, feminine family spaces suffused with sun. Ett Hem has always been a container of beautiful things, the finest furniture, antiques and design. Today its spaces are inhabited not only by guests but by objects and art with real stories and histories, things that frame moments in a life.
Like all the best Scandinavian hosts, Ett Hem is at home indoors and outdoors. The courtyard garden, a secret city wilderness, is a room every bit as important as the interiors, a place for relaxation and conversation, for a chilled bottle of wine or a steaming hot coffee. Personal touches are as important as the design in defining the everyday experience.
The Life of the House
Ett Hem is not the usual hotel. If Ett Hem is an idea of home, of comfort and security, of familiarity, the other is an institution, a series of services. Ett Hem is something very different. It is active, where the guests can subtly shift the conditions, the atmospheres, the conviviality. A hotel is passive, a place that exists with or without you.
While it has all the facilities expected today, Ett Hem is a place that allows the guest to become part of it. Guests are treated as friends of the family. They can turn on the television in the sitting room, borrow our car or take the dog for a walk. They can make themselves at home, help themselves from the fridge. The food changes with the seasons, the rooms warm up with stoves and cool down with a fresh breeze from an open window. Ett Hem is connected to the street and the sky, to the city, it is not a machine cut off from life outside. Ett Hem is as glamorous as it is casual, but while it is a luxury, it is not a luxury hotel.
The Experience of the Place
The value of Ett Hem comes through the pleasure of proximity to beautiful things, of being in spaces that tell a story, and through an ethic of generosity and care. And to a degree, of being left alone to live in a very special house. This from the moment you step through the college door, enter the courtyard into the garden and go up the steps to the front door. In the entrance hall a fire is lit when it’s cold outside, and fresh cut flowers from the garden are arranged on the table. Check in and wait for friends by the fire. Ett Hem will feel familiar. It is a place to use as you please. Downstairs in the sitting room there are sofas to sink into and games to play. The library, a room to disappear into, is stacked high with books you actually want to read. And the leafy glass house, where you can take breakfast during the day, or where you can enjoy a twinkling feast at night. Upstairs the bedrooms have a warm domestic feel with a sophisticated edit of vintage and new pieces in tactile materials such as cane, wood, leather and velvet. Each room has its own cocktail cabinet in gleaming brass. And throughout the house is the owners’ personal collection of art and photography. At the heart of it all is the kitchen. Furnished with a big table, comfy chairs and settles. It is a place to really feel at home. On open shelves everything is at hand. A generous fridge is full to the brim with tasty treats, healthy food, champagne and fine wine, yours to help yourself. A house guest is both privileged and respected. Privileged to be party to an intimate private realm and respected as an honoured invitee.
The post Ett Hem Hotel
by Studioilse appeared first on Dezeen.
L’artiste Kustaa Saksi et l’architecte Gert Wingårdh ont crée cette structure extraordinaire pour le programme Hello events programme at Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair avec l’utilisiation de 700.000 fiches illustrées de papier A3 et 44.000 points de suspension. Une réalisation splendide à découvrir en images dans la suite.
Swedish firm Rotstein Arkitekter ripped out the walls of this compact Stockholm apartment to create an open-plan, monochrome living space (+ slideshow).
Located on the top floor of a 1930s building, the studio apartment in the Kungsholmen area of Stockholm was originally divided into five small rooms.
Rotstein Arkitekter created an open-plan space by removing the unnecessary walls and relocating the bathroom next to the entrance.
A black storage unit acts as a room divider and provides a home for the oven, freezer and fridge on one side and the television on the other.
The bedroom area is separated by a thin linen curtain, which allows light from the large windows to pass through it.
“The challenge was to fit in all the desired functions and storage, and at the same time design a studio with an open plan and a view from every part of the apartment,” architect Anders Rotstein told Dezeen.
Other homes in Stockholm we’ve featured include a villa with an unusual swimming pool and an apartment furnished with lots of tall black cabinets – see all architecture and interiors in Stockholm.
See all apartments »
See all Swedish architecture »
Photographs are by Åke E:son Lindman.
Here’s some more information from the architects:
Top floor studio in Stockholm
The apartment is overlooking the Stockholm skyline from the top floor in a functional styled building from the 1930s. The new design of the studio offers an open space that enhances the presence of the outside cityscape.
Above: plan before renovation
With the new placing of the bathroom and kitchen, Rotstein Arkitekter created a very efficient plan. Built-in storage is combined with the kitchen and strengthens the axis from the entrance towards the window. A storage unit in the middle of the studio physically separates the living area from the kitchen, but keeps the visual connection between the two spaces.
Above: plan after renovation
The mirrored sliding door by the entrance and the black glass in the kitchen enlarge the space and reflects the natural light. White stained ash floor, black coloured areas on the walls in combination with curtains in black velvet and light see-through linen are the main components used in the interior.
The post Top Floor Studio by
Rotstein Arkitekter appeared first on Dezeen.
Voici quelques photos d’un magnifique Triplex Penthouse à vendre dans la ville de Stockholm. Située en haut d’un bâtiment construit en 1914 dans le district d’Östermalm, cette superbe résidence de plus de 3 400m2 est à vendre pour la somme de 5,34 millions de dollars. Plus d’images dans la suite de l’article.
A nomadic Swedish brewery founded on an unlikely “brewmance”
Swedish brewing nomads Henok Fentie and Karl Grandin founded Omnipollo in 2010. Fentie, a homebrewing enthusiast and Grandin, an illustrator, graphic designer and one of the founders of Cheap Monday, take a unique approach to brewing that has seen them ferment the label’s success in a short span of…
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Two books explore the aesthetics of bike-riding
The North Atlantic Ocean may take hours to cross by plane but when it comes to the infiltration of bicycle culture—and specifically, the urban cycling aesthetic—the distance ceases to exist. Case in point: as we were busy attending the launch of the new book “Cycle Style” at London’s Look Mum, No Hands, a copy of “Cycle Chic” landed at CH HQ in New York. As we talked across the pond, we soon learned that the common celebration of riding style had been documented from two distinct vantage points.
The weightier hardcover “Cycle Chic” outnumbers the softcover “Cycle Style” by nearly 100 pages, and the narratives inside each continues to diverge. Shot by acclaimed photographer Horst Friedrichs, “Cycle Style” showcases the 15-year London resident’s love affair with his adopted city from the first page. He dedicates the book to the city and its stylishly eclectic cyclists who reside and ride around it, capturing the essence of their character—from the hip Shoreditch crowd to the perfectly manicured Saville Row riders and everyone in between.
Friedrichs forgoes action shots for the most part, presenting posed subjects, each of whom is in some way connected to the London cycle scene, from Quoc Pham, who designs cycle shoes, to Sir Paul Smith, who has made the bicycle an integral part of his eponymous fashion brand. The images are left to speak for themselves, some spanning two pages to highlight both the rider’s personal style and their bike’s outstanding details, like vintage leather seats and customized handlebars. Because Friedrichs has left text off the pages, the book includes a complete index listing the name of each individual along with the type of bike they ride, as well as a full directory of cycle-friendly clothing and accessory brands.
By contrast, “Cycle Chic” has been compiled by Mikael Colville-Andersen, filmmaker, street photographer, urban mobility expert and the man behind popular cycle blogs Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Slow Bicycle Movement. Rather than limiting himself to just one city, Colville-Andersen has created a showcase of snaps from across the globe including Tokyo, London, Copenhagen, Vancouver, Paris and New York.
While Colville-Andersen claims that the photographs are not meant to be viewed solely for the style of their subjects, he focuses primarily on subjects’ fashion in the text throughout the book and begins by say that “…at every opportunity, I will choose style over speed”. The style of his subjects seems less inspired than those captured in “Cycle Styles”, with more of a common, everyday look. As a text devoted to how people utilize their bicycles and the commonalities between cyclists in different nations, it really works, but as a study of aesthetics, “Cycle Chic” focuses more on the broader idea of bike style throughout the world than individual style mavens stopped on two wheels.
Subjects are mostly shot riding, grouped together by different themes from the color of their outfits and bikes, to the style of their front basket, to their choice of riding companion, whether it be baby or dog. Colville-Andersen takes a heavier-handed approach to introducing themes for each chapter, and keeps a running commentary alongside each photograph that might be better left for readers to deduce themselves. Some of the book’s groupings seem like a bit of a stretch, like winter riders in scarves and women wearing heels while on their bikes, but indicate a close study an impassioned observer.
Both texts will excite cycle enthusiasts, and both deliver insight into this ever-increasing pastime, but if you have to just buy one, we suggest learning a little more about our London neighbors with “Cycle Style”.
Both “Cycle Style” and “Cycle Chic” are available for purchase on Amazon.
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