Future Architects: Elegant! uh?

Architects: White arkiteker ab
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Client: Jarl Asset Management
Project area: 24,600 sqm
Project year: 2005 – 2010
Photographs: Wojtek Gurak

Stockholm Waterfront lies adjacent to Stockholm’s Central Station. The site has the best public exposure in Stockholm, with thousands of train passengers passing by every day – its position on the Riddarfjärden bay and its proximity to Stockholm’s City Hall also make it an ideal location.

The project consists of three separate buildings with a lower congress and concert section closest to the water, an office building, and a 400-room hotel directly connected to the congress building. However, it was not possible to accommodate the requirement for a 3,000-seat congress hall and a 2,000-seat dining room, within the triangular plot.

plan 01

plan 02

White’s solution was the key to its success. The equation was solved with moveable seating dual-use spaces and a large section of the congress hall suspended beyond the confines of the site, like an enormous canopy over the entrance. Altering the Stockholm skyline also required the confidence of the client and the authorities.

The upper part of the congress hall will also be spectacular – a free form interacting with movement on the flyovers and quays around the building. The upper seating assemblies seat 1,500 people and allow rapid conversion into two separate halls. The lower section of the hall can add a similar number of visitors in cinema-style seating. Alternatively, the lower seating assemblies can quite simply be retracted to provide space for 2,000 banquet guests.