Obelisken 29 in STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN by Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

Article source: Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects 

(Translated excerpt from presentation article by Swedish writer Rikard Lind.)

“On Blekingegatan in Södermalm, the hip epicentre of what used to be Stockholm’s working class neighbourhood, lies a unique apartment building. Something like it has never before existed here. The name is Obelisken 29.

Image Courtesy © Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

• Architects: Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects
• Project: Obelisken 29
• Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

Image Courtesy © Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects has been around for 20 years during which they have earned world recognition for both their architecture and their product design. They have a long track list of houses, hotels, homes, shops, offices and exhibitions, but until now – no apartment buildings.

So for Claesson Koivisto Rune this is a special moment and they don’t want to leave anything to chance. The project consists of 15 updated apartments in an existing 1960’s building and 20 brand new penthouse apartments – some of them two storey – with terraces and balconies on top of the old roof.

Four parts stand out as key components:

The division of the façade. The 1960’s building was built as a long monochrome loaf. Now Claesson Koivisto Rune has transformed the monotonous building complex by dividing its length into four, where each part is given its own colour: three shades of grey and a terracotta. One of the four parts contains the 15 renovated apartments.

Image Courtesy © Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

This way the building rhymes better with the other buildings along the street and the smaller scale which is typical for Stockholm, explains Ola Rune. The colour scheme was selected from the fantastic brick that we use. They are also colours typical for Stockholm. The division of the building makes the street more intimate and enjoyable I think.

The brick. Danish Petersen Tegl has an eight-generation indigenous knowledge of making quality brick that is today considered the world’s most exclusive.

– They manufacture by hand and it really shows that every brick is a craft, says Ola Rune. The brick permeates solidity, quality, a material full of expression that only goes more beautiful with time. We use it at street level along the full length of the 1960’s building as well as all of the penthouse. This way we tie together the whole building – the brick becomes a bit of its hallmark.

The details. Claesson Koivisto Rune has left their mark in the interiors in every detail, in particular in the penthouses. Of the door handles, railings, parapets, kitchen doorknobs, wallpapers, windowsills and sliding glass doors most is specially designed for Obelisken 29.

Image Courtesy © Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

– As much as possible of the fixed interior, declares Ola Rune. It was commonplace in the 1930’s for architects to be given the opportunity to custom design also the interiors, but today this requires an unusually good developer. It gives absolutely unique attributes and makes this building and its apartments a Gesamtkunstwerk.

The reverse plan. When two storey penthouses are built the bedrooms are often upstairs and kitchen and living room areas are downstairs, a remnant of the house on the ground where it feels safer to sleep upstairs. Here, Claesson Koivisto Rune has reversed it. The lower ”box” is more closed than the upper, which is flowing of light through generous glazings.

You arrive via lift to the upper floor and are met by generous space, Ola Rune explains. That’s where you want to be. When you become tired you just go downstairs to bed.

Image Courtesy © Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

When we were commissioned the Obelisken 29 project we asked ourselves: what do we dream of for our homes? says Eero Koivisto. A lot of it is about light, space, view, quality, openness, a sense of freedom, good plans that provides a natural flow without delimitations – all of which we have tried to capture.

According to Mårten Claesson some of the defining terms have been graceful, generous and urbane. The quality aspect is of course also a key factor. By the use of materials like solid wood, marble and handmade brick and building techniques like seamless tiling, the idea is to build with the same quality as around the turn of the 20th century, but with a contemporary expression.

This is our town and we feel obliged to leave behind something we are proud of and that lasts for a hundred years, Mårten Claesson concludes.”

Image Courtesy © Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects

Tags: Stockholm, Sweden

Categories: House, Residential

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