Norra Tornen: Two Inherited Building Envelopes

High Density, OMA, Project, Territory and mobility, Urban Paradigms

Active Public Spaces, Adaptive reuse, Architecture, City, Collective housing, Colour, Concrete, Construction, Density, Exploring Housing, Façade, High-rise, Housing, low cost, Monument, Prefabrication, Project, Refurbishment, Residential, Stockholm, Sweden, Tower

Photography: Laurian Ghinitoiu and Ossip van Duivenbode

The Norra Tornen project started with two inherited building envelopes, the remains of a cancelled project initiated by the former city architect Aleksander Wolodarski. Each a kind of ‘crescendo’ composition of different heights – neither slab nor tower – prohibit the unfolding of an uncompromised typology. Conversely, the opted program, apartments with an emphasis on large outdoor spaces, prevented too literal a translation of the envelopes into architectural form.