KARLSKRONA

SCALES — L/S - Urban / architectural LOCATION — Hattholmen POPULATION — City 65,380 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 53 ha (27 ha water) PROJECT SITE — 32 ha (20 ha water) SITE PROPOSED BY — Municipality of Karlskrona OWNER OF THE SITE — Municipality of Karlskrona POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Development of plan program and urban studies in collaboration with the Municipality of Karlskrona

Europan Sverige

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? The Northern connection to the mainland was, traditionally, the back door; to some extent simply a supply route. Today, this is the most important road to arrive in the city but this is not reflected clearly in the urban structure. Centrally located right on this main access road to Karlskrona, the Europan site, Hattholmen, is a disused oil harbour. The city centre, the main transport node, recreational areas and the Blekinge Institute of Technology, all lie within walking distance. Recreating and reinterpreting “the city in the sea” are the main goals of the site mutation. This will require a redesign of the land, the sea and their shared boundary. Designing the shape, profile and materiality of the shoreline are all issues to be resolved.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? The arrival of the railroad meant that some of the connection to the sea was lost, and post-war, car-centred planning and industrial paradigms effectively broke this connection on much of the Northern facing parts of the (old) city. Land reclaimed along the previous shoreline and between islets was used to house modern infrastructure and industry. These lost shorelines must now be adapted to the demands of inhabitants and an evolving economy.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? A workshop with project presentation by the winning team has been held with the Municipality of Karlskrona. After comments and changes on the Europan project, a work with all technical administrations will start to develop a plan program for the whole site.

A Blue Entrance - to the City in the Sea

KARLSKRONA (SE) — WINNER

AUTHOR(S) — Stefan Jesper Gründl (DK), Architect; Magnus Haahr Nielsen (DK), Architect-urbanist CONTACT — Copenhagen (DK) T. +45 23417375 / stefan_jg@hotmail.com T. +45 28713580 / magnus.haahr.nielsen@gmail.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The main concept of the project is to reestablish the topography of the Swedish archipelago around Karlskrona, thereby creating a transition from mainland — a landscape stretching across several smaller islands leading to the island of Trossö. This is achieved by cutting out the disappeared islands of Hattmakareholmen, Skomakarholmen and Pantarholmen from the reclamation ground that was originally taken from the sea during the planning paradigms of the industrial era in the 19 th and 20th century. We propose to create a main entrance to Karlskrona where to lead you across a landscape of sea and islands —Creating a Blue Entrance to the City in the Sea.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The proposal extends the notion of recreating the site into islands to its furthest extreme by excavating the land along the two entrances to the central city —the railway and Österleden — replacing it with large surfaces of water. This approach, despite its extent, opens up for a successful engagement of the urban structure with new waterfronts. In parallel, the authors apply a strategy of historic layering. This attitude contributes to a contextualized but rich and intriguing characteristic of the new urban landscape.

Ny Karla

AUTHOR(S) — Mariachiara Mondini (IT), Giulia Ragnoli (FR), Architects CONTACT — DUE Atelier, Paris (FR) T. +33 768043938 / +39 3395669969, info@dueatelier.com

KARLSKRONA (SE) — RUNNER-UP

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The city of Karlskrona needs a new way to interact with the sea trough an attractive district with a strong identity. The project aims at reinterpreting the concept of the “archipelago within the archipelago”, using the rules of the city and the scale of its objects to create a new floating district. The sea is taken as a platform for a new urban morphology, where the presence of the water allows the city elements to be more flexible and moveable. “Ny Karla” proposes a new way of living the sea that invites people to experiment it. To be productive again is thought as a possibility to realize an unconventional settlement of experiences that follows the demands of the ever-challenging society and the desires of different cultures and personalities in an adaptable and sustainable composition.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The project proposes a floating city on piers, mirrored over onto the Muddret area as a system of canals and fish farm basins. The floating elements, especially the follies on the breakwater are playful and likable, and amount to a fine collection of architectural typologies: Marina, residential life and production mix. With this mix the project strives to tackle two concerns: a dissolution of contrasts between man-made and natural in which fish farms stand for that intertwined relationship, and a critique on static plans. Floating means to provide flexibility and can accommodate for unforeseen uses, cultures of all kinds.

The Productive City as a Platform

AUTHOR(S) — Mateusz Mastalski (PL/DK), Ole Robin Storjohann (DE/DK), Architects CONTACT — Copenhagen (DK), T. +45 50130006 mateusz.mastalski@gmail.com, www.urbanspacearchive.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Karlskrona has always been a city of islands and bridges, with a shoreline in constant change. Building on this tradition, we propose the Hattholmen grid based on the historic grid typical for its military past. The continuation of the North-South axis and the shift of the East-West alleys create flexible plots. Through analysis of existing typologies our urban plan features a mix of low-dense blocks with several “icons“. Extending the grid into the water, walkways create access to boats, buildings on stilts, floating functions and the “blue square“. Evolving Karlskrona’s relationship with the water to the extreme, the whole Hattholmen becomes a harbour, thus creating an open-ended process that gives the neighbourhood a finished expression early on, while leaving room for future growth.

KARLSKRONA (SE) — SPECIAL MENTION

AUTHOR(S) — Viktor Becker (SE), Simon Stulien (NO), Architects-urbanists CONTACT — viktorkbecker@gmail.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The ongoing techno-cultural revolution confuses people confused and these changes should not leave people on their own in completely new and unfamiliar environments. The answer to revolution is not revolution. The question is rather how can we use the digital revolution and our changing lifestyles as a tool to put people in control of their own environment by making them comfortable with the consequences of modernity? The project is based on five design parameters for carrying the city from mechanization to digitalization and establishes a way of thinking and talking about the city in terms of effectiveness. Large companies such as Uber should not lead the digital revolution, but the tribe, your tribe, my tribe, our tribe should lead it instead.