CONSTRUCTION PLANS. The architectural firm to design Sahlgrenska Life has now been chosen. The Swedish-Danish partnership, Sweco and Arkitema Architects, is behind the proposal the jury agreed upon.
Some of the Nordic’s largest architectural firms participated in the competition to design Sahlgrenska Life. Until now, secrecy surrounding the competition has been rigorous – not even the jury knew, until the last minute, which architectural firms had participated.
The jury spent four full days discussing and analyzing all imaginable aspects of the competition’s five entries. To help them, the jury had access to experts in structural engineering, traffic and cost analysis.
“All five proposals were excellent and held a high architectural level. No one proposal stuck out on either the first or second deliberation days,” explained Arve Nyhus, Chairman of the jury and SveaNor’s representative.
Flow and meetings
Eventually, the jury agreed upon the proposal “The Flow”, which is the result of a collaboration between Sweco and Arkitema Architects. The jury describes the proposal as elegant and visionary, where two buildings are clearly bound together by a three story high hyphen connecting the University at Medicinareberget and Sahlgrenska Hospital. The main part of the building on the hospital side includes, among things, new operating rooms and a new emergency room on the ground floor. On the mountain side, the proposal paints a 21 story building, where the upper portion contains laboratories. The hyphen (connecting access) is wide and interiorly rendered as a multi-storied atrium, which the jury liked.
Josephine Karlsson, Architect from Sweco, explained that the winning proposal was jointly submitted with the Danish firm Arkitema Architects. The proposal strongly emphasizes transports and flows, both inside and outside, of the proposed building.
“The hyphen between the two buildings is the heart of the project. It is meant to function as a living room, where people can freely move about and easily find a place to sit down for a spontaneous or planned meeting,” said Josefin Karlsson during her presentation of their proposal.
“We are obviously extremely happy that we are going to continue on this journey,” she said as she concluded her speech.
Regional decision this fall
Now, more in depth conversations are occurring between the property owner, Västfastigheter, and the real estate company, Vitartes, and the other parties in the project. A feasibility study is estimated to be ready during the fall, whereafter the region will make its decision. According to Gothenburg Municipality’s planning, the documents for the consultation should be ready prior to summer 2017. If things stay on schedule, a new zoning plan for the area should be ready by summer 2018.
Both Arkitema Architects and Sweco have extensive experience with care-based projects throughout Europe. Sweco has previously been commissioned for such assignments as the KI Science Park and the New Karolinska in Solna, the Kajana Central Hospital in Finland and Berlin’s University Hospital Charité in Germany. Arkitema Architects are behind the design of the DNV-Gødstrup hospital building and the Østfold Kalnes hospital. The partners have previously worked together on several larger projects.
The jury consisted of seven architects that represented the different parties in the project, as well as the University Hospital Director, Barbro Fridén. The decision was made public on Wednesday, and will be final once the appeal period has passed.
Here you can read the complete statement from the jury: https://www.arkitekt.se/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Juryutlatande20160425_SLUTLIG-VERSION_laguppl%C3%B6st.pdf
Facts:
- Business Region Göteborg estimates the project’s total investment volume as being just over SEK 3 billion.
- Construction is expected to begin in 2019, with occupancy in 2021.
- The architectural competition was called by Region Västra Götaland’s property manager, Västfastigheter, together with Vitartes, which is a project development company specializing in life science buildings.
- The competition is part of the procurement process, according to the Law on public procurement with total confidentiality of the participating companies.
- The submissions were presented to the media and the general public on February 24 and have since been on display in Sahlgrenska Hospital’s main entrance.
- The zoning plans that now follow are transparent to the public who is given the opportunity to affect them through generally followed practice, such as though the consultation.
- The jury consisted of Arve Nyhus, Chairman SveaNor (part owner of Vitartes); Niclas Malmeling, Västfastigheter; Mårten Tiselius, University of Gothenburg; Barbro Fridén, Sahlgrenska University Hospital; Gunnar Persson, Göteborgs Stad; Christine Grape, Architect; Karin Ahlzén, Sveriges Arkitekter; Ulf Magnefors, Sveriges Arkitekter and Lars-Erik Berghog, Jury Secretary.
