Kjellander + Sjöberg designed the ‘Sparsamheten’ in Sweden, Stockholm.
Description from the architects:
This project, a development of nineteen semi-attached houses, runs alongside Gamla Tyresövägen in Enskede, east of the Woodland Cemetery. The proximity to the cemetery has involved consideration of the sacred space, leaving the views and perspectives designed by Asplund and Lewerentz from the burial sites in the forest as unaffected by the new buildings as possible.
Access and entry are from a new local street running parallel to Gamla Tyresövägen. The building volumes are slightly angled with respect to the street, resulting in a three-dimensional effect. The idea is to create a typology with a public presence fronting the street and more private, garden-related spaces on the inward, private side. A footpath running along the bottom of the gardens, between the development and the neighbouring houses, helps integrate the new buildings with the existing fabric.
The houses have a subdued exterior, both in colouring and materials. Dark grey wood siding with black sheet-metal detailing and other metallic colours like bronze set the tone. The buildings have a pronounced roof slope, from the second floor with skylights, down to the first floor.
The ground floor has a fluid multi-purpose living area spanning from the street and entrance to the back garden — three rooms deep. It is a space that challenges its inhabitants to decide how public they want to be: How much do I want to participate? Shall we eat with the curtains open or close them for privacy? Several activities can take place simultaneously in the space, like layers of overlapping scenes—life as a social and interactive stage. The section of the building, with its long continuous sloping roof with top lighting, is discernible also from inside. The living room, with two free sides looking onto the garden, opens up towards a multi-purpose room on the upper floor, somewhat secluded by means of wooden slats reaching from floor to ceiling. The upstairs bedroom gives onto a terrace parallel to the adjoining end wall, enclosed and private, which connects to the garden by means of an external staircase.
Functionally, the different parts of each house are only loosely programmed, intentionally left flexible. This applies equally to the exterior spaces, which vary in character and are sunlit in turn throughout the day.
| Firms | Kjellander + Sjöberg |
| Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Project Architect | Ola Kjellander, Stefan Sjöberg, Kalle Zetterholm, Patrick Wüthrich, Sylvia Neiglick, Bernhard Maurer |
| Area | 145 m2 x 19 houses |
| Photograph | Adam Mørk |
