Off the top of my head I can mostly think of firms from the time when community building still was an important issue in architecture circles in scandinavia - contemporaries of Hertzberger and Team X:

Ralph Erskine (with the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byker_Wall]Byker Wall[url] project as a famous example of user participation in the design process)

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Gehl]Jan Gehl[url] (published the influential "Life between buildings" on public space)

[url=http://www.vandkunsten.com/]Vandkunsten[url] (still around!)

some earlier examples:

Erik & Tore Ahlsén (for example the community centre of Örebro)
Kooperativa Förbundet (KF) (early "welfare state" modernism)
etc.

Sorry about the bad links...

I will point to, as suggested --

http://www.vandkunsten.com

Not a huge studio at all, but the most skilled and newthinking danish firms ,very famous among architect in this contry.

Thanks for the suggestions a-f and Per - I liked looking at Vandkunsten's work very much and will be invstigating them further.

a-f, as several of your examples are from the earlier movements in community work and utopian era efforts (i.e. 1970s) do you think such ideas have disappeared in the region, or is there any sort of resurgence?

I've noticed a fair amount of firms paying attention to user focused design process around the U.S., and think there may be a renewed interest in building for and with the help of groups of people, perhaps in response to new urbanism and suburban fall out... Also that with a rising interest in process innovations there is more attention being paid to collaboration as a source of creative leaps. But maybe I'm indulging in wishful thinking?

What do others think?

More suggestions of firms to check out welcome!

I'm not following recent trends in scandinavia that well, but I would imagine community based design is not as common as it used to be, even though it probably exists on a smaller scale. Maybe one of the factors is the lack of interest from architects (even on archinect only Revit/BIM gives heated discussions) but perhaps more importantly the commercialization of the public housing sector in northern Europe - demanding a faster and more efficient planning process.

In the Netherlands this heritage lives on in a quite different form - a kind of hyperindividualistic creation of a parcellated city where each family is pushed to be the client of their own house - the so-called "wilde wonen" or "vrije kavels" in parts of Borneo-Sporenburg, IJ-Burg, and the future developments of Almere.

... one different example is perhaps the dutch office Onix - for example their housing project in Zwolle.

Thanks again a-f,

Onix has some nice work - I suppose it makes sense that there would be a push towards product oriented housing. i.e. - making housing that can be purchased and 'customized' kind of like you might buy a car. Give the consumers choices between pre-packaged products. Although this is sort of a false empowerment.

I've been curious about how the field of architecture can provide more real options for self customization and particularly how the architectural dialog can become more accessible. Hoping to find more designers doing work that gets people involved in the raw creative decisions that are potentially available in architecture and the creation of cities.

I liked looking at Jahn Gehl again - his ideas of starting with human culture and activity as the basis for making spaces and finally buildings. It's fun that there are anthropologists on his staff.

Anyone from Scandinavia out there in Archinect land that might have some additional thoughts?

I spent time a few years ago in Copenhagen researching shared outdoor spaces. Although the role of community within the design process and architecture is declining (and individualism on the rise), it's still a great place to look for inspiration.

Many of the projects from the 50s/60s and the co-housing projects from the 70s/80s were really excellent.

Look for a book called Dwelling: At Home, In Community, On Earth by Jorn Orum Nielsen.

One firm that is finding a way to make community process "hip" today is mutopia:
http://www.mutopia.dk/

Also, an interesting firm working with these themes in the states:
http://www.schemataworkshop.com/

Two additions I'd like to make to the things mentioned before: Brendeland and Kristoffersen did a great project in Norway, called Svartlamoen. It's a community housing centre on a former squatter site, where the living rituals of the inhabitants in the old buildings (large communal areas, smaller private sites, multifunctional (group)uses etc) have been incorporated in the new project.
http://www.bkark.no/projects/svalbard-housing/

Other than that, make sure to have a look at the SargFabrik in Vienna, by BKK-3. It's not quite northern europe or scandinavia, but it also has a contemporary approach to community based design: http://www.architekturszene.at/shocked/sargfabrik_housing/

thanks for your responses rpsnino and usernametaken - nice suggestions. I've been reading about the communities and firms you've posted. Exciting examples. It's strange that community investigation is so often a different world from high design investigation. Seems to me we'd be making pretty amazing cities if we could bridge that gap.

Not sure if you guys have seen this corb-like settlement in Vienna-
alt-eerlaa

old school, top down

expanding the range to the UK, I'm enjoying looking at the work of these offices:

Prue Chiles Architects

fluid

[url=http://www.swarch.co.uk/index0.html]Sarah Wigglesworth Architects[/ul]

I totally agree - it would be great to 'bridge the gap' and integrate smart community and public space design principles with compelling architecture. So far - in the US - the market, architectural avant-garde and new urbanists haven't been able to do it.

When I was researching in Copenhagen, Gehl was working on a project to document communities that were striving for that... a sort of "third way". We had some Swedish and Dutch projects on the list. Places like Java Island and Almere. Isn't Richard Rogers becoming more focused on this too?

I've been reading about this community a bit:

AVL-ville

Formed by Atelier Van Lieshout

Interesting communal experiment, also in regards to the connection of creativity, the built environment and social dynamics.

Good call, although I think he had to close it down due to the strict Dutch fire regulations. Funny interview here

Nice interview a-f - the interviewer is hilarious, stammering around the word 'phallus'. Too bad AVL-ville was closed down, I was starting to form a plan to go experimenting.

Wonder if there are other arts based or creativity focused communities around that have the formation of objects and buildings as a prime element of their social contract.