The Innovation Tower in Stockholm designed by OMA/Reinier de Graaf has opened this morning. It is the first of two residential towers designed by the Dutch firm that will comprise the Norra Tornen project. Rising 30 and 35 stories high, the twin towers will become the tallest residential project in inner Stockholm.
The design of the towers is based on a modular system of prefabricated elements made from exposed concrete. In a tribute to brutalist architecture, the towers are characterized by bay windows (a precious asset in a country with scarce daylight for half of the year) and recessed terraces laid out to create a rising zigzag pattern reminiscent of Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 in Montreal.
Norra Tornen represents a milestone achievement for the firm, who wanted to introduce a new way of living in a city center with a housing stock largely built before the Second World War. It is "the culmination of an ongoing effort by our office to create the next generation of modern housing typologies, creating the largest possible variety from a limited number of (prefabricated) elements, allowing the usual formalism of the apartment tower to give way to individuality, domesticity… and perhaps even humanism” said OMA Partner Reinier de Graaf.
Oscar Engelbert, the CEO of Oscar Properties, which is developing the project echoed similar excitement over the project, describing the towers as one of the most innovative housing projects in Stockholm in years.
The Innovation Tower comprises 182 units, ranging from 44 square meter one-bedroom apartments starting at about $825,000, to a 271 square meter penthouse on the top floor going for $6.74 million. All apartments were sold before construction broke ground. The residential tower also offers a cinema room, a dining room for parties, a guest house, a fitness room with a sauna and a relaxation room.
Norra Tornen is the result of a land allocation competition held by the City of Stockholm in 2013, won by Oscar Properties. The second of the two towers, the Helix Tower, is due to be completed at the end of 2019 and will include 138 units, plus amenities.
I like how they rearranged all the units of Habitat '67 in a nice neat tower. It is only seems out of scale in its environment now because it is the first tower in this area (that until now had height restrictions because of telecommunication towers or flight paths or something if I'm not mistaken). I worked in an office that had a project of similar heights in close vicinity, but it was scrapped because the old height restrictions were not lifted on time and the developer was impatient and moved on. In a while there will be more buildings of similar height popping up, making this fit in nicely. The only slight problem I have with this one is the "landing" on ground level, which is a little too abrupt.
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Metabolisteriffic!
At least the shoe boxes in this one are neatly stacked.
Totally scaled to the neighborhood, huh?
While the fifth photo certainly gives that impression, in the 7th (and last) photo, it doesn't seem to far off-scaled from some of the lighter colored buildings towards the what appears to be a freeway, no?
Banal, repetitive, and utterly without grace and warmth. Looks like it was plunked down with complete disregard for context, scale, environment, etc.
This shouldn't be celebrated, it should be lamented.
I like how they rearranged all the units of Habitat '67 in a nice neat tower. It is only seems out of scale in its environment now because it is the first tower in this area (that until now had height restrictions because of telecommunication towers or flight paths or something if I'm not mistaken). I worked in an office that had a project of similar heights in close vicinity, but it was scrapped because the old height restrictions were not lifted on time and the developer was impatient and moved on. In a while there will be more buildings of similar height popping up, making this fit in nicely. The only slight problem I have with this one is the "landing" on ground level, which is a little too abrupt.
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