Log Lego Park

Anders Berensson Architects has been commissioned by AMF Fastigheter to design a small, affordable easy to build pocket park in Södermalm Stockholm. The park should be built just weeks after getting the commission so the concept for the park became to design a rapid and robust building system that could host the most common park elements such as seating, tables, trees and bike racks. Due to limited time the office investigated different of the shelves products to build the park from. The products selected for this project became standard square profile studs "Sparre" in different sizes. The building system became a lego of these studs placed in straight angles to each other making a super simple structure to build that is both cheap, robust and smart enough to host typical park functions. By making every layer of studs protrude over the next the structure is really easy to add components too such as bicycle parking, benches and tables. The big voids inside the stacks serves as foundations for ten cherry trees. All cherry trees are equipped with a string of light bulbs giving light to the park during night hours.

Park in May 

Birdhouses

The park in August 

Bike rack 

Lunch tables 

The park in November 

assembly drawing 

Section

Plan

B-Sides

We like to do projects that raises questions often found in the specific need of a client, site, situation or global issues that needs an architectural answer. The questions and how we answer them becomes the backbone of our architecture and the given stories when we present our projects. Although we often deal with multiple questions and answers we try to boil down our process into one narrative that explain the overall design concept. We take pride in being straight to the point and clear about why and how we do our architecture, not only for the sake of presentation but because we know it helps us develop our project further when we know the logic and aim of what we are designing. Although we like this way of communicating, the reduction of narratives do have its downsides. It often exclude fun detours, thrown away sketches, discussions, excursions, episodes, sly tricks, processes or ironic turns and background stories. Things that sometimes from an architects perspective can be even more interesting to hear about than the actual finished project story. These detours and side stories are hard to showcase and would just be confusing to include in our presentation of a new project. However they can be fun to read about in another forum. Therefore we added the feature B-Sides. The home of the less developed outcast cousins to the well-produced good prospect A-Sides. You will find this extra material at the end of some of our new published projects and future ones. As a premiere don't miss the B-Side of "Eldklot" a bonus track named "Erectus Grande"  one of our best detours so far that transformed into its own parallel project, a project that frightened and gave hope to the citizens of a midsize Swedish town.  

Eldklot

Anders Berensson Architects has designed a proposal for a new water reservoir outside the Swedish city of Örebro. The competition brief asked for a design to shape the new water reservoir into a grand monument that could continue the tradition of the former water tower “Svampen” known locally for its unique shape and viewing deck. We wanted to create a new landmark just like “Svampen”. A landmark that is not only for show.  We want to create a landmark shaped from a function of serving the city with necessities. Water is an important prerequisite for society to function but by building a low “hidden” reservoir it is hard to display. So we decided to add an equally important prerequisite; energy. We proposed that the new water reservoir would not only collect water but also provide the city of Örebro with solar energy. The proposed building is a sphere covered with a reflecting surface of solar panels facing south generating energy for the city. Towards north the sphere opens itself to the public with an illuminated inside of LED lights gleaming like a ball of fire ( Eldklot in Swedish) towards the city of Örebro in the evening. The new landmark will be visible from afar and look different depending on what angle and time of the day you’ll see it from. The sphere holds great opportunities to host various festivals and events. We hoped that by being a generous public building with a timeless shape dressed with environmentally friendly technology it could become a new modern symbol for the city of Örebro to enjoy.