The proposal Väven contributes to an urban small-town character with several new qualities. Mixed-use residential-commercial hybrids and commercial premises are suggested, and large-scale buildings meet small-town tranquility with human scale and proximity to nature. The proposed half-closed city block leaves the sightline towards the vast fields and nature on the outskirts of Kinna open.
All excavated soil is reused either on site in the courtyard or across the street to level the ground and create a place for urban farming and meeting. The courtyard has two parts: an upper level on the garage roof and a lower level that slopes down from the roof to the street. A centrally placed greenhouse connects the different levels, as well as the garage, and becomes a social meeting place for the residents.
The two-level parking garage is concentrated to just half the city block with the upper level on street level. This frees up half of the courtyard for trees to fully mature into characterful individuals that in the long run contribute to ecological value for people, fauna, and the climate. On street level, the garage is spacious and light. Next to a large bicycle parking is a workshop which functions as the apartment owner’s equivalent of a house owner’s garage. It is possible to transform the garage into more bicycle parking or commercial premises in the future.
The jury’s statement was:
“The competition proposal has succeeded in following the set goals and vision of the task with its elaborate design in plan and façade based on varied form and function. The program offers innovation and creative solutions that are linked to the surrounding environment and conditions, and are both sustainable and flexible over time.”