2_1_ScanMag_69_Oct_2014_Text:Scan Magazine 1
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Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture Denmark
At the two-starred Michelin restaurant Frantzén in Stockholm, Arkitema has created a setting that acts as a stage for the art of cooking.
Architecture inspired by people It might not be obvious what an exclusive Michelin restaurant and a 63.5 hectare new city district have in common. The answer is found in their origin. Designed by Danish Architecture firm Arkitema Architects, both projects’ designs centre firmly on their future users. By Signe Hansen | Photos: Arkitema Architects
Despite having created a heritage of numerous beautiful buildings all over Scandinavia, Arkitema Architects has always shied away from a purely aesthetic focus. Partner Jørgen Bach explains: “Our starting point is always ‘people in architecture’. Humans are at the centre of our work. It’s our company’s heritage and culture; it saturates everything we do; it’s the way we think, the way we are trained, and how all assignments begin.”
Since its foundation in 1969, Arkitema Architects has created a string of educational, commercial, housing and health institutions, but also numerous new living quarters, including Copenhagen’s muchpraised neighbourhood Sluseholmen. Among the firm’s newest projects is the just-finished redecoration of the twostarred Swedish Michelin restaurant, Frantzén in Stockholm. “Some of Frantzén’s guests have been saving up for
months for an exceptional food experience, and for them, and the chefs who work to refine the Nordic cuisine, we have created a setting that puts the food at the centre of everything – it’s a staging of the art of cooking,” Bach explains. Even newer is Arkitema Architects’ winning proposal for a new suburban neighbourhood south of Copenhagen. The ambition behind the new area is to redefine the suburb of the future to fit the needs of its future inhabitants. The neighbourhood will therefore provide the density and variety of the city as well as the open spaces, greenery and family facilities of the suburbs. “No matter if they work, live or eat in the space we create, we want the users to be moved by the architecture. We want to give them more than just a roof over their heads; we want to create something that speaks to them,” says Bach.
Arkitema Architects employs approximately 300 people in offices in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Stockholm, Malmö and Oslo.
For more information, please visit: www.arkitema.dk NærHeden, a new city part, south of Copenhagen, is set to redefine what it means to live in the suburbs.
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