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Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture Sweden
to meet each client where they are and see the project from their perspective – including the work they do and the customers they in turn work towards. This, insists the CEO, is enabled in part by the flat organisational structure, and results in another three keywords: unpretentiousness, transparency and care.
ABOVE: “The Scandic Oslo Airport Hotel sets a new standard for integration of universal design,” said the Norwegian Design Council jury when presenting the hotel and Krook & Tjäder with the Innovation Prize in 2011.
Prestige was never a part of the goal nor the methods at Krook & Tjäder, a firm set up by two former Chalmers University of Technology students in Gothenburg in 1988. One successful project led to the next, and today it seems a fact that a combination of humility and professional standards is a winning concept. “Some firms have a leading architect who is always in the spotlight. Many spend ages in the office over-working details that are in fact already good enough,” says Bergstrand. “We know that our customers value fast delivery and the courage to simply stop polishing when something’s reached the right, required level.”
leagues, and each and every member of staff builds their own network, working with their own niche. Together, we represent an amazing breadth, but it’s also an environment that requires a lot from people while really allowing them to flourish.” It may sound ambitious but actually makes a lot of sense. “Our clients don’t just buy one person and their expertise; they buy the entire organisation, so everything is possible,” Bergstrand explains and goes on to suggest that one of the firm’s keywords, customer value, is at the heart of its success. What this means is, in simple terms, that what is perfect for one client will not suit the next, and as such it is the task of the architecture firm
area of Hemmeslöv will enjoy more than 1,000 residential units in addition to the station itself, as part of the town’s most important development area in the next decade or more, and Krook & Tjäder is working on the entire planning process as well as delivering sustainable urban construction workshops. Similarly, in Mölndal, the town centre is about to get a significantly increased density as well as variety, with a large amount of new commercial, residential and business spaces. At Sjögatan, close to Falsterbo, on the other hand, it is all about sand dunes and the sea as opposed to urban living. Here, Krook & Tjäder has created 21 brand new flats with lush gardens and roof terraces. In regards to product design, the Gloria hanger provides a perfect example of solutions-focused design that is all about the details: designer Joel Karlsson wanted to complement the traditional hanger in a way that would allow for garments without hanging loops to be hung without the resulting hanger mark in the neck – and as a result, he gave the hanger a halo, or gloria. Intimacy and warmth – for greater profitability
ABOVE: The Gloria hanger provides a perfect example of solutions-focused product design that is all about the details: this hanger allows garments without hanging loops to be hung without the resulting hanger mark in the neck.
“Regardless of the strand of work, you could say that we rest on three very important legs,” says Bergstrand. “We offer our clients an intimacy and warmth that is hard to come by; in regards to the process, we are stringent, certified and structural engineering savvy; and in the end, we do everything we can to really get to know our clients’ business, to act as their sales professionals and truly understand their customers.”
From the city to the sea And the happy customers are plenty, from across town planning contracts to interiors projects. In Båstad, the brand new station
To use the words of the Norwegian Design Council jury, the work of Krook & Tjäder on the Scandic Oslo Airport Hotel may “inspire other commercial companies to view design for all as a tool to increase market share and achieve greater profitability.” Naturally, if an architecture firm can help you reach such goals, it should have nothing but happy customers.
For more information, please visit: krook.tjader.se
Issue 69 | October 2014 | 89