Hyttgårdsparken, Sweden by 42 architects

My former Bartlett tutor’s latest project has been featured on BDonline. To read the article in full see: http://bit.ly/11ud03e or see below.

42 architects has completed the first phase for a new 6000sqm activity park in Falun, Sweden. Hyttgardsparken is situated in a Unesco World Heritage Site surrounded by a former copper mine and old workers cottages. 42 architects was first approached in 2006 to build a new activity park with a focus on skateboarding. The first phase of the project features a sunken concrete landscape for skateboarders. 42 architects consulted local skateboarders in Falun and designed a skatepark with a focus on street skating more similar to normal city terrain.,On one side of the park, there are stairs, blocks and rails, while on the other side towards the former copper mine, there are sloping banked surfaces and carved forms.

Johan Berglund, founder of 42 architects said: “We felt that many of the parks that are built around the world are very alien to their environment, and as architects we felt we had a responsibility to create something which is in dialogue with the context of the site. Our approach was to look for clues in the history of the site, and this generated ideas of how we, in an archeological way, could ‘carve’ out the design from the ground.”

Phase 2 of the project will provide more skateboarding pits in the ground as well as green spaces with planting, trees, pedestrian paths and benches. It will also feature a set of boule pitches to attract older people to the park in addition to the young skateboarders.

Images: 42 architects