Europe 40 Under 40 Awards Tell a friend

PLACE: Rosendal, Uppsala, Sweden
CLIENT: Co-owned by KKA and Bright Living AB
TYPE: Multifamily house (condominium)
SIZE: 3100 m2
COMMISSION: private
MATERIALS: pine wood, solar panels, glass,
YEAR OF COMPLETION: 2018
LEAD ARCHITECT: Joakim Kaminsky & Fredrik Kjellgren
PROJECT ARCHITECT: Fredrik Kjellgren
DESIGN TEAM: Fredrik Kjellgren, Joakim Kaminsky, Sanna Johnels, Sandra Nygren, Martin Login, Emilio Lorenzato, Louise Nickelsen

This is KKA’s first co-owned project. Together with the small specialized firm Bright Living, KKA won the competition to develop a well sustainable house that features passive house technique, Svanen environmental certification, sustainable materials and an improved environment for sustainable living.

To create variety and at the same time a pleasant and permissive environment, we let three volumes, each with its own unique character, breaking down the large scale. Golden Palm, Black Birch and Silver Spruce are passive houses with wooden frames and facades, all with different treatments and details. The broken facades, sloping on the upper levels, reduce the perception of a tall volume while letting in more light. The façade inclination of 15° is also a way of optimizing the yield of the solar cells on Black Birch, especially during winter when the sun is low. The staggered volumes and a retracted ground floor provide an exciting, room creating yard and street environment which encourages residents and passers-by to stop and sit down.

The location of the new city district in combination with its dense and natural surroundings provide good opportunities for a sustainable lifestyle. This is why the building has a safe and sheltered bicycle storage and its own recycling center to simplify sorting. There is the possibility for urban farming in the yard and in the common greenhouse, encouraging interaction and offering a place for relaxation. The “Magazine” greenhouse is a community house in the yard which also functions as a project site where you can store and process your harvest, or perhaps build a piece of furniture. It is also possible to create a “tingotek”, where you can borrow equipment and tools shared by all the residents.

Whatever grows here has its proper function, from delaying storm water to producing food. Instead of decorative vegetation you can find fruit, berries and shade-tolerant crops, like beans and beets. The rugged and vertical growing hops can be made into locally produced beer in the common greenhouse. The courtyard will be dominated by green crops, while the roofs will foster local biodiversity with their meadows.