OMA has completed a new residential tower in Hagastaden, a new district in the north of Stockholm developed around the Karolisnka Institute, which awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Named Norra Tornen, the design, led by OMA Partner Reinier de Graaf, is the first completed building of the two Norra Tornen residential towers designed by de Graaf and located in Hagastaden.

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Norra Tornen’s design emerges as the expression of a modular system of precast exposed concrete elements. They articulate in a composition of alternating bay windows and recessed terraces - and was developed as a tribute to Brutalist architecture, which, according to architecture critic Reyner Banham, was invented in Sweden. 

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

With a wall-to-floor ratio coming close to 1 the design would have probably discouraged most developers (for a tower, it rarely goes above 0.5). 

"However, in a country with scarce daylight for half of the year, extra square meters of windows and multiple orientations for each apartment become a precious asset. All apartments have been sold before construction broke ground," said OMA. 

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

"The Norra Tornen project represents a milestone achievement for us: the culmination of an ongoing effort by our office to create the next generation of modern housing typologies, creating the largest possible variety from a limited number of (prefabricated) elements, allowing the usual formalism of the apartment tower to give way to individuality, domesticity… and perhaps even humanism," said Reinier de Graaf.

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

The tower comprises 182 units ranging from 44 sqm one-bedroom apartments to a 271 sqm penthouse on the top floor. The residential units are complemented by a cinema room, a dinner room for parties and celebrations, a guest apartment, a gym with a sauna and a relaxation area. 

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Reaching at a height of 125 meters, the tower is the highest residential building in Stockholm’s city center. The Helix Tower is due to be completed at the end of 2019 and will include 138 units, plus amenities.

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

In a city center with a housing stock largely built before the Second World War, the two towers introduce a new way of living which increases the city’s density while giving residents the possibility to enjoy outdoor space (Stockholm ranks fourth among the cities with the highest air quality in the European Union).

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

"Each a kind of 'crescendo' composition of different heights – neither slab nor tower – prohibit the unfolding of an uncompromised typology. Conversely, the opted program, apartments with an emphasis on large outdoor spaces, prevented too literal a translation of the envelopes into architectural form," said de Graaf. 

"Through a kind of 'Freudian flight forward' – a passionate embrace of the inevitable in order to conquer and overcome one's initial fears – the prescribed building envelope was adopted as a given."

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

"Its initial vertical segmentation was complemented by a second, horizontal segmentation that gives the buildings' exterior a single, homogeneous treatment: a rough skin, formed through an alternating pattern of withdrawn outdoor spaces and protruding living rooms," he added.  

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Norra Tornen was developed as the result of a land allocation competition held by the City of Stockholm in 2013, won by Oscar Properties. The project was led by Reinier de Graaf, with Alex de Jong, Michel van de Kar and Roza Matveeva.

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image courtesy of OMA; photography © Ossip van Duivenbode

Site plan

Envelope

Program distribution

Apartment modules

The inauguration of Norra Tornen is part of a one day event that includes the opening of BIG’s 79&Park, also commissioned by Oscar Properties, and a public debate at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology between Reinier de Graaf and Bjarke Ingels about the current status of architecture.

Project facts

Project: Norra Tornen
Timeline: Competition: 2013, Construction start: December 2015, Occupancy: September 2018Client: Oscar Properties
Address: Torsplan 8, 113 65 Stockholm, Sweden
Program: 320 apartments, Retail

Partner in Charge: Reinier de Graaf

Concept
Associate: Alex de Jong
Team: Philippe Braun, Diana Cristobal, Roza Matveeva, Edward Nicholson, Peter Rieff, Carolien Schippers

Competition
Associate: Alex de Jong
Team: Alexander Giarlis, Timur Karimullin, Vladimir Konovalov, Edward Nicholson, Victor Nyman, Vitor Oliveira, Cecilia Del Pozo, John Paul Pacelli, Peter Rieff, Carolien Schippers

Design Development
Associates in charge: Alex de Jong, Michel van de Kar
Team: Isa Olson Ehn, Tobias Jewson, Edward Nicholson, Peter Rieff, Silvia Sandor, Lukasz Skalec, Jonathan Telkamp

Collaborators

Structural Engineer: Arup
Mechanical Engineer: Arup
Façade Engineer: Arup Façade EngineeringLocal Engineer: Sweco
Fire Safety: Tyréns AB
Acoustics: ACAD
Fire Safety: Tyréns
Code consultants: Tengbom

Top image © Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

All drawings © OMA 

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