Törnrosen Tower - an urban landmark

The buildings and urban spaces of Rosengård should reflect the diversity of its population. An array of urban spaces and building typologies will contribute by adding character to the local environment, via both expression and function.

Playgrounds for children, sports fi elds, skater landscapes, quiet green corners, urban farming, open air markets, bocce courts, and cafés will all characterize the inclusive nature of Rosengård. The district will shed its mono-functional past and mix it up: apartments, workshops, live/work spaces, grocery stores, bicycle repair shops and coffee bars will all thrive side by side.

New interpretation of dense urban development – new row houses, smaller multi-story buildings, and urban dwellings that vary in frontage, height, setbacks, and material expression will establish a dialog with the existing rigid building mass. The sloped boardwalk will add changes in height, creating exciting spatial experiences, overlooks, and unexpected urban rooms.

The dynamism of the urban spaces arises not out of complex building geometries, but the orientation and placement of simple building volumes in relation to each other and the boardwalk. The tower and buildings themselves are built up on simple and rational geometries and constructive principles.

The new residences vary in size and can accommodate a diverse set of living patterns. The student can share a garden with a family of eight, apartments can be found for a young family, the more established, and the elderly. Common for all apartments is a unique location and the possibility to sit just outside one’s front door, establishing the important connection between each resident and the city as a whole.

The inclusive and organic nature of the project calls for a similarly robust attitude towards materials. In contrast to the limited variety of prefabricated industrial materials used in the existing blocks, the new buildings will be characterized by a wide variety of materials, with an emphasis on natural materials that patina elegantly over time. Examples of such materials could be wood, stucco, concrete, metal, glass, slate, and ceramics.

Bennet’s Bazaar is the fi rst realization of a new variation of scale and function within the uniformity of Rosengård. This lively function has given a sense of life to the neighborhood and the challenge now is to strengthen this experience of place by continuing to build with variation – in expression, scale, materials, and function – establishing new relationships and integrating a new urban identity into the city’s network.

Edge Zones
Life between buildings is stimulated by a new, multi-level topography and deep edge zones that encourage contact between individuals across private and public zones. Small and varied urban spaces, defi ned by architecture, plantings, and not least, the residents, create smooth thresholds between the private and public realms.

The boardwalk’s geometric surface shifts in topographic plates, creating a terraced, sloping streetscape with spatial potential at its various resultant edges that can accommodate densifi cation. The folded boardwalk does not just constitute the new main street, but branches out into alleys and paths, creating a rich landscape of new intimate recreational spaces that meet both the new and existing buildings ground levels.

For example, new front gardens could be established at existing ground level apartments. The folded boardwalk provides a new human scale with an inviting materiality characterized by seating areas and edge zones of light concrete and wood.

The edge zones where residents sit on stoops or benches near their front doors encourages the type of city life we know from southern lands and miss in Scandinavian suburbs. Rosengård would be the perfect neighborhood for this type of interaction, where so many cultures meet and influence each other in the public realm.

In the tower, the vertical street space can be understood as an extended edge zone, where the residences meet the city’s public realm. It is out to this space one opens his front door, to the street where one lives. Here one can walk home via the sidewalk through the garden on the 8th fl oor, take a cup of coffee at the café on the way down from work, meet a neighbor in the yard, in the common room, on the stair, or on the sun-filled common terrace, where trees give lee to the intimate space.

Green Urbanism
The landscape in Rosengård is lush and recreationally inviting, with great potential for future planning as a green urban district, where buildings, trees, plantings, and the landscape are all part of the urban hierarchy.

Trees and climbing plants grow up many of the facades in the district, creating a sense of intimacy and nearness in the intermediate transitional spaces, where private life meets public urban life and a basis of a socially dynamic city is sown.

Trees and plantings grow up the tower’s interior vertical streetscape. Plant types suited to the local microclimate grow on balconies and ledges surrounding the public space. The plants provide shelter from the wind in the outdoor spaces and help to regulate the thermal and acoustic environment of the indoor public spaces.

The new planting strategy is to challenge both the existing and new building types in Rosengård. Small, medium, and large trees emphasize the scale of place in urban rooms, with the intention of creating both intimate and grand green rooms. A conscientious green strategy will support the experience of urban life together with nature; Landscape as Urbanism.

Social Sustainability
The new urban quarter is architecturally integrated into a sustainable overall concept where shared functions and flow, both across urban spaces and in relation to existing buildings, function as socially motivating factors for citizens and support the formal as well as the informal meetings between residents, shoppers, and visitors. It is important that everyone feels invited.

We ensure these meeting by:
- Making the boardwalk, and its vertical manifestation, Rosengård Tower, the district’s illuminated inner heart, with a rich plant life that knits the various levels of the buildings together, so that one cannot avoid seeing and meeting each other around the central vertical street.
- Placing shopping as well as recreational and educational facilities in an accessible, interconnected ground fl oor that opens up to the Boardwalk and inner landscape of the tower.
- Ensuring that movement to and from residences, as well as daily life in Rosengård encourages social interaction between people of all backgrounds and living patterns.

Environmental Sustainability
The urban strategy aims toward a visionary energy balance that strengthens sustainability of the entire neighborhood. The traditional building classifi cations should be viewed in a wider perspective, where the new development is viewed together with the existing building mass in order to develop an alternative energy strategy in the form of passive technologies and +Energy buildings, where different areas can alternate between energy usage and energy production.

The intent is an architecture that does not accept aesthetics as a goal in and of itself, but a holistic interpretation of use patterns as inspiration for new principles for reduction of
CO2 emissions. Principles for architecturally sustainable solutions could for example include energy saving aspects such as high levels of insulation, renewable energy, and climatic zoning.

Economic Sustainability
The development process is to achieve an optimal balance of functional, architectural, technical, and environmental considerations, weighted holistically, so the programmatic requirements are achieved within the given economic framework. We have attempted to create an overall concept that is robust and fl exible, so that future urban development can be easily realized.

The concept begins with an open, organic structure that can be incrementally phased so as not to disrupt daily life in the district. The organic nature of the proposal also lends itself to being divided into smaller development plots if so desired.

Both conceptually and constructively, the new development can be understood as a new unfi nished loft space – in this framework the neighborhood can build, move, and shift urban constructions as and when needed.

The current proposal illustrates the client’s needs at this moment. Openness in the scheme encourages creative collaboration between owner and user in the future – increasing the possibility for success and thus economic sustainability.

The Structural Design
The tower has an open and fl exible construction similar to a multi-stemmed tree with a varied branch structure.

The stairs, elevators and shafts work as the structural and spacial backbone of the tower. This constructive principle makes it possible to maintain the rational aspect of the project – by placing a large number of rectangular apartments so that standard installations are vertically aligned.

- The main bearing and stabilizing element in the tower is the core, which includes elevators, stairs, shaft, etc.
- The core will consist of concrete fi lled steel columns connected with girders and trusses.
As an alternative the core can be made of slide-form insitu casted concrete.
- The core will be connected to the basement / cellar made of in-situ casted concrete which will be designed to take care of the forces that are generated by the tower.
- The floor slabs consists of solid concrete, in some areas pre-stressed where so is needed.
- Outside the core the apartments and the communication areas are situated.

These will be attached / hanged to the core as a system of boxes, where a number of boxes are connected with facade-columns transferring the loads to the lowest box in each system, where then the loads will be transferred to the core by a system of trusses.

Energy and Sustainability
- The tower should be built in accordance with energy and environmental favorable principles with major focus on energy use, including air tightness and choice of construction methods and an energy performance corresponding to a low energy building.

- The mechanical services should be dimensioned and designed from an environmental, technical and economical perspective. Life Cycle Cost-calculations should be a natural and mandatory tool during the whole span of the project.

- The surrounding area and its buildings should be considered and accounted for when designing and determining the volume of energy consumption, as the environmental impact per kWh usually is at its highest when the power requirement is high.

Smaller buildings surrounding the square should be designed according to passive house techniques and regulations, and as far as possible be self sufficient.

Environmental and energy efficient solutions should be applied to existing parts of the neighborhood as well, for example recycling.

- Water for heating and hot tap water should be supplied by district heating and supplemented by solar and reusable energy.

- The latest technique for measurement and visualization of individual energy consumption should be used.

- Photoelectric solar cells integrated in buildings surrounding the square supplies the buildings with electricity.

Solar heating collector can be used, to cover loss of temperature in hot water circulation.

- Household appliances (washing machines, dishwashers etc.) should be supplied with hot water instead of cold water, to avoid electrical costs of heating up water.

- Recycling through garbage incineration can supply 20-30% of the energyconsumption for heating and app. 10% of the consumption of electricity.

HVAC
- Mechanical services should be designed with focus on:
Energy efficiency and reusability
Low running operation and service costs
Life Cycle Cost-calculations
Accessibility for service and cleaning
Water safety proofing

- Sewers should be designed and built as separate greywater and blackwater systems with slope and are to be ventilated above the roof.

The greywater sewer system should be equipped with a heat exchanger to make use of the raised temperature.

- Commercial premises has demand-controlled ventilation.

- Apartments and other locales in the tower are supplied via inner shafts, where equipment requiring service is placed on each fl oor. Key equipment for mechanical services is placed in ventilation fan rooms, mechanical substations and electrical rooms throughout the building.

The tower is ventilated via a supply and extract air heat exchange fan unit, with continuous operation in case of fire.

“The vertical street” is natural ventilated, in combination with mechanical ventilation when it is required.

The building is heated with radiators.

- Cooling for commercial and technical facilities is produced by liquid cooling units with continuous night/free cooling.

Cooling systems is designed as high temperature systems.

Electricity
- Material and equipment choices should be made with focus on the environment, both in the manufacturing and installing stage as well as in the usage stage.

Efficient lightfittings (LED) should be prioritized to decrease energy consumption.

- Power distribution within the building is done via a centrally placed power rail.

- Tenants will be measured by an individual power statistic meter, connected to the buildings central meter system, for billing.

- Integrated security systems should be installed within the building, for example fire alarms, evacuation alarms, burglar alarms, access control, intercoms with screens etc.

- Each individual apartment should have a separate media network for distribution of broadband, telephone, TV etc. The media network should be connected via fiber optic cables.

Fireprotection
- Robustness is the basis for the fi re protection strategy for the tower.

Safety in case of fire will not be reliant of rescue services.

Safety systems will be designed using analytical methods, as computational fluid dynamics model as well as egress models combined with thorough risk analyses in order to verify that the desired level of safety in case of fire is achieved.

- Tenants and visitors have three separate ways to evacuate the building: through the main stairwell (Tr1) that is located in the centre of the building or by using one of the two evacuation elevators, and by using the open stairwell (‘street’) that runs around the central stairwell.

- The fire protection design will be constructed in such a way that the desired flexibility is obtained; so that the building can house everything from restaurants and shops to housing units.

- The fire protection design takes into account the need for access control to the building’s main stairwell as well as the safety of the tenants.

- Structural design:
The building structure will consist mainly of concrete or composite steel-concrete structures. The load bearing resistance of the construction should be able to withstand a standard temperature-time curve without taking into account any active fi re protection systems, such as water sprinklers or smoke evacuation systems. Every 4-6 stories will be compartmentalized into large-scale fire compartments. The purpose of these large-scale compartments is to prevent fi re spread vertically.

- Active fire protection measures
The building will be fitted with either a water sprinkler system or a water mist system. All areas except the housing units will be fitted with a fire alarm system as well as an evacuation alarm.

All large-scale fire compartments will be provided with a smoke evacuation system, designed in such a way that individuals can evacuate the compartment without being exposed to unacceptable FED-levels or temperatures.

Rescue services will be notifi ed in case of activated sprinkler or if two or more smoke detectors activate. The rescue service can use the rescue elevator to gain access to the upper levels of the building, by doing this a faster evacuation is achieved (people moving up the stairwell in case of fi re will dramatically increase the time of evacuation) as well as minimizing the time and effort that is needed for the rescue service to reach the fire.

Culture Casbah

Introduction / Vision
Our proposal to transform Rosengård into a revitalized, dynamic, urban neighborhood is rooted in the desire to activate the district’s social potential through the concentration and integration of new building forms, urban rooms, and landscapes into the existing monolithic urban structure. The variegated and rich layers of historic city centers provide the inspiration for a gradual concentration of the spatial, social, and functional layers necessary for an attractive and dynamic urban quarter.

Rosengårdstråket is transformed into an articulated urban promenade; a folded boardwalk that unites the neighborhood and takes its place in an overall strategic plan for Malmö as part of chain of public spaces and paths that connect to the city center.

The new boardwalk acts as a connector and catalyst within the city. The boardwalk is an expansive, paved, folding urban surface that follows Rosengårdstråket, forming the backbone for activity and densification. The boardwalk rises up and down, creating a series of new urban spaces, overlooks, and gathering spots, interweaving existing buildings with new building types, functional urban hybrids, and exciting scalar jumps.

At the intersection of the Västra Kattarpsvägen and Rosengårdstråket, where the Rosengård district crosses the city thoroughfare, Rosengård Tower rises as a symbol of diversity and openness – a vertical manifestation of the vital and dynamic city district. The tower is a vertical continuation of the boardwalk, folding and reaching upward, like a narrow winding street in a mountain village, with stairs, small public squares, and public functions looking out over Malmö and uniting a community in Rosengård’s Culture Casbah.

Context
The stage is set for Rosengård to realize its potential and become a unique and attractive neighborhood in Malmö. The new boardwalk and tower will become Rosengård’s new identity – synonymous with revitalization and diversity – in both Malmö and the Öresund Region. While new infrastructure, including a train station and tram lines will make it easier to come Rosengård, its new identity will alter the city’s understanding of the neighborhood , bringing it visually and mentally closer to the center of the city.

In a type of urban acupuncture, through the careful application of strategic insertions and alterations to the mono-functional Million Program neighborhood, the unique potential of this strong and vital district will be released. The energy released will act as a magnet, attracting development, visitors, and attention.

Good buildings, free areas, and urban spaces inspire the people who occupy them. With its nearness to the center of Malmö, population, urban plan, and landscape, one will experience Rosengård as a unique neighborhood to live in or visit.

The Boardwalk – Square + Base
A new, folding surface is laid down along Rosengård’s thoroughfare, tilting up and down, creating new urban spaces as it intersects and challenges the static datum of the Million Program ground plane. The folding planes of the boardwalk act as the neighborhood’s promenade, creating multiple levels with well-defi ned and active edges that give access to a vast array of functions.

To the west, at Törnrosen Court, the boardwalk angles down and up, giving access to athletic facilities, boutiques, an amphitheater, parking and a skater landscape. To the east, at Örtagården Square, several larger shops and markets open up from the tower base to the square. Underneath the promenade, live/work spaces, studios, and workshops open out to a sunken plaza to the south.

The surface of the Board walk is of light concrete and wood, with a dynamic geometry defining areas for development and facilitating meetings between old and new. This new topography attracts life into the city, creating new connections and passages in the area with inspiration from the intimate alleys, plazas, and streets of a hillside village.

The angled boardwalk acts as a counterpoint to the wide, traffi cked, tree-lined Västra Kattarpsvägen. It passes over the street, acting as large-scale speed bump, signaling that pedestrians and cyclists set the tone, taking precedence over automobiles. The boardwalk overrides the tree-lined boulevard, uniting Törnrosen and Örtagåden into one district. Flanked by Rosengård Tower, the intersection of Västra Kattarpsvägen and the pedestrians and cyclists on the boardwalk is where Rosengård presents its public face to Malmö.

East Malmö’s New Landmark: Rosengård Tower
In placing the tower at the intersection of the boardwalk and Västra Kattarpsvägen, the tower becomes a landmark marking the heart of the Rosengård quarter, visible and accessible to all, the ultimate meeting place; Malmö’s Culture Casbah.

The tower is a vertical manifestation of the boardwalk – inviting all to climb the tower via interconnected stairs, interior walks, and piazzas. This sequence of urban spaces gives access to various functions and apartment types with balconies, terraces, and multi-level roof gardens with views over the city.

With inspiration from Bennet’s Bazaar, all locales in the tower are accessed from this winding, vertical, public street. Alternatively, one can take a short cut by using the centrally located elevators and get off directly at one of the interconnected public spaces. At the higher levels, there could be smaller businesses and offi ces; while the top floors
would be ideal for citizen services, a community center, café, or athletic facilities.

The apartments can function as open plans or arranged effectively with several smaller rooms with common rooms open to the corners with sun and view.

The Principle of Organic Growth – Densification
We propose a new architecture with an organic growth principle that contrasts the uniform existing building typology with a vision that challenges and invites to live in the dense city. The principle of organic growth provides social sustainability as the city develops over time with diversity and multiplicity. Organic growth, itself always unfinished and in development, points forward – coupling activity, citizen engagement and hope together with the neighborhood’s future.

The high density required to sustain a living city is reflected in an open and inviting architecture with inspiration from classic, sensory-laden urban spaces. The project proposes strategies for developing the district – the folded boardwalk, the tower, and the development of their edges and intersections in a fl exible and robust architectural language that sets the existing building mass in relief.

The future development of Rosengård can be in collaboration with residents as well as being fl exible and adjusting itself to meet current needs. Densifi cation creates activity, life, and interest, which in turn attracts more density in a selfperpetuating cycle.

The incremental, robust, and fl exible nature of organic growth encourages participation by the residents, resulting in a sense of belonging and authorship in the community. The organic nature of the proposal is also economically sustainable in that it is less expensive to change the landscape, build onto, between, or next to the existing blocks as compared to renovating them.

Human Scales - Small Medium Large
The existing buildings and urban spaces of Rosengård are very rigid and uniform – missing a distinct urban hierarchy and variation that creates identity and a sense of belonging. The middle scale is all dominating in the Million Program projects –
everything is the same, everything is equal. But equality does not necessarily mean uniformity. We propose to add variation in scale, introducing both the smaller and the large scale to Rosengård.

The new buildings, with their varied volumes, strengthen the larger and smaller scale, establishing a hierarchy and reinforcing the positive characteristics of the surrounding buildings which act as a framework.

It is therefore we refrain from altering the existing building mass. It is set in positive relief, the middle scale is augmented by the addition of other scales, thus creating a basis for a ”developable” city. The blocks have a history and precise language that will be complemented by the addition of a foreground and background.