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‘Sky path’ flats could transform Stockholm

A plan for a new residential area in the heart of Stockholm includes roof terraces, courtyards - and a public 'sky walk'.

Published: 8 January 2016 15:37 CET
Updated: 8 January 2016 18:58 CET
'Sky path' flats could transform Stockholm
Photo: Anders Berensson Architects

The planned housing zone is called 'Klarastaden' (The Clear Town) and would be located next to Stockholm's Central Station in the heart of the Swedish capital.

The Local spoke to Anders Berensson, the architect behind the designs, who says Klarastaden has the dual goal of providing a dense housing block in Europe's fastest growing city and making the area around the station “more beautiful”, with leafy roof terraces and courtyards.

The apartment blocks would be connected by a 'sky walk' or floating pathway, allowing residents and the public to reach the waterfront, currently inaccessible due to the train tracks there.

“For me, the most exciting aspect of the project is being able to walk on the roofscape and have views over Stockholm city,” Berensson says.

The sky walk would form one of the city's longest parks, with stunning views, helping to ensure the ground-level pedestrianized area is less crowded.

The innovative design has already captured the attention of international media. “It's always great when a project is popular,” says Berensson. “Hopefully, we will inspire other cities to do similar things.”


Photo: Anders Berensson Architects

Berensson explains that all Stockholmers would benefit from the new blocks – not just those wealthy enough to live inside them.

“If you build skyscapers in Stockholm, it's very expensive housing,” he says. “I wanted to be able to give something back to the public too, so I came up with the idea of the roofscapes.”


What the project will look like viewed from neighbouring Kungsholmen island. Photo: Anders Berensson Architects

The apartment blocks would be of varying heights, ranging from four to 30 floors.

The clever design means that each apartment would have direct sunlight – in line with Swedish housing regulations – and around 90 percent would benefit from lake views.


Photo: Anders Berensson Architects

The zone would accommodate approximately 5,800 apartments, 8,000 offices and 300 shops.


Photo: Anders Berensson Architects

Berensson hopes that the project would go some way to help solve the housing crisis in the Swedish capital, where it is notoriously difficult to find accommodation.

READ ALSO: How to steer Sweden's crazy rental market


Photo: Anders Berensson Architects

The below diagram shows how the design works by allowing sunlight to filter through to street-level.
Photo: Anders Berensson Architects


Photo: Anders Berensson Architects
 

However, Stockholmers may have a while to wait before the plans become reality.

The designs were commissioned by the Swedish Centre Party, currently in opposition, who Berensson says wanted to “build something very dense and high”. In order for work to start on the project in 2018, the party will have to win more seats in Stockholm in the election scheduled for that year – or the plans will need backing from the current Social Democrat-led city council.

 

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SWISS ALPS

Why luxury Swiss mountain resorts are becoming ‘lifeless’

Properties are expensive — and getting even more so — in many parts of Switzerland. But the situation is especially dire in chic mountain resorts, where the cost of holiday apartments has soared substantially. This is having an impact on the local population.

Published: 29 May 2024 15:25 CEST
Why luxury Swiss mountain resorts are becoming 'lifeless'

In the past several years, the already pricey holiday homes in the Swiss Alps have become 30 percent more expensive, according to a new UBS report analysing 140,000 properties in the mountain resorts of Switzerland, France, and Austria.

Swiss towns, however, are the most expensive of the lot, having taken nearly all the top spots in the ranking.

Verbier, in canton of Valais,  is in the first place — the price for a square metre of living space in this resort town now costs over 21,500 francs.

St. Moritz in Graubünden is a close second (21,200 francs for sq/m), followed by Zermatt (19, 900), Gstaad (19,700), and Andermatt (18,000).

By comparison, the per-square-metre price (in Swiss francs) in the most expensive ‘foreign’ resort — Kitzbühel, Austria — is 16,200, and in the highest-priced French resort, Courchevel, 13,500.

Mountain villages are certainly picturesque and offer many skiing and hiking opportunities for sports enthusiasts, but these are not the only reasons for the influx of well-heeled residents.

This trend took off during the Covid pandemic, when numerous city dwellers wanted to escape farther away into the ‘nature’ and be able to work from home.

What does this all mean?

Getting a top franc for their property is enticing to many homeowners, who can cash in and make a good profit.

And having affluent taxpayers move in boosts local economy, which means that everyone living in the community benefits at the end.
 
“This generally supports the municipal finances which, in turn, raises the scope for infrastructure investments and thus increases the attractiveness of a destination for second home owners,” UBS said in its report.

However,  like the proverbial double-edged sword, high property prices also have a negative side.

For instance, as the wealthy move in and prices go up, the lower and middle-class people who may have lived in these mountain communities for generations — running local shops, restaurants, ski lifts, and other essential businesses — can no longer afford to live there and are forced to move out.
 
While there are no official statistics  showing how many people move away from these resorts for financial reasons, anecdotal evidence indicates this phenomenon does exist. 

One of many such testimonies comes from Graubünden’s Engadin region. 

“Locals have sold historic Engadin houses to wealthy owners, who in turn converted them and used them as holiday homes, becoming popular retreats that are often empty in the off-season,” according to Anna Florin movement, which encourages villagers to withstand the pressure from the real estate agents to sell their properties.
 
 “Life in the village is therefore dwindling or disappearing completely.”

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