Building permit for Docks - a new landmark in Malmö

At the entrance to the harbor, Malmö's new landmark Docks will rise. A residential block designed by FOJAB for JM with two slender buildings that from certain angles seem to merge together. The building permit has now been granted.

With their characteristically tapered 26- and 18-story towers, the Docks will make their mark on the Malmö skyline. Västra hamnen and Dockan have evolved from an industrial and shipyard area to a residential, office and retail district, and the new landmark is an important piece of the transformation.

The two towers are angled to meet different urban spaces and also mark the Dock Square below. The towers land on a four-story base with public spaces for services, shops and restaurants on the ground floor.

- The open ground floor provides conditions for meetings - a cross-pollination of housing and city life," says Joachim Lundquist, responsible architect at FOJAB.

There will be a total of 157 homes in the building and a garden for the residents will be built on the roof of the base in the form of terraces with a lush beach landscape. The house bodies are clad with balconies that have a weatherproof and robust facade made of hot-dip galvanized steel. The joints play with the rhythm of the balcony edges and on the northern facades the steel is folded like salt crystals. The expression is sharp, nuanced and rooted in the history of the site.

- High-rise buildings are part of how we experience the city. Distant facades help us perceive space and atmosphere, and at night they add points of light to the cityscape. The facade of Docks will capture light and shadow in an ever-changing way, day and night," says Joachim Lundquist.

Exterior and interior are markedly different in Docks. Inside the cooler facade, residents and visitors are greeted by warm lighting and wood. Here, too, the association is with shipping and the many ships once built at the Kockum shipyard, whose metal hulls concealed cozy wooden cabins.