FOJAB and Wihlborgs win the competition for Science Village Scandinavia in Lund.

FOJAB arkitekter, together with the real estate company Wihlborgs, has been named the winner of the competition for the first phase of Science Village Scandinavia - the new district between the MAX IV and ESS research facilities in Lund. The competition assignment included designing the first stage with, among other things, an icon site and icon building.

In late 2014, the development company Science Village Scandinavia AB, which is jointly owned by Lund Municipality, Lund University and Region Skåne, announced a land allocation competition for the first phase of the future district. After a pre-qualification round, five developers/architects were invited to compete. The proposal from Wihlborgs/FOJAB arkitekter has now been selected as the winner.

The first phase includes the Icon building, which will house a meeting place with exhibition spaces, a hotel and a restaurant, and is located directly adjacent to the district's central square and tram stop.

Characterful design

The organization and design of the iconic building is based on the idea of a welcoming, unifying space, which opens up to the surrounding squares and streets, and which can easily be changed according to different needs. An atrium extends through all the floors of the building and daylight flows down from the free-standing, glazed truss structure of the roof, which, like the rest of the building, is made entirely of wood.

- "Wood adds warmth to the large, light-filled room, which is easy to survey and navigate, and which creates the conditions for spontaneous meetings," says Greger Dahlström, the responsible architect.

The ground floor creates a climate-protected zone for passage and outdoor living. The three-dimensional facades not only protect against sun and rain, but also help to diffuse the wind and provide shelter around the building in the open landscape.

- We have once again managed to win a prestigious competition in Lund and are very happy about it. We can now continue to build our expertise in complex buildings with characterful architecture. Our team has done a fantastic job," says Daniel Nord, CEO of FOJAB.

The competition team consists of Greger Dahlström, Mikael Pettersson, Stefan Johansson, Joachim Lundquist, Sara Schlyter, Niklas Sonestad and Carin Caesar at Tyréns (traffic).

Fact box:

The Science Village will be developed to support the development of MAX IV and ESS and their need for accommodation, logistics, services and other facilities. Already in 2016, 200 employees and about the same number of guest researchers are expected to work at MAX IV. When ESS is completed, around 800 permanent employees and around 1,300 visiting researchers will work in the two research facilities. In the long term, around 10,000 people are expected to work in the Science Village.