Studenternas och Södra Åstråket

Studenternas och Södra Åstråket

Studenternas och Södra Åstråket

Studenternas in Uppsala is a mythical place, the historic home of Sirius and host of the Swedish Championship final in bandy. The area is beautifully situated along the Fyrisån river and the site is established in the city. Here, FOJAB has designed the football stadium, new parts of the bandy arena, two new squares - together it has become a completely new meeting place in central Uppsala.

Studenternas is part of the work to develop the southern riverside area. The aim is to create a more attractive, well-attended and safer arena area while giving the arena access to more services. The central location of the Studenternas makes it important to integrate the area into the city and make it a year-round meeting place.

The idea has been to embrace the open values of the surrounding park and thus become a natural part of Uppsala. The goal is an active arena area that is never closed. An arena area with strong appeal that can be used in everyday life and is only partially closed on match days. In addition to the arena, which can accommodate up to 10,500 spectators at all-Swedish matches, there is also a café/restaurant, gym, shops, health care, conference facilities and offices. The artificial grass pitch makes it possible to use the arena more frequently, this is utilized and today the arena is used as a home arena for three elite teams (Sirius, IK Uppsala and Dalkurd) both for matches and training.

The football stadium is connected to an office building that makes the facility flexible. The main stand is integrated into the higher office volume located along Sjukhusvägen on the west side of the stadium. This connection provides a natural division between the hot and cold public areas of football. Football's VIP rooms are located in the warm areas of the main stand, with their own terrace in the upper stand and a view of the pitch. Premises located on the ground floor towards the entrance square on Sjukhusvägen and the arena square towards the park, are outward-looking to create attractive environments around the arena.

The stadium space is dense and enveloping to achieve proximity to the pitch for a better football experience from the stands. The foyers on the north and west sides are positioned so that the audience never loses contact with the football in the inner court. They have been placed at the level of the entrance square on Sjukhusvägen so that the foyer area can also function as a meeting place in everyday life.

On the eastern side towards the river, the building heights are kept lower for a more human scale towards the park. Arenatorget is an open gathering place that works for large crowds at matches and for various everyday activities. Arenatorget forms the link to Stadsträdgården and becomes part of the park and the places along the river. The arena is more urban in its choice of materials towards Sjukhusvägen where the facades, ground treatment and main stands are built in processed concrete with glass facades. The lower stands with roofs that are more in a park environment are built in wood, which fits better in this calmer environment. Kiosks, toilets and restaurant facades have been given a high-pressure laminate board in wood color as a facade material, these volumes become visible and keep the identity of the facility together.

It has been important to preserve and enhance the quality of the park adjacent to the new football stadium. By allowing the park and its character to spill over into the slightly more urban environment at the football stadium, the park path is widened and provides a more generous green environment around the stadium. The spaces between the buildings are also enhanced by designing them for different activities so that they can be included in the park path in a natural way.

Named Sports Arena of the Year 2023

Facts and figures

Project name
Studenternas och Södra Åstråket

Client
Sportfastigheter

Location
Uppsala

Scope
About 25 000 m²

Status
Completed, 2020

Contact person
Per Aage Nilsson
peraage.nilsson@​fojab.se
+46 706 - 29 24 23

Project team

Adrian Duveholt
Civil Engineer, Digital Leader BIM

Alper Sjöstrand
Construction engineer, Control officer

Bahador Mohammadi
Architect SAR/MSA

Camilla Loguin Hjärne
Architect SAR/MSA, Deputy Studio Manager

Helena Bülow-Hübe
Head of Environment and Energy, Dr. Techn.

Jacob Everhed
Architect SAR/MSA, Control Officer

Johan Sennström
Architect SAR/MSA

Lars Aage Nilsson
Architect SAR/MSA

Magdalena Stefanowicz
Architect MSc, Environmental and energy engineer

Patrik Bengtsson
Architect MSA

Per Aage Nilsson
Architect SAR/MSA

Sara Schylter
Landscape architect LAR/MSA

Sune Nilsson
Architect SAR/MSA, Senior Adviser

Photographer
Åke E:son Lindman