The Öskaret 1 property is located in one of Stockholm's most central locations along Torsgatan. The building was designed by architect Ferdinand Boberg and completed in 1906 for the Stockholm Water and Gasworks. Castellum acquired the property with a vision to create a new meeting place in Stockholm, to create a new attractive neighborhood with a mix of businesses with a focus on new modern office space.

FOJAB has been responsible for concept work, program, system and completion of construction documents and tenant adaptations. The focus of the project has been to take advantage of the building's fantastic qualities, highlight these, and add new parts that together create a new exciting whole.

The assignment involved refining the property from an underutilized office building, last renovated in the 1970s, to a modern high-performance office with public ground floors. The requirements from laws and regulations have been extensive and to these have been added high ambitions from property owners and tenants. The new office spaces are adapted to meet the requirements of dense, efficient seating, new working methods and new technical systems. As the building has great cultural-historical values both externally and internally, this has been an exciting and interesting process with many challenges and careful considerations to fulfill these goals.

The building is constructed in the Art Nouveau style with wonderfully preserved details of high quality craftsmanship and materials. In the past, there have been homes, offices and workshops in different parts of the building and the work on the interior has highlighted the different characters. For example, the original vaulted beams have been brought out, the 1970s ceilings have been removed and the old ceiling height restored. In the stairwells, new lifts have been installed and restored, old windows have been renovated and supplemented with energy glass. The modern additions blend in well with the whole but are at the same time clearly new. Heritage-listed rooms have been restored to preserve their history and origin.

To support the careful handling of the building, FOJAB and Castellum have collaborated with an antiquarian expert from Tyréns. The project has involved many considerations between preservation and change; authenticity and usability have often been pitted against each other, which has placed great demands on dialog and cooperation between different interests and competencies.

The property contains premises grouped around two public courtyards. The aim has been to open up the block towards Torsgatan to make the courtyards accessible to visitors and businesses and to create attractive places in this historically valuable environment.

Transforming this relatively closed building in relation to its cultural values has therefore been a challenge, and the few changes made have been carefully selected and concentrated in the areas where they are most useful. The project's careful renovation and reconstruction has highlighted a forgotten landmark building that has once again become a landmark on Torsgatan.

Read more: How we develop the property Öskaret 1.