A Basket Full Of Culture | Sweco Architects AB

The House of Culture in Bergsjön, Göteborg is the result of Sweco Architects winning an invited competition in 2017. The proposal, “A Basket Full of Culture”, was developed with the goal to “Strengthen the cultural presence in Bergsjön and be a place of a thousand opportunities to experience, participate, create and express yourself. It is supposed to be a basket full of opportunities and thereby support the continuous process of interweaving dreams and influences, creating the future of culture and society through expressions and experiences.”

The House of Culture in Bergsjön will be situated at Rymdtorget, and the inauguration is set to the beginning of 2022. The building is intimately linked to the public space Rymdtorget, which is also under renewal in a connecting project process, designed by landscape architects at Sweco. The public outdoor square, and the interior of the building are linked by the large, sloped glass-façade facing west, so creating a continuous public space bridging indoor and outdoor space. At the square, a wide rage of functions is to be found, facilitation activities such as play, performance, hanging in the sun and meeting with other people.

In the center of the House of Culture, there is an atrium, open to the sky. The atrium is “the inner square” and a complement to the large Rymdtorget. This is a calmer, more intimate outdoor space for social activities and events, or just to get away from the busy everyday life, sitting down with a coffee and a nice book.

Social sustainability has been a crucial aspect, when designing the building. Openness, comfort and safety and the “feeling of a living room” have been leading concepts throughout the process. The goal is to create an attractive landmark, as well as an open and accessible building, an attractive point of gathering for all inhabitants of Gothenburg.

The House of Culture is approximately 2700 m2 with a program containing library for every age group, story telling room, café and kitchen, workshops for ceramics and arts, meeting and study rooms, music recording studio, large theatre (135 places) for cinema projections, theatre plays, parties and concerts, black box meant for dance and music, staff’s quarters as well as service spaces.

Sweco Architects are responsible architects for the House of Culture, as well as for the interior design, the lighting design and the landscape design, from competition idea to construction drawings. The project was rewarded first price in the category “Culture – future projects” at the WAF (World Architecture Festival) in Berlin, 2017.  

 In 2023 the project, including the urban square in front of it was completed and filled with a multitude of activities.

The project team consists of:

Architecture: Margareta Diedrichs, PeGe Hillinge, Cecilia Rossing, Emma Kaudern, Piamaria Sundin, Katarzyna Mudlaff, Marcus Isacsson

Landscape design: Thorbjörn Andersson, PeGe Hillinge, Ida Solli Hansson, Carl Hillinge

Interior design: Christina Gunnarsson, Katarzyna Mudlaff

Lighting design: Jonas Ek

Visualization: Sofia Kourbetis

For further questions please contact:
Margareta Diedrichs tel. +46 73-412 27 36
[email protected]