BIG AMBITIONS L


moving kiruna I


n February 2013, Swedish architec- tural practice White Arkitekter won an international competition to design a 20 year masterplan for the relocation of the Swedish town of Kiruna.


Kiruna has to move. The town was built in 1900 by the state-owned mining company LKAB to house workers at the iron ore mine, with LKAB engaging some of the best archi- tects and planners of the day to build it. In 2004, the company announced it intended to drill deeper into the ground on the western edge of Kiruna and warned that the resulting subsidence would cause the town to collapse. Faced with the choice of shutting down the mine – resulting in mass unemployment – or moving Kiruna, LKAB opted to fund the relo- cation of the town two miles east in order to sustain mining activities until 2033. It’s a massive project and in their competi- tion submission, White Arkitekter made it clear that a 20 year plan wasn’t nearly long enough, instead initiating a 100 year masterplan which will see the town being moved in phases, ‘crawling’ step by step along a new urban belt towards its fi nal location. The old Kiruna will be phased out and inhabitants will relocate as the new town becomes more vibrant. “It’s a very exciting project,” says White Arkitekter’s CEO Monica von Schmalensee. “How often, as a planner and architect, do you get to move a whole town? The world is


how often do


you get to move a whole town?


82 CLADGLOBAL.COM


Monica von Schmalensee (above) and Viktoria Walldin (above right). Kiruna’s historic church (right)


now looking at Kiruna. There’s an opportunity to make this something really special.” The vision is to create a sus-


tainable model town with a more diverse economy that’s less reli- ant on iron ore. The hope is that the new Kiruna will also pull in more tourists and be more attrac- tive to women and families, as Kiruna has always been very male dominated. At the same time, it’s important to respect the heritage of the existing town and the mem- ories of its inhabitants. This will be achieved in a variety of ways – the iconic wooden church, for example, which was designed by Gustaf


When White Arkitekter won the competition to relocate the Arctic town of Kiruna to stop it being swallowed up by its mine, they knew they had a real opportunity on their hands. The CEO and social anthropologist tell Magali Robathan how culture and leisure will play a central role in the new Kiruna


Wickman and voted Sweden’s most beautiful building in 2014, will be dismantled and recon- structed, while materials from demolished buildings will be reused wherever possible. “It’s a big question for us: How do you bring the memories of the old Kiruna with


CLADmag 2015 ISSUE 1


PHOTO: HEINZ-JOSEF LÜCKING VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS


H


L


S


S


A


P


A


N


D


W


D


E


I


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132