Europan 12 - Kalmar - Marco Pusterla, Edvin Bylander, René Andersson, Emilie Dafgård, Madeleine Heckler

Climate change and consequent landscape transformations are reshaping our waterfronts. The project for Kalmar finds its meaning in the reading of these phenomena and establishes a resilient relation between urbanity and nature.

The in-between landscape connects a new development and an existing one with the natural landscape. As the water level rises, the character of the landscape will change and it will slowly transform over the next 100 years into a new waterfront. Around the landscape-park, three unique and strongly defined parts are created. Together with the existing neighborhood they form a stronger relationship to Kalmar, both spatially and cognitively.

Plan of the proposed expansion Kalmar south.

The proposal uses boundaries as the key element for negotiating relationships between private and public space. Clear boundaries between landscape/neighborhood, blocks and plots create a framework that can allow different kind of housing typologies and individual buildings, and provide high quality public space. The variation of plots in each block gives multiple possibilities for development, as some blocks might be fully built at once; others might only to be developed to a certain degree, leaving room for densification over time.

View along Road 22

Just as the conditions for landscape will change due to geology and climate, conditions for buildings will change due to economical fluctuations and cultural influence. The success of Rinkabyholm is about creating a resilient configuration that releases the qualities of the whole site, rather than emphasizing only one of its capacities.