Väla Gård

Helsingborg, Zweden

Photo © Martin Palvén

Architecten: Tengbom

Locatie: Kanongatan 10A, 254 67 Helsingborg, Zweden
Jaar: 2012

Väla Gård, an old-fashioned farm building located along the highway into Helsingborg. Nearby the peripheral retail centre, but also surrounded by a beautiful forest. The client’s ambition is to transform this unique setting into a new business park with a strong focus on eco-friendly constructions.

The new buildings have a unified approach and are inspired by the barn’s geometric form. The buildings echo the barn’s roof angle and ridge height but with an independent identity.

The building’s 70 workspaces unites the company’s 6 operating units. Two gently-angled volumes form an intermediate space with a foyer, reception and central core. The space opens out, enabling visual contacts and movement between the buildings’ work zones, encouraging collaboration, spontaneous meetings and wide-ranging interaction.

A monochromatic black wooden skin harks back to the Swedish farm tradition. The black interacts with the green setting and the south-western roof’s integrated PV solar panels, and highlights the lighter stonework of the barn building. Contrast comes from the gables’ rust-coloured corten screen that interacts with the barn’s warm, red brick features. The perforated metal functions as a passive sun screen. Oak trees on site provided the inspiration for a graphic design feature – an abstract reflection of the green setting.

The building is LEED certified, a score of 95 points makes it Europe no 1 in its class. The building’s energy concept gave rise to the first Nordic office building that generates more electricity than it consumes. Additional prioritised environmental goals include zero “phase-out substances”, zero landfill waste, the prioritisation of locally produced materials, and reduced water consumption.

Väla Gård was also shortlisted in World Architecture Festival in 2013, in two categories (New and Old and Office).