Sweco Architects: The Skeppsbron hub is a key element of the future development of Gothenburg’s public transportation system. The terminal building, which was designed by Sweco and features gates for trams and buses, as well as docking space for boats, will serve as an ideal connection hub for all target groups. The hub handles around 12,000 travelers per day, which also places stringent demands on visibility, clarity and not least security and safety during the dark hours of the day and the year.
The Stenpiren transport hub consists of a series of rooms or spaces: Skeppsbroplatsen square, the Stenpiren pier, the bus/tram stops, the south-facing square in front of the terminal building and the large floating dock.
The open nature of the terminal building with major glassed wall-panels creates a feeling of accessibility, security and social reassurance. The vast and extending roof offers protection for travelers that are waiting outside. To ensure a sustainable design, we have used climate-smart and energy efficient solutions, and the aim is for Stenpiren to be certified in accordance with the Environmental Building Gold standard.
By gathering bus, tram and ferry traffic in a transport hub at Stenpiren, the site has not only been given a distinctive character but has also contributed to new patterns of movement in the city and across the river. After its transformation, the previously somewhat inaccessible and barren site stands out as an initial exclamation point and an emphatic first step in efforts to repopulate the southern shore of the river. As a precaution against higher water levels in the future, much of the area has been raised by around one meter.
There has been strong and consistent focus on the choice of materials, detail solutions and elevation, not least to ensure accessibility but also to offer a robust and appealing whole. To erase the boundaries between inside and out, grey granite (Kuru) has been used with joints extending on both sides of the terminal building’s glass facade.
The placement of the new building affects Stenpiren’s natural elasticity out into the river, but by accentuating the pier in the urban space with the help of light masts and ground treatment, the site has been visually elongated and given a stronger sense of presence and a unique identity.
The redevelopment of Skeppsbron includes urban blocks, streets, squares, a large park, a quayside path with docks and piers and a new public transport hub.
Stenpiren was awarded the Siena prize 2017, Sweden’s most prestigious prize for landscape architecture.
Landscape architects: Sweco Architects
Responsible Landscape Architect: Henrik Fogelklou
Responsible Architect: Pekka Leppänen
Other designers involved in the design of the landscape: Hanna Hjalmarsson, Hanna Gustafsson, Marcus Isaksson, Maria Modin, Urban Rickardsson and Malin Mirsch
Project location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Design year: 2013-2016
Year Built: 2016
Photography: Ernst Henry and Nils Olof Sjödén
