Topia landskapsarkitekter: The Arninge-Ullna Riparian Forest Park project is part of a new urban district in the municipality of Täby. It envisions a new form of neighbourhood park which combines biological conservation with the functions of an urban park, engaging with the city and nature as one intertwined entity.

The park opens the riparian alder forest to the public while preserving the unique ecological qualities of the site. This is accomplished by making a few careful additions to the landscape. Wooden walkways of varying width are used to improve accessibility to the forest with platforms and jetty’s providing vistas over the Ullna Lake. The park is lined by pillars and signs of weathered steel, backlit and engraved with ecological information and poetic descriptions of nature in the form of haiku-poems by Nobel Laurate Tomas Tranströmer.

Broad walkways form the base of the new route into the woods, with narrow walkways branching out and allowing for exploratory detours into the greenery. Native trees and plants are allowed to pierce through the design through recessed ochre gratings and careful excisions in the wooden structures, symbolising the philosophy that lies at the heart of the project.

Landscape Architect: Topia landskapsarkitekter
Project location (Street, City, Country): Ullna strand, Stockholm, Sweden
Design year: 2011-2013
Year Built: 2014