Translation of
article in ARKITEKTUR magazine, April 2004.
Office for OMHEX, Stockholm
The Ford factory at Värtahamnen, a building of
great historic and cultural importance designed in 1932
by Uno Åhrén, has been refurbished to house
the head offices of securities brokerage company, OMHEX.
The architects Sandellsandberg redesigned the building
and interiors of what is now the workplace of 1,200
people. Natural point of reference for the future, as
Mikael Bergquist expresses in his commentary on page
57.
The architect describes the assignment: The project
had phases: Phase one agreeing the program and system
decisions with OMHEX as the tenants; and the second
phase the buildings and the construction project together
with Wihlborgs Properties, the property developer. Sandellsandberg
were also responsible for the interior parts design.
Our ambition was to reconstruct the Ford factory into
a modern and efficient office building with a unique
character.
The building is listed building (“K-classified”
building) by Stockholm city council. Care and consideration
had to be taken to conserve the outside of the building
and the large windows.
The contrast between the historical factory environment
and the modern hi-tech office provides a dynamic background
for the new business.
Originally the building had three floors around an
enclosed courtyard. By adding of a new mezzanine floor
and other levels, and adding a basement under the couryard,
the building increased by 16.500 m².
The new main entrance is situated to the south and
towards Lindarängsvägen and Gärdet. The
original entrance was towards east and has been retained
and is today used for the Stockholm brokerage office.
In what was the courtyard we have placed two new floors
and the challenge was how to combine all these different
elements and make possible the flow of communication
through the whole building. In this area, the heart
of the building, the restaurant, auditorium, conference
and training areas are situated.
The restaurant is within the 12 meter high and terraced,
light filled, glassed atrium. A smaller atrium gives
the building a narrow a garden, open to the elements.
The light throughout the building is maximized from
the generous large windows and also the fact that the
new floors are not built traditionally spanning the
whole building. This retains the industrial factory
atmosphere of the building. The rich variety of highs
and different directions give every department an individual
feeling. Around the old inner walls of the building
the open plan offices are complemented with meeting
rooms, quiet rooms and places for photocopying and environment
stations.
As the architects had the responsibility for both the
building and the interior design project, it was possible
to integrate the lighting and acoustics-solutions in
the total design and plan them specifically for the
company’s business needs. OMHEX will move up to
1,000 personnel to this new facility during the year
2004. The demand of flexibility has been handled by
the placement of workstations; rooms for private conversations,
special “pods” in glass partitioning when
work demands deep concentration and stations for photocopying
made with special movable units.
The original boiler-house situated outside the main
building contained an enormous boiler and silo for the
coal on its upper level, and machinery with compression
and equipment rooms in the basement. The new upper level
will house a gymnasium, a smaller indoor sport arena
and changing rooms.
The project is to be finish in May 2004. The project
was completed in a very short time schedule, demanding
a close cooperation and commitment from all those involved
in the project. A good requirement for an excellent
result.
Thomas Sandell
Anja Geigant
Ola Göransson
Johan Oscarsson
Arkitektur magazine, April 2004 issue.
Strategic choice of systems that liberates the rooms
I have never seen a contemporary Swedish Office project
with the same spatial qualities and complex atmosphere
as the OMHEX project. From the outside there are only
a couple of multi colored blinds and a discreet entrance
that indicates that Uno Åhren’s Ford Motor
Company has undergone a complete transformation.
The walk from the entrance to the central common areas
is via a spatial sequence that differs from high to
low. The refurbished building‘s structural floors
are not all uniformly the length and breadth of the
building, and, as a result, gaps of light are created
that guide the daylight from the new glazed atrium ceiling.
Like a giant piece of furniture in pine plywood and
plastic, the auditorium, with restaurant, kitchen and
step terraces, looms in the room. A narrow courtyard
is located connecting to a library. White strip lights
blend with daylight. A naked concrete floor forms the
foundation. It certainly doesn’t look like a foyer
of a conventional office building, rather a transit
hall in an airport or a lobby of a large hotel, or something
in between. A post-modern room with no obvious centre
point. Complex, with a unique atmosphere.
This is created with a light hand and mild humour.
Thomas Sandell doesn’t seem to have as much to
prove as in his previous projects. The furniture in
the common areas stretch without interruption from Dieter
Rahm’s sophisticated bookshelves to cheap wicker
chairs from Ikea. Materials like pine, plywood and plastic
that easily could have had no impact, now work because
the surrounding spatial qualities are so powerful.
Another condition for the success of the project is
the strategic choice of systems Sandell and his colleagues
have made. By using underfloor installations (Protek
Underfloor Air Distribution System) in the office areas,
all media is distributed from the underfloor, with clean
ceilings as the result. You escape all the routine-like
system solutions the construction market offers. A relieving
simplicity without suspended ceiling, power trunkings
from ceiling and walls or visible ventilations ducts
and diffusers.
How does the project function as work environment?
Being located in the old harbour area demands some sort
of compensation for the employees and maybe the common
areas are enough. But 1,200 identical office workplaces
in open plan, organized in straight lines, does give
a slight feeling of frightening uniformity. The workplaces
themselves are minimal and the question is; can the
privacy aspects of an office become more restricted
than this. Here, the potential and freedom in the installation
floors has not been utilized to create more dynamic
and specific furnishing.
The OMHEX- building will represent a definite reference
for future office environments. It demonstrates how
far you can actually stretch the “possible”
limits. The project is smarter and funnier than any
other office building in Sweden right now.
