Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm

The City of Stockholm invites to architecture competition about a new crematorium at the Woodland cemetery.

On behalf of the City of Stockholm, the City Cemeteries Administration is arranging an invited international architectural competition for a new crematorium at the Woodland cemetery, listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The new crematory is to complement Gunnar Asplund’s world-famous Woodland Crematorium dating 1940. Up to five architects will be invited to the competition.

The Woodland Crematorium has managed to operate according to the original concept over the years, thanks to the continual renewal of its technical facilities. Now, however, the increasing demand for higher standards of technical performance and in the working environment mean that the existing crematorium in Gunnar Asplund’s building can no longer be modernized without causing unacceptable changes to his original concept and design.

The City Cemeteries Council has therefore decided to move the entire cremation facilities to a new building alongside Asplund’s, while yet permitting the necessary functional and technical connections. Asplund’s original building with its three chapels will continue as the setting for ceremonial services as before and the new building will be located at a respectful distance so as not to harm the current crematorium’s setting in the Woodland landscape.

The primary competition task is to design a building for this facility in accordance with the Woodland Cemetery adding chapel tradition, as designed in landscape and buildings by Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz. The new building has to fit in that composition in such a way that the World Heritage status is unaffected. In addition to its necessary technical functions, the new building must also have the qualities of symbolic and sacred expression to receive mourners. It is a matter of the utmost architectural delicacy to design a new building in the setting of Asplund’s Woodland cemetery. The City is looking for architects to participate in the competition with a close understanding of Asplund’s architecture and the new building demands the same level of timeless design, simplicity of material and mastery of detail within a limited budget as the original composition.

The prequalification for the competition starts now. The competition is planned to run between June 1st and September 30th 2009. The entries will be judged by a jury representing the City Cemetery Administration, the City Museum and the Swedish Association of Architects. The City Council is expected to decide on the financing of the project during the spring 2009.

Information about competition will be found at this website.

The public notice for the prequalification is found at http://system.allego.se/?ffu=0B9Q891yi3i4xzT4q

Registration is necessary.

http://www.arkitekt.se/woodland2009