Lakehouse Wendelstrand
A garden city

2017–2024

Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Architecture

Introduction

Since 2017, Snøhetta has been engaged in the transformation of an old quarry to an environmentally and socially sustainable neighborhood in Mölnlycke, outside Gothenburg in Sweden. The ambition was to make the new buildings in Wendelstrand a leading example for environmentally friendly housing concepts and social sustainability. What started out as a lofty concept of healing a wound in the ground and regenerating the surrounding nature, has now manifested itself as a garden city with varied housing typologies suitable for any family.

Wendelstrand offers diverse public areas and a park that meanders through the development and has its crescendo as the roofscape of Lakehouse – a communal building to be used and enjoyed by everyone living or visiting Wendelstrand.

Technical details

Typologies
Master Planning, Residential, Sustainability, Mixed Use
Status
Ongoing
Location
Mölnlycke, Sweden
Client

Next Step

Photo: bucharest.studio

Photo: Plomp

A model for innovative housing

With the ambition to create something that exceeds a conventional neighborhood and breaks with traditional housing typologies, Lakehouse is designed to invite people in, on, and around the building.  The Lakehouse project aim to be an essential catalyst for creating enthusiasm, attractiveness, and cohesion in the area and serve as an inviting destination for the entire region. 
The multi-functional building will provide the town’s first new residents with a top-of-the-line restaurant, a café, shops, event spaces, office spaces, a gym and a wellness center – all under one common, green roof.  The building, and the whole area in general, is an interplay between new buildings, existing nature, and innovative solutions for a sustainable life.  

Photo: bucharest.studio

From a quarry to the tree house

The design of the spaces is heavily inspired by the rich history of the site and dominated by rock features reflecting the surroundings. The top two floors illude a tree canopy inspired by treetop houses.
The ground floor and the two lower floors holds most of the main functions of the building as well as a spiraling wooden staircase 

Photo: Plomp

Withstanding the tide of time

The focus has been to give the building a flexible concept and an overall design of high architectural quality using sustainable materials that can withstand the rough local climatic conditions emphasizing the intended use of the building.

From the outside, Lakehouse is shaped in circular segments following the natural topography of the site that naturally rises from the park in the north towards the south. The building is shaped by and for nature, adapted to its new garden city.

One of the main focus areas for the project has been on choice of materials and natural, local materials with high-bound energy and low CO2 emissions is prioritized. The facades and most of the construction is natural materials such as wood and stone with a color scheme adapted to the surroundings. Alongside with the visible construction a large glass facade gives the building an uplifting expression – creating the feeling of being both outside and inside at the same time.

Photo: bucharest.studio

A plethora of possibilities

When entering Lakehouse you have a plethora of options, ranging from enjoying the dawn sunlight from the restaurant balconies to watching a concert from the amphitheater-like steps of the atrium while enjoying the cathedral-like 16m high ceilings.

The project has the capacity of becoming a pioneering project testing innovative, sustainable transport solutions. The area is ideal for bikes and pedestrians and projects for carsharing, electric cars and bikes and self-running buses are envisaged.
The flexible office space providing the residents with a green and inviting space is constructed out of cross-laminated timber, glulam, and natural materials.   

Photo: Plomp

Photo: bucharest.studio

Photo: bucharest.studio