E18 Portrait - Gottsunda's Common Ground

Uppsala (SE) - Special mention

Gottsunda's Common Ground

Associates: Evan Saarinen (US) – architect urbanist
Contributors: Hongyu Huang (CN) – 3D designer, Hongjin Li (CN) – landscape architect, Zifei Wang (CN) – architect, Yi Xu (CN) – student in architecture

Read the full portrait here
See the complete listing of portraits here

"Our project re-sources Gottsunda through all three dimensions. Nature: we de-pave a vast parking lot into a green corridor of native Nordic species, creating a carbon sink. Social dynamics: civic ground-floor programs—makerspaces, laundromats, a mosque, saunas—bridge immigrant, student, and local communities through shared daily life. New materiality: CLT construction sequesters CO₂, turning buildings into carbon stores. The project is regenerative because every surface—ground, façade, roof—shifts from consuming resources to generating them: a vertical farm on the mall façade grows food cooperatively, rooftop solar produces community energy, and native planting addresses biodiversity."

Blocks
Courtyard Perspective
Facade as Cooperative Farming Infrastructure