A Blue Entrance - to the City in the Sea

Team Point of View

The main concept of the project is to re-establish the topography of the Swedish archipelago around Karlskrona, thereby creating a transition from mainland – a landscape stretching across several smaller islands leading to the island of Trossö. This is achieved by cutting out the disappeared islands of Hattmakareholmen, Skomakarholmen and Pantarholmen from the reclamation ground that was originally taken from the sea during the planning paradigms of the industrial era in the 19th and 20th century. We propose to create a main entrance to Karlskrona where to lead you across a landscape of sea and islands – Creating a Blue Entrance to the City in the Sea.

Jury Point of View

The proposal extends the notion of recreating the site into islands to its furthest extreme by excavating the land along the two entrances to the central city – the railway and Österleden – replacing it with large surfaces of water. This approach, despite its extent, opens up for a successful engagement of the urban structure with new waterfronts. In parallel, the authors apply a strategy of historic layering. This attitude contributes to a contextualized but rich and intriguing characteristic of the new urban landscape.