Present to mark the construction start of campus Albano was the Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson, the Mayor of Stockholm Karin Wanngård, the Vice-Chancellors of Stockholm University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology Astrid Söderbergh Widding and Peter Gudmundson, the CEO of Akademiska Hus Kerstin Lindberg Göransson, the CEO of Svenska Bostäder Pelle Björklund as well as the Vice President of the student union at Stockholm University Isabella Hagnell (SUS) and the President of the student union at KTH Pontus Gard (THS).
“Boosting Sweden as a leading research and knowledge nation requires attractive campus environments where people and ideas can meet. Albano will be an important meeting place for researchers and students from across the country and will help to strengthen our international appeal”, says Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Minister for Higher Education and Research.
“This project is extremely important for the future. It is beneficial for Stockholm as a region of knowledge, and at the same time we do something about the housing shortage we know inhibits growth, says Karin Wanngård, Mayor of Stockholm.
"Albano will be a modern campus"
As Stockholm University and KTH grow, there is both a short term and a long term need for new premises where the universities can meet and collaborate with each other and with the surrounding society. A total of approximately 100 000 square metres of university facilities will be built in the area.
“Albano will be a modern campus, a place for research and higher education with ample opportunities for meetings and collaborations across disciplinary and departmental borders”, says Astrid Söderbergh Widding, Vice-Chancellor of Stockholm University.
“For KTH Royal Institute of Technology, it will be a most welcomed development where both our campuses will be tied closer together, which hopefully will lead to synergy effects in both research and education as well as student housing”, says Peter Gudmundson, Vice-Chancellor of KTH.
1 000 student and researcher flats
In addition to turning Albano into an attractive knowledge environment with educational and research facilities, approximately 1 000 flats for students and researchers will be built in the area, as well as premises for commercial services like restaurants and cafés. A multitude of businesses will help to create a vibrant urban environment at all hours.
“Building campus Albano with 1 000 climate-smart flats for students and researchers is fully in line with our aim to create more homes for young people. And to create an area bustling with life during all hours of the day in direct connection to the universities, is something we see as extremely positive”, says Pelle Björklund, CEO of Svenska Bostäder.
Sustainable urban design
Campus Albano will be developed in harmony with the environment, great consideration is given to biodiversity. The goal is to be a role model in sustainable city planning. A group of researchers from Stockholm Resilience Centre and KTH Architecture has provided comments and suggestions on the basis of socio-ecological urban design, thus integrating research in the planning process. Researchers actively participating in the planning process in this way make Albano a unique project.
“Akademiska Hus has designed sustainable campuses together with universities and colleges for many years. With the Albano project we take this to a new level by building an entire neighbourhood on nature’s terms – a neighbourhood that not only take the environment into account but also, through its design, contributes to the development of it”, says Kerstin Lindberg Göransson, CEO of Akademiska Hus.
Area
Campus Albano will be a node in a single campus that stretches from Stockholm University in the north, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts at Gärdet in the east, through the areas of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and KTH to the Hagastaden area with Karolinska Institutet in the west.
Operators
Plan owner: City of Stockholm
Tenants: Stockholm University and KTH
Building proprietor: Akademiska Hus (university premises) and Svenska Bostäder (student and researcher housing)
Architects: BSK Arkitekter, Christensen och Co Architects
Timetable
Turn of the first sod: November 2015
Planned move housing: 2018
Planned move university premises: 2019