Gottlieb Paludan Architects has won first prize in the project competition to design the urban space, park environment and station buildings at Haga Station in Gothenburg. The proposal was designed in collaboration with AFRY Gothenburg.

In the competition program, Gothenburg Municipality has placed great emphasis on the interaction with Haga’s cultural-historical environment. The project must help transform the traffic-dominated area into an attractive, accessible and safe meeting place and create peace and coherence in an area characterized by many different modes of transportation. The urban space at Haga station is highly influenced by Kungsparken, which is also involved and activated as part of the winning project. Essentially, it is the project's ambition to emphasize the urban space, while the station buildings are designed as low-key, functional pavilions in the green urban space.

The winning competition proposal Gläntan (The Glade) ”manages to combine park and station environments into an attractive and functional whole. Another strength is that the proposal is designed with as great a sense of the city's cultural history as it for urban life and the needs of travellers,”says Johan Rehngren, Stadsträdgårdsmästare in Gothenburg Municipality and chairman of the competition jury.

The competition proposal is based on the unique, historic character of the Haga quarter and on the flow of people, which the new station area will support. It is the proposal's ambition that everything new that is added must be based on a thorough understanding of the character of the environment and contribute positively to the park and the urban space. The jury describes Gottlieb Paludan Architects' proposal as "an inspiring example of how large infrastructure projects can become an integral part of a historic urban environment".

The proposal was created in close collaboration by a cross disciplinary team consisting of architects, landscape architects, designers, engineers and cultural heritage experts from Gottlieb Paludan Architects in Copenhagen and AFRY in Gothenburg.

Haga is one of the oldest quarters in Gothenburg. Haga Station will increase the accessibility  of important local areas and development areas around Järntorget and Södra Älvstranden and create a new hub for public transport in a valuable, popular and culturally sensitive environment. The urban space and integrated station buildings must, therefore, balance the consideration of the cultural environment and the adaptation to the functions of the traffic.

The competition is organized by the Municipality of Gothenburg, Park and Nature Management as well as Västtrafik, Västfastigheter, the Swedish Transport Administration and Sveriges Arkitekter.

Read more about the jury's motivation here.