Torget: Power of Places

Step into ArkDes and onto Torget, a place to engage in the discussions about the transformation our societies are undergoing today to meet the challenges of tomorrow. In the 2024 installation on Torget, you can immerse yourself in Power of Places, a research project based in Malmö that explores methods for preserving and carefully developing the local in urban development processes. 

The world is facing immense climate challenges. Through the research project Power of Places, Layered, a group of architects and artists, examines how the Nyhamnen district in Malmö could be developed by making the most out of what already exists. 

Comprising Daniel Feldman, Ana Sokoloff, Sumayya Vally, and María José Arjona, Layered have studied and mapped everything – from buildings and materials to local people’s experiences of the place, and their dreams about its future. Based on this, a car ramp facing demolition will become an amphitheatre, dismantled fencing will be transformed into woven pergolas, and the wild greenery of the area will become a forest directly on the asphalt. At ArkDes, the results of the project in Nyhamnen will be displayed through an installation at Torget. Together with local craftspeople and residents of Malmö, Layered have woven together an installation based on what is already there. Feel free to take a seat and experience their ideas! 

ArkDes has a mission from the government to promote Sweden’s architecture and design policy goals – Policy for Designed Living Environment ↗. To explore the policy in practice and test new approaches, ArkDes conducts practice-based research. Power of Places ↗ is a practice-based research project in collaboration with the City of Malmö, supported by The Society for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Green Parks in Malmö.