Three pre-studies explore transformation of industrial landscapes

Based on the Munsö Löten gravel quarry on Ekerö, the Laisvall mine in Arjeplog and the Makadamen quarry in Åstorp, three pre-studies will explore how industrial environments can be developed to meet the needs of future societies through innovative design. The studies were selected through ArkDes’s practice-based research open call Reimagining Landscapes.

Reimagining Landscapes explores how industrial landscapes that are facing decommissioning or are no longer in use can take on new roles in future societies. The project will develop methods, design principles and future scenarios for the sustainable transformation of industrial landscapes. The focus is on how design can contribute new perspectives on remediation, transformation and long-term management. The aim is to develop knowledge that can be relevant to municipalities, property owners and other stakeholders across Sweden.

Through the open call, the pre-studies Där marken brutits, Gro / Grund and Brottet were selected. The pre-studies represent different approaches to industrial landscapes in transition: through cultural heritage and restoration art, through long-term management and remediation, and through scenario-based and site-specific design processes.

Reimagining Landscapes is part of ArkDes’ research area Transformation and contributes to a broader focus on landscape architecture.

Team members

Clara Eckersten, landscape architect LAR/MSA
Erik Svensson, park technician and gardener, Alnarp Landscape Laboratory
Ernesto Garcia, interior architect SIR/MSA and PhD student at Konstfack

Rationale

“Gro / Grund’s” focus on remediation, long-term management and maintenance as design and knowledge-building practices is considered highly relevant to the open call. Based on the decommissioned Laisvall lead mine, the pre-study explores how a landscape that has already been remediated can be understood, managed and further developed. The application convincingly formulates a central question for many industrial landscapes in transition: how can an already repaired landscape be further developed? By understanding remediation as an ongoing process, the pre-study opens up new perspectives on how cultural, architectural, social and ecological values can coexist and be renegotiated in an evolving landscape.

The team’s expertise in design-based landscape architecture, practical management and architectural research, together with collaboration with the landowner and its connection to a developed remediation plan, provides strong conditions for implementation and knowledge development.

Overall, the application is considered highly relevant and has significant potential to develop knowledge, methods and perspectives for the long-term transformation and management of industrial landscapes.  

Team members

Åsa Bexelius, landscape architect LAR/MSA
Malena Norlin, architect SAR/MSA and artist
Christina Shutrick, architect SAR/MSA and conservation architect

Rationale

The starting point of “Där marken brutits” in restoration art, cultural heritage perspectives and remediation as a design practice is considered highly relevant to the open call. Through the Munsö Löten gravel quarry, the pre-study explores an active quarry landscape undergoing a gradual transition as a site where industrial interventions and layers of cultural heritage coexist and can be reinterpreted over time. Particularly prominent is the reading of the landscape’s material formations as carriers of biological, spatial and aesthetic values rather than as surfaces to be restored.

The team brings together expertise in restoration art, landscape architecture and artistic research, with experience of multi-scalar and site-responsive approaches as well as working at a 1:1 scale. This is considered to have the potential to make relationships between industrial traces, topography, ecology and cultural heritage visible in new ways. The pre-study’s dialogue with the landowner and its connection to an ongoing decommissioning and remediation process create strong conditions for exploring how existing landscape values can be preserved and developed in future transformation processes.

Overall, the application is considered highly relevant and has significant potential to contribute new perspectives on industrial landscapes as culturally rooted and evolving environments.

Team members

Johanna Fager, architect SAR/MSA and artist
Martina Pereira Norrman, landscape and planning architect LAR/MSA
Yasemin Yilmaz, architect SAR/MSA

Rationale

“Brottet’s” starting point in a clear material and landscape perspective, together with remediation as a design practice, is considered highly relevant to the open call. Based on the former Makadamen quarry in Åstorp, the pre-study explores how an industrial landscape can be further developed without making its traces and dependencies invisible. Central to the approach is reading the site through the relationships between water, vegetation, technical systems and social needs related to accessibility, management and future use.

The project stands out through its scenario-based approach, in which questions of what is perceived as damaged, restored or healed are explored through site studies, conversations and design-based analysis. Materials and landscapes are understood as part of an interconnected process in which scale and time are central points of departure.

The team brings together interdisciplinary expertise in architecture, landscape architecture and artistic practice, with experience of site-based approaches. Collaboration with the landowner is central to the feasibility of the project and strengthens its connection to the site’s transformation processes.

Overall, the application is considered highly relevant and has significant potential to contribute new perspectives on industrial landscapes through scenario-based and site-specific design processes.