Lakehouse, Wendelstrand

During a recent trip to see my daughter in Sweden, I visited Wendelstrand, a new neighbourhood being constructed in Molnlycke, a small town about 10 kilometres from Gothenburg.

Wendelstrand will be a neighbourhood of around 1,200 homes that is being developed by the Swedish real estate company, Next Step Group in a former quarry surrounded by forest and next to a large lake on the outskirts of Molnlycke.  The development is being designed so that it can support an environmentally and socially sustainable lifestyle with various eco-friendly and low-carbon housing types, public parks, a pedestrian and bike-friendly environment, schools, good public transport links and shared services such electric carpools.  It aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the development and create a place where the residents not only live and work but connect with their fellow residents and enjoy the natural world around them.

It is unusual in that Next Step have financed the construction of community facilities (the Lakehouse) before starting the construction of any homes.  The Lakehouse is situated on a site above and overlooking the lake.  It is a multi-functional building that will provide the development’s residents with various amenities including a restaurant, a café, shops, event spaces, office spaces, a gym and a wellness centre and which will be a centre where residents can meet and build a sense of community.  It is hoped that the provision of multiple office spaces will facilitate a more flexible way of working for residents and reduce the amount of time spent travelling to and from their workplaces and the amount of CO2 emissions that are produced.

The Lakehouse has been designed by Snohetta, a Norwegian firm of architects known for their design of the opera house in Oslo, who will also be designing some of the housing in the development (other firms involved in the design of the housing are White Arkitecter and Tham and Videgard).

Snohetta have stated that their focus was on the creation of a flexible design using high quality and sustainable materials that can withstand the local climatic conditions.  The design of the building follows the site’s topography, rising from North to South and continuing the planned park through its sloping and accessible roof.  At the Southern and tallest end of the building, an open atrium rises through all levels creating a dramatic, vertical, light-filled space that is designed to host concerts, performances or private events.  The seating continues externally into an open-air amphitheatre overlooking the lake.

The two lower floors of the building are constructed mainly of local stone and concrete while the upper floors are constructed of laminated and natural timber.  All levels have large expanses of glazing offering views from the interior of the building to the surrounding forest and countryside.  The accessible roof provides gardens, terraces and walkways while the roof itself is covered with native plants that will delay rainwater runoff, help reduce internal temperatures, foster biodiversity while being attractive in its own right.

We visited the site on a Sunday and it was unfortunately not possible to get into the building.  From the outside however, it is a very impressive building which seems well-designed, quiet well detailed (although a little clunky in parts) and finished to a high standard.  While Snohetta’s use of sloping roofs (and facades) in many of its buildings might be seen as a gimmick, in this case it does seem to be justified in that it provides an additional and interesting green space together with facilities such as cafes, terraces and viewing points as well as being a very visible focal point for the neighbourhood as a whole.  It will be very interesting to follow the development of the neighbourhood and see how this community building fits into the overall development.

It is also interesting to compare this development with a similar one in UK, the Duchy of Cornwall development planned for South East Faversham that has been discussed in a previous entry to this Journal.

The Duchy development is planned to take place over a period of 20 years and there is nothing in it to compare with the ambition seen in the Wendelstrand development.  The first phase of 261 homes will have a small local centre providing some local shops and further phases will see the construction of some employment opportunities, a primary school and provision of sites (not buildings) for health and social facilities.  The existing cricket pitch will be relocated on the site and there will be training facilities for Faversham football club.  Some sites for allotments for residents will also be provided. 

Apart from these there are no other community facilities and nothing like those that are provided in the Lakehouse and there will be no real focal point that could encourage interaction between residents and the development of a real community.  A real opportunity has been missed due to what; a lack of imagination, ambition or funding or perhaps a lack of faith in the future of the development itself?

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Architecture in Developing Countries: A Resource

The design and construction of appropriate, low-cost buildings for education and health in rural areas of the developing world.

Nigel Wakeham is an architect who lived for 23 years in Southern and West Africa and the SW Pacific working on education, health and other projects. He has since worked for over 20 years as a consultant for national governments and agencies such as the World Bank, DFID, ADB and AfDB on the implementation of the construction components of education and health projects in many countries in the developing world.​

​The objective of this website will be to provide the benefit of more than 45 years of experience of working in developing countries to architects and other construction professionals involved in the design and construction of appropriate, low-cost buildings for education and health. It will provide reference material from the projects that Nigel has worked on and technical information on the design, construction and maintenance of educational and health facilities and other relevant topics and these will be added to from time to time.

I am happy to be contacted by anyone requiring further information on any of the projects or resources referred to in this website or by anyone wishing to discuss work possibilities.

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