Kiruna Town Hall, designed Danish studio Henning Larsen, is the first building completed as part of the £1 billion relocation of Sweden's northernmost town.
Henning Larsen designed the circular town hall to become the administrative and cultural centre of Kiruna, which is being moved three kilometres east, as it is slowly being swallowed by an underground mine.

Located 95 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the town of Kiruna exists due to its close proximity to the largest iron ore mine on the planet. However the extensive mining is now destroying the town.
The mine's shafts, which extend 1,365 meters beneath the surface, have begun causing sinkholes and rifts that are predicted to collapse the site of the existing town within the century. In response to this threat, the state-owned mining company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara (LKAB) is relocating the town and its 18,000 population, at an estimated cost of £1 billion.
Photo is by Peter RosénLKAB plans to relocate 21 existing significant buildings from the old town of Kiruna, including its church, which was voted Sweden's most beautiful building. The majority of the rest of the town will be reconstructed from scratch.
Officially named the Crystal, Henning Larsen's town hall, which opened today, is the first stage in this remarkable relocation plan. It has been designed to become a recognisable heart and natural gathering place for the new town.

"The idea of the building is that i...