The Skellefteå Kulturhus competition provided a critical opportunity to shape the cultural landscape of Skellefteå in northern Sweden, and the brief elicited a range of exciting responses. Stockholm-based architecture studio Norell/Rodhe have now unveiled their entry, titled "Supergroup." 

Courtesy of Norell/Rodhe

The Skellefteå Kulturhus competition provided a critical opportunity to shape the cultural landscape of Skellefteå in northern Sweden, and the brief elicited a range of exciting responses. Stockholm-based architecture studio Norell/Rodhe have now unveiled their entry, titled "Supergroup." 

Courtesy of Norell/Rodhe

Their proposal features a colorful composition of interlocking building volumes which reference the traditional use of luminous, colored plaster facades in the local area. The masses retain their own function and qualities but form a lively community when grouped together.
Courtesy of Norell/Rodhe

Norell/Rodhe?s entry gathers several cultural institutions - a theater, two art galleries, a library, a conference center and a hotel - as a set of individual buildings grouped on top of a low podium. This way, each institution retains some of its independent identity, while simultaneously allowing for productive adjacencies with neighboring institutions. On the exterior, each building mass acquires its own character ...