With its mediaeval core, later development as an important port, followed by urban regeneration begun in the 1990s, modern Malmö is a city of several juxtaposed yet heterogeneous parts. Its skyline of compact low-rise buildings against a backdrop of towering cranes around the port now has now a new feature: the fragmented volume of the Malmö Live complex containing a 1,600 seat concert hall, conference center, hotel, residential and retail activities.
Together with Skanska, Nordic Choice Hotels Akustikon and SLA, architecture firm schmidt hammer lassen architects won the competition to design this 54,000 square meter complex in the heart of Malmö with the declared aim of creating a building that would interpret and sustain the dynamic expressive spirit of the city.
Originally Scandinavian but with some 25 years international experience, schmidt hammer lassen architects has once again succeeded in combining sensitivity for the particular urban context with attention to interior design and detail at every phase of planning and execution.
The aim to blend the new complex with the surrounding city guided the choice of many aspects of the program: the composition of the volumes, the design of the façades, the ground-floor distribution, the accesses points and the many functions within the complex.
Proximity of the port, castle and historic mediaeval center pointed to the need for the new center to dialogue with all these different parts. As a consequence, the complex has no front or back but is rather designed as the missing piece in a puzzle linking the various elements around. The same thinking was also behind the decision to break it down into three different architectural volumes, each referring to one or more of the three main functions: the auditorium and conference center in the two low-rise parallelepiped volumes, and the hotel and private residences in the three higher rise...
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