The town of Kiruna in Lapland, Sweden, is known for its Jukkasjårvi Ice Hotel and for hosting the recent Arctic Council summit. It also sits within the Arctic Circle, on one of the world’s richest deposits of iron ore. Now in danger of collapse due to extensive deep mining, the city center is to be relocated in a plan developed by White Arkitekter, which includes a new town hall by Henning Larsen.
Kiruna lies 140 km (87 miles) north of the Arctic Circle in an area rich in mineral deposits. The town is of great national importance in Sweden, not only due to the productivity of the mine, but because of its historic, 100-year-old buildings, its ties with the nomadic Sami people and because it’s an area of natural beauty. Internationally, too, Kiruna has become a known as a tourist destination. The unprecedented new scheme will see the town center "migrating" to a new, more stable location, while community and transportation links are re-established through a forward-thinking plan of development and restoration. White Arkitekter says that it was the long-term strategy of this proposal that won the firm the commission. Since mining is set to continue, the difficulty lay in finding a location that would not become vulnerable in another few decades. The scheme involves a gradual process of building new structures on the eastern side, while dismantling those at the western edge of the town.
Rather than creating a new town center that could be threatened in the near future, or a satellite town center outside the mining zone that would make for a disjointed community, White will move the center farther east, but in the direction of established suburbs, and re-orient the community gradually away from the mining deformation at its western edge. The proposed eastward march of Kiruna making an elongated west-east oval, will also improve the integration of the community, according to the architects, absorbing suburban sprawl, and re-establishing some of the natural habitat in the dis-used mining grounds.
The town center, instead of lying to the west of the main residential blocks will be set down on the eastern side, currently an area of disconnected neighborhoods thrown up in the 1960s and 70s. As for the 100-year-old town center, it will be a case of taking down the important buildings and preserving whatever is possible for re-use in the new town center and houses. However, as the mining continues, it is hard not to imagine that it may be a case of a town continuously on the run from collapse.
The iron mine is owned by the Swedish government, and it is the mining company who will be paying for the town’s re-location. It might seem there is a pretty strong case for shutting down the mines and opting for the preservation of natural environment, and of the longstanding community. But this iron mine is far too important to Sweden’s economy, accounting for just under one percent of the country’s overall GNP and a significant portion of the world's iron supply. In addition, further private mines are under operation, or will be in the near future, so rich is the area in gold, silver, and other minerals, such as those used in mobile phone technology.
The residents of Kiruna have been living in a kind of limbo for over a decade since they first learned that the ground was giving way beneath them. Many were reluctant to repair or maintain their houses, uncertain what the future would bring. The first tangible sign that the plan for the town is being implemented, that there is a real future for Kiruna, will be when the new town hall, designed by Danish firm Henning Larsen, begins construction in 2014. The current town hall is the building most at risk. So, though this is a very practical beginning, it also has huge portent for the inhabitants. The new building will be a modern, circular structure, already nicknamed the Crystal for the shape of the inner building, which sits inside an outer ring, and for its relation to the mineral deposits on which the town depends.
Responding to the sub-arctic climate, Henning Larsen created the rounded form so that it presents less resistance to the prevailing winds. The shape will also prevent snow build-up against the structure. The company has also seized the chance to present a more communal building, adding an art museum, learning environment and restaurant to the town hall facilities.
Source: Gizmag
