Beautiful architecture combined with social responsibility and a clear environmental focus is the basis for architects Okidoki’s innovative work in housing development. With Notuddsparken, all these aspects are combined in a housing project built entirely in wood. For this project, a new model for social sustainability was developed, called the Five Percent Model, which gives the commercial housing market the opportunity to take social responsibility and contribute to reducing segregation.
Local
Sweden
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Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-01-31
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Okidoki Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Rickard Last name of representative: Stark Gender: Male Nationality: Sweden Function: Creative Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Kastellgatan 1 Town: Göteborg Postal code: 41307 Country: Sweden Direct Tel:+46 73 622 72 00 E-mail:rickard@okidokiarkitekter.se Website:https://www.okidokiarkitekter.se/
Notuddsparken is a new construction of two buildings with 46 apartments in Västerås, Sweden. The houses are built entirely in wood, using modern timber construction techniques, and have received the highest FEBY Gold certification. Beautiful architecture combined with social responsibility and a clear environmental focus is the basis for architects Okidoki’s innovative work in housing development. For the project they developed a new model for social sustainability: the Five Percent Model.
The houses are favourably located in a straight southern position with a lush, mile-wide view of Lake Mälaren in the middle of Sweden. A clear goal of the project has been to do justice to the unique and attractive location, and Okidoki has put a lot of effort into the design of the houses. The focus has been on quality of living, mix of housing sizes and of course the long-term sustainability.
The facades have green heat-treated wood panels with decorative elements. Wood is a recurring theme and both houses are built using modern timber construction techniques. The exterior construction creates a loggia at the front of each apartment. A simple touch that adds a sense of willowy quality.
Okidoki has implemented their five percent model in the project. The model aims to reduce segregation by building housing for people with different socio-economic backgrounds. Specifically, five percent of the homes are sold at a discounted price to a non-profit organisation, which in turn helps vulnerable individuals in the community to rent housing. In Notuddsparken, two out of 46 apartments are rented to homeless people.
From an environmental point of view, Notuddsparken is also a good example of sustainable construction throughout the life cycle. Wooden building techniques combined with passive houses result in extremely low energy consumption and a small carbon footprint over time. A non-toxic living environment with minimal environmental impact.
Social responsibility
Minimal environmental impact
Beautiful architecture
Innovative housing development
Reducing segregation
From an environmental point of view, Notuddsparken is a good example of sustainable construction throughout the life cycle. Wooden building techniques combined with passive houses result in extremely low energy consumption and a small carbon footprint over time. The houses are environmentally certified according to Feby Gold, the highest international certification, which means that both the construction process and the materials meet very comprehensive quality and environmental requirements. The result is a non-toxic living environment with minimal environmental impact.
Solar cells are mounted on the roofs for electricity production. The electricity that the residents don't consume can be sold to electricity trading companies. This provides income for the residents, contributes to long-term good finances and a higher degree of self-sufficiency.
The houses are favourably located in a straight southern position with a lush, mile-wide view of Lake Mälaren in the middle of Sweden. A clear goal of the project has been to do justice to the unique and attractive location, and Okidoki has put a lot of effort into the design of the houses. The focus has been on quality of living, mix of housing sizes and of course the long-term sustainability.
The facades have green heat-treated wood panels with decorative elements. The wooden panel covers form a shadow play on the facade, a simple and beautiful touch that adds a layer of playfulness to the architecture. Wood is a recurring theme and both houses are built using modern timber construction techniques. The exterior construction creates a loggia at the front of each apartment. A simple touch that adds a sense of willowy quality. The other materials that adorn the building are hand-seamed metal roofs with large areas for solar panels, grey wrought iron details and wood joinery.
Okidoki has implemented their five percent model in the project they developed with the client Bright Living. The model aims to reduce segregation by building housing for people with different socio-economic backgrounds. Specifically, five percent of the homes are sold at a discounted price to a non-profit organisation, which in turn helps vulnerable individuals in the community to rent housing. In Notuddsparken, two out of 46 apartments are rented to homeless people.
The Five Percent Model has proved to be a good example and a source of inspiration for the commercial housing market by providing a simple model for how to take social responsibility and contribute to reducing segregation.
A project like this, made possible partly thanks to the commercial housing market, could not have been implemented without the good cooperation between commercial actors and the civil society. In Notuddsparken, a collaboration has begun with the locally rooted non-profit organization Stadsmission, which works to help vulnerable individuals who are far from the regular housing market. In Notuddsparken, vulnerable but strongly motivated individuals are offered a home at the city's most attractive address, in a context where people from all social classes meet in the same stairwell. This is something completely different from the usual housing solutions, often isolated from the rest of the society, for the homeless and socially vulnerable.
As described above, the project has been able to be implemented thanks to a good collaboration between a number of stakeholders (commercial, not-profit and political) who are all motivated to make Notuddsparken an environmental, social and design innovation project that shows a way to meet challenges concering housing issues. Not only in the city of Västerås, but also nationally and internationally.
A combination of the following disciplines, all of whom contributed with expertise from their respective fields in a multidisciplinary collaboration, have all influenced the result and provided great value for both the residents, the environment and the society.
Experts in architecture and design, social work, construction technology, environmental calculations, woodcraft and commercial housing development have in close collaboration developed and implemented the project which resulted in high a design level, low environmental footprint, social benefits for the society and financial possibilities for the developer.
The result of the project can already be summarized by looking at how it is experienced by the residents. The apartments sold out quickly, which shows that the five percent of apartments with social housing work well even for a commercial housing product. For the formerly homeless who have been offered a home and a way back into the community, this has proven very valuable. If the model were to be scaled up on a larger scale, we can also see how the model could, not only on an individual level but also on a societal level, offer a solution for the people who need it most. In times of energy and environmental crisis, the houses' extremely low energy consumption and the possibility to sell the surplus of solar energy have proven very successful. A receipt for the successful result is that Notuddsparken has been awarded the "housing project of the year award" in Sweden and has been nominated for architecture awards.
Innovative use of wood for construction and design qualities in apartment buildings that also brings great environmental benefits. New model for the commercial housing market that offers a model for how to take social responsibility and contribute to inclusion. The Five Percent Model, in combination with collaborations with civil society, allows for a speed and flexibility that official authorities cannot offer in adressing social housing issues.
Our method and our approach are based on experiences we as a collaboration team, of architects and housing developers, previously tested in competition contexts and now with Notudsparken tested to good results in a sharp situation.
As the model does not require any legislative changes or far-reaching administrative processes, but is largely based on an ambition and desire from the housing developer in combination with good cooperation with already established non-profit organizations, the model can be easily transferred to other cities, contexts and adapted to local conditions. In the simplicity of the model lies its great advantage, it can be easily scaled up or down and adapted to the context and the stakeholders involved.
All environmental issues are global in nature and often have local solutions. By focusing on combining social, environmental and design solutions that work locally, we can easily scale them up to meet global challenges.
