OMA's second residential tower at 'norra tornen' nears completion in stockholm

in 2018, OMA completed the first of two towers that comprise ‘norra tornen — a residential complex in hagastaden, a new district in the north of stockholm. now, two years later, the site’s second tower — named ‘helix’ — is nearing completion. led by OMA partner reinier de graaf, the project was realized using a modular system of precast exposed concrete elements that pay tribute to brutalist architecture. on the occasion of the development’s inauguration in 2018, designboom was invited to tour the project — see our previous coverage here.

all images by laurian ghinitoiu, courtesy of OMA — unless stated otherwise

as ‘norra tornen’ nears completion, the scheme has been announced as the winner of the ninth edition of the international highrise award (IHA). the prize is organized by the city of frankfurt together with the deutsches architekturmuseum (DAM) and is awarded every two years to architects and developers for buildings of a minimum 100 meters (328 ft) in height, completed in the last two years.

‘for me, the award came somewhat unexpectedly since I never thought of the norra tornen towers as high-rise buildings,’ comments OMA’s reinier de graaf. ‘they are different from the conventional idea of a skyscraper. they are not monumental but homely, their aesthetics are informal and they rely on repetition only to produce diversity.’

‘we are incredibly happy and proud that norra tornen has been named the world’s most innovative high-rise building,’ adds oscar engelberg, CEO of oscar properties — the project’s developer. ‘the project has received a great deal of international attention and the award is proof of many years of hard work and that it pays off to invest in innovative architecture.’

completed in 2018, the ‘innovationen tower’ stands at a total height of 125 meters (410 ft), while the ‘helix tower’ rises to 110 meters (361 ft). both structures contain a range of apartment sizes, containing 182 and 138 units respectively.

image © designboom

with a wall-to-floor ratio coming close to 1 the design would have probably discouraged most developers (for a tower, it rarely goes above 0.5). however, oscar properties recognized that, in a country with scarce daylight for half of the year, the extra square meters of windows and multiple orientations for each apartment would be a precious asset. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image by ossip van duivenbode, courtesy of OMA

image © designboom

image by ossip van duivenbode, courtesy of OMA

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project info:

name: norra tornen
timeline: competition: 2013; construction start: 2015; completion: 2020
client: oscar properties
address: torsplan 8, 113 65 stockholm, sweden
program: 320 apartments, retail
OMA partner in charge: reinier de graaf

concept —
associate: alex de jong
team: philippe braun, diana cristobal, roza matveeva, edward nicholson, peter rieff, carolien schippers
competition —
associate: alex de jong
team: alexander giarlis, timur karimullin, vladimir konovalov, edward nicholson, victor nyman, vitor oliveira, cecilia del pozo, john paul pacelli, peter rieff, carolien schippers
design development —
associates in charge: alex de jong, michel van de kar
team: isa olson ehn, tobias jewson, edward nicholson, peter rieff, silvia sandor, lukasz skalec, jonathan telkamp

collaborators —
structural engineer: arup
mechanical engineer: arup
façade engineer: arup façade engineering local engineer: sweco
fire safety: tyréns AB
acoustics: ACAD
fire safety: tyréns
code consultants: tengbom