Anders Franzén’s park is an important last step in the expansion of the neighborhood Henriksdalshamnen in the district Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm. The design responds to the challenge of creating a public park at a site of limited size, which will be an attractive destination for all ages: children, teenagers, adults and the elderly.

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

: Photo: Kasper Dudzik

Anders Franzén’s park is filled with play-, sports- and park areas embedded in greenery which stands in contrast to the paved quay environment along the Hammarby canal. Within the park, there is a temporary playground, a skate park, a soccer field, a sledging hill, playgrounds for small and older children, as well as areas for teenagers and adults.
Most of the preschools in Hammarby Sjöstad have no yards of their own except for small gathering areas, which leads to a lot of use and wear on public playgrounds in the immediate area. One of the biggest challenges with the new Anders Franzén’s park is to create sufficient opportunities for play for all preschool children and still withstand the extensive wear and tear. At the same time, it is important to create an attractive place for teenagers and adults, both for activity and quiet relaxation, with a coherent design that connects traditional park qualities with generous children’s play areas.

The design of the park derives from its location next to the old Henriksdal harbour and the person after which it is named – Anders Franzén, who discovered and salvaged the sunken Vasa Regal Ship in the 1960’s. Combining the theme of harbours and ships with prospects for play led to the creation of an underwater concept for the park. The ground represents the bottom of the sea, with strands of rocks in the hard-packed sand (rocks inset in site-cast concrete), striated sand closer to the beach (elongated rubber hills), soft and polished rocks that protrude from the seafloor (made from site-cast concrete). The imaginary water meets land in the form of docks and a shipyard of playhouses in the uphill slope towards Danviksklippan hill. At the shipyard, you can crawl inside a diving bell similar to the one used by Anders Franzén when he discovered the Vasa ship.

The planting design is reminiscent of underwater worlds with tall green grasses and osier shrubs that move like seaweed in the breeze, and of shore environments with sea buckthorn, osier, and tall flowering grasses that are similar to reeds.