AJ Landskap believe in a thoughtful architecture where functional solutions and aesthetic values are combined to create sustainable and inviting environments for people. We design urban spaces and landscapes with the aim to encourage social interaction, recreation, play and physical activity. The users of these spaces should feel welcomed and included.
Thoughtfulness is the essence of our way of working. In our office we work together in an open and allowing atmosphere, where collaboration and commitment characterize the way we work. In a creative and investigative process together with our clients we aim to create a landscape architecture with a high level of artistic and functional quality. Thorough analyses of a landscape or an urban space – result in carefully designed environments, from large scale green infrastructure down to site specific design solutions. In each of our project we strive to be bold in our design and to enhance the unique values of the specific site.
Thoughtful architecture to us means carefully considered design that has minimal negative impact on the environment and the climate. Through conscious decisions and choices – of materials, production methods, processes, vegetation, technical and stormwater solutions – we want to make a difference and to add positive values for people and the environment.
AJ Landskap is a Stockholm based landscape architecture office with focus in planning and design of urban and natural landscapes in transition. Since 1992, AJ Landskap have been involved in a wide range of landscapes, from small scale residential gardens to large city developments. 20 landscape architects, planners and landscape engineers collaborate in our office.
Through our dedication, experience and knowledge we take responsibility for interpreting the client’s specific needs, combined with the unique potential of the site. Our work spans from early stage investigations, landscape analyses to design solutions and construction drawings. We work with master plans as well as with the design of public urban spaces and residential environments. Through co-creation with our clients, technical experts and through dialogue with users – we process design ideas and technical solutions, always balancing innovation with well-established methods. Our way of working aim to evolve a landscape architecture that is sustainable and thoughtful – valuable to both users and clients.
Tuvanparken
Tuvanparken is a central neighborhood park in Sundbyberg, a small city in the Stockholm region. The park contains spaces for play and recreation as well as large and full-grown trees and extensive lawns. AJ Landskap was contracted to extend the north-west part of the park and connect it to the street below, a future square and water of Bällstaviken. The aim of the project was to create an interesting park with features appealing to both young and old. The redesigned part of the park has been transformed into an open and lush flower garden. The steep slopes towards the street and the water enables a terraced garden – a Garden of the Senses – with organic and flowing forms. Here the visitor can sit on a yellow chair and enjoy the sun, the flowers, and the view towards the water. The plantings have been composed to make the terraced garden shift in colors with the changing seasons. An adjacent slope becomes a sledding slope in the wintertime. In addition, a playground for small children has also been added to the park. An elevated lawn facilitates sunbathing and picnic. It protects the park from traffic and noise by a sloping slate wall that frames the lawn and functions both as stairs and steps for sitting. A challenge for the project was to fit multiple functions into the limited space of the site. Simultaneously it was important to incorporate ecological aspects by designing the flowering terraced slopes to be an oasis not only for people, but for insects as well.
Aspuddsparken
Aspuddsparken is a district park originally landscaped in the 1950s. Surrounded by local nature it holds a green and sheltered location. Through the renovation, Aspuddsparken has been amended with a series of playful and varied activity areas. Popular meeting spots and areas to sit are complementing green and tranquil sites in the park. Along with a reconditioned paddling pool and an improved area for farm animals and a café, Aspuddsparken offers a wide range of attractions. A goal was to create a landmark with character and to address a wider range of visitors attracting both local residents and long-distance visitors of all ages. Aspuddsparken had many qualities that were considered important to preserve and evolve, as the surrounding woods, the park’s topography and several candelabra-shaped maples which were especially protected. The designs of the original layout were an inspiration and influenced the design process. The activity areas of the park are playfully designed and have been linked together by a system of pergolas and weather roofs including various types of seating. Along the northern side of the park you can overlook the activity areas where elevations of pebble add its own character to these parts and compose a surface for non-programmed play. Social sustainability, safety and accessibility were all important aspects. The park should give opportunities for both playful activities and tranquillity. By gathering the areas for activity in one part of the park, a large lawn and more quiet green locations offers a peaceful place for recreation.
Pop-up park Holger Bloms plats
Levande Stockholm/ Living Stockholm is a project within the City of Stockholm, which aims to make the public space more vibrant and living. Each year the city transforms streets and squares into temporary car free spaces for people. AJ Landskap was assigned by the City of Stockholm to design three of these spaces in the summer of 2020 and the pop-up park Holger Bloms plats is one of them. Holger Bloms plats is a small plaza along the quay of Norr Mälarstrand, not far from Stockholm City hall. The quay has been poorly used during the last years, mostly being used as a car park for buses and other vehicles. Citizens of Stockholm urged that the space should be better taken care of and to make it more attractive and useable for people. The temporary design of Holger Bloms plats aims to invite people to use the space. The quay is furnished with sun-benches and seating facing the sun and the lake of Mälaren, together with plant-urns with small trees, to make a joyful and enjoyable place. An open flexible space has been kept, allowing different possible events. The seating is painted green and the planters striped in red and white, inspired by Holger Blom – the City gardener of Stockholm 1938-1971.
Inre hamnen
Competition entry for Inre Hamnen (The inner harbour), Norrköping, Sweden. The proposal Bygga Brygga (Building bridges) won second prize in the competition what aimed to plan the public spaces at Inre Hamnen. The inner harbour is the first stage in the transformation of the former industrial space along the river in central Norrköping. The rugged quay environments will gradually change as the city grows to the east. The proposal builds a new identity for the Inre Hamnen quay, where new elements and structures are placed alongside the waterfront. These structures occur in different intensities and becomes a framework – creating a variety of places, functions and activities along the quay. The intensity of structures is highest at the bridge attachments, where the structure of the park and the street grows into the water space and gives direction and identity to the new bath. The intensity is also heightened along Gasverkskajen where new bridges gives the site identity and increased water contact. At the canal openings the intensity decreases, and the stone and concrete quays clarify the fixed boundaries of the water space.
Blomsterdalen
The neighborhood park of Blomsterdalen in Årstadal, Stockholm is situated between the tram rail tracks of Tvärbanan, the street Sjöviksvägen and the residential blocks Kalkbruket and Aromen. Blomsterdalen is designed to be the main green park of Årstadal and complements the other public spaces in the area. The park gets its character from the undulating terrain and mature trees, mainly oaks. It is located on a southwest-facing slope which creates a beneficial climate. The main idea of the design is to create a verdant, flowering park space framing the valley at its heart. Centrally located in the park there is a playground which acts as a meeting point for people in the area. Adjacent to the playground a sloping lawn, the pelouse, offer opportunities for sunbathing, ball games, and spontaneous play. Along the sides of the valley undulating pathways and flowering plantings alternate. The outer edges of the park have been completed with new trees, and definition against the surroundings has been achieved by screens of undressed spruce stems, so called “raftehegn”, which reinforce the boundaries of the park space. The topography of the park is dramatic since the large retained trees have conditioned the design. To optimize use of the spaces, a number of retaining walls and slopes have been constructed around the playground and towards the adjacent housing block. Conceptually, these represent “cuts” through the terrain that expose the underground.
Published on September 14, 2020
