The Monocle Design Awards cover all aspects of design and highlight how good design can improve our quality of lives. And surely Hamntorget, with the long table in the centre, lives up to that. With contemporary architecture, Hamntorget has been transformed into a defined outdoor space for meetings, play and relaxation.
The long table at Hamntorget wins Monocle Design Awards
The global magazine Monocle is recognising the world’s best design through Monocle Design Awards and the long table at Hamntorget in Stockholm is named the winner in the category of Best Public Furniture.
We are incredibly pleased and proud to receive this award. With relatively small means and improvements we have transformed Hamntorget into a popular active public space for everyone to enjoy.
Josefin Norén Almén, Landscape Architect
Hamntorget is located right outside our Stockholm office, next to the Hammarby canal and along a popular recreational promenade with lush trees. But despite the amazing qualities of the space, it used to be a non-space without places to sit down or socialise. Together with our office neighbors, we initiated the transformation of Hamntorget. The aim was to revitalise and activate the space, making it more accessible for people.
Good public furniture entice people to linger – something that White Arkitekter has nailed with its communal table at Hamntorget.
Monocle
The long table is divided into sections, so that several groups or people can use it at the same time for different activities. It has been used by nearby schools for outdoor lessons and by offices for outdoor meetings. The importance of such spaces has become particularly clear during the pandemic.
The idea of the long table was originated in a previous project, where Helsingborg City invited designers to an open competition to create a social installation to enhance safety in a socially deprived area. We chose a well-known artefact (the table), tweaked it and won the competition in cooperation with the artist Ebba Matz and the manufacturer Nola. The design was kept simple in order to evoke a multitude of ways to use the table and we took special care in making the long table accessible for everyone. With the result in hand, we realised that the long table would be perfect for Hamntorget as well. It has also become one of Nola’s most popular products.
– We got the idea for a long table because we wanted to create a design that all people can relate to, something with a familiar symbolic value, but with different functions, says Taiga Kopponen, Architect at White Arkitekter.
It's a lot about finding features that activate locations and attract people throughout the day. People's lives and activities can make areas safer, and with attractive designs, we can make them feel comfortable for a long time.
Taiga Koponen
