The project involved the refurbishment and renovation of the building and outdoor environment. The Kustgatan 3 project was one of Familjebostäder's two pilot projects aimed at developing a method for working with reuse and circular flows in their operations, with the results compiled in a report.
Our assignment focused on the surrounding land towards the city and a rectangular inner courtyard. On the exterior, we adhered to the remnants of the original design, such as the loading dock and concrete walls. The design of the courtyard was inspired by enlarged sea stone slabs from the facades.
Given that the refurbishment had a socially important function in improving the quality of the premises and the courtyard, it was crucial that the reuse met a high standard of design. Most of the existing materials and equipment were therefore of insufficient quality for reuse. What we could reuse directly from the site included, for example, concrete slabs from the courtyard, which were cleaned and used on the exterior of the building instead. Regarding the existing plant material, we could not reuse any due to the weed field bindweed in the soil. This provided an interesting insight into how Familjebostäder can work with plant storage between different locations, etc.
We had close collaboration with the building architect on color schemes and material choices, as well as with the reuse architect on the reused materials and equipment. They took our suggestions further, finding the exact furniture and further developing our sketch of a seating piece into a reuse gem made from sea stone slabs from the existing facade at the site.
