Made in Borås

Respectful of Borås’s identity, its industrial and textile history, Made in Borås proposes to combine these elements with Gässlösa’s unique location on the Viskan river. Re-affirming the city’s riverscape as a strong tool for renewing Gässlösa’s, providing high quality living and climate adaptability. This approach led to the conceptualisation of a metropolitan river park at the core of Borås and its future developments, introducing the necessary spatial qualities for denser urban living.

Made in Borås

Client: Borås Stad, Sweden

Status: 1st Prize

Size: 550 000 m2

Location: Borås, Sweden

Type: Open Competition EUROPAN 15, Mixed use / Urban transformation

VISKAN METROPOLITAN VISION: A RIVER PARK TO INHABIT!

The river park provides Borås with a strong vision, easy to comprehend by all and is in direct interaction with the daily life of the city’s inhabitants. It offers Borås a valuable bluegreen heart and also provides new connections and greatly improves access throughout the city and Gässlösa, which is presently characterised by its fragmented tissue.

Why a park system? Confronted with long term planning challenges, the concept of a park system allows for a staggered time frame in which available plots can be transformed at various times and through different processes, making room for temporary uses accompanying the transformation of Gässlösa’s landscape and construction sites.

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Viskan river park, allying nature, innovation and recreation!

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I.Transformation & innovation II.Social & inclusive III.Ecological & sustainable

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Gässlösa´s living quarter, living by the river.

How?

Gässlösa’s landscape is highly artificial. In order to sustainably (re)create nature, the project uses age old techniques, for example; phytoremediation through composting and crop rotation in order to clean and restore life back to the soil. These productive landscapes will be established early to immediately bring a new meaning and coherence to Gässlösa and involve communities in shaping the city of tomorrow.

What?

The robust layout of the masterplan allows for adaptability in term of density and programming. The richness of typologies makes room for social housing, student and elderly homes and alternative housing such as co-housing operations. Within the proposed masterplan various densities can be established, without impacting the overall coherence and logic of the project. Making it a robust framework for further development and projections.

Gässlösa´s new park system, transformation & innovation districts, and recreation & connections

Interventions

Made in Borås is a great proposal that takes advantage of the existing qualities of the site. The proposal contains an interesting variety of typologies but is at the same time a distinct unit. The proposal convincingly takes care of the situation by the water and shows how the river can be a real asset to the city. The old industrial buildings that are preserved provide a good basis for businesses to establish but also give a distinct identity to the area. The urban structure has a spatial clarity and stability that can be developed further. The emphasized view towards the church reveals an awareness of the location.

Project team: Eric Reid, Linn Runeson, Gauthier Durey

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