We are happy to introduce Arkemi's academic discourse sessions, Arkademi. It consists of a presentation/film screening followed by open discussions, Thursday lunch at our office. The subject is different every week, but focuses on architecture history and technology, as well as architectural news.
We have recently been working a lot with urban density for an exciting project of ours (coming soon), so our amazing fellow arkemist Niels has chosen Kowloon Walled City as the topic this week. Located in Hong Kong.
Kowloon used to be the most dense and ungoverned human settlement on the planet. Demolished in 1987, it housed ca 50'000 residents within its 6.4 acre borders. That's a population per acre rate of 7'888 and FAR of 12.0, exceeding any other known example.
Thanks to funding by ARQ and Stockholms Byggnadsförening, and with support from Svenskt Trä, we have once again made an update to our research project How to CLT! In a new chapter of our CLT handbook, we propose 6 principles for a closer collaboration between the consultants that we believe will foster innovation, architectural quality and efficiency when working with CLT. Furthermore, our Grasshopper definition has been updated with additional functionality and the possibility to work with more complex volumes.
All the way back in 2019 we were asked by Arvet Trä to explore how a modular CLT-system could be employed to imagine a densely built yet highly qualitative urban fabric for students in Kenya. The result was Ndarugu Student City, a scheme involving everything from the design of the individual module to the urban planning. We are now excited to announce that a prototype building made up of four of the modules has been raised on site in Kenya!
How to CLT, our research project concerning the early design of buildings constructed with Cross Laminated Timber, has caught the interest of the Swedish forest industry. In collaboration with Tomas Alsmarker (Svenskt Trä) and with the support of CLT-producers Martinsons, Setra and Södra we have now co-authored a CLT guide for the early stages, to be distributed for free by Svenskt Trä.
Are you looking for a place to work that is more than just an office hotel? Arkaden is a personal, friendly, and inspiring coworking space located at Hornsgatan 113 in Hornstull. The 110 m² newly renovated office offers a flexible workspace for creative professionals. Currently, it is home to two architectural firms and a film production company. We are looking for new colleagues to build a community of creative and friendly professionals. Curious? Feel free to stop by for a coffee or contact us for a viewing or if you have any questions!
In september 2023 the office travelled to Malmö for the launch weekend of MANI-FEST, an exhibition and publication by SPARK, where 15 young Swedish architects were invited to craft their own manifestos. The weekend featured a series of roundtable discussions, including one themed "a rejection of the present age", in which Kayrokh participated.
