The Arts District and its immediate surrounding is paved with historic buildings and industrial structures. The warehouses, most of them dating back to the turn of the th century, were built cost efficient and highly functional with prefabricated concrete or steel elements. Most of them offer high quality, open spaces with ultimate flexibility. The raw and industrial beauty of the warehouses is typical for the neighborhood and many have been retrofitted into something new.

By harnessing the economies of scale associated with greenhouse structures it is possible to provide a % transparent enclosure to provide the future massive silhouette on Uppsala’s skyline with an unprecedented lightness while allowing the citizens to enjoy educational glimpses of what happens within. Rather than the conventional, alienating hermetic envelope of traditional power plants the crystalline volume serves as an invitation for exploration and education. The next generation of creative energy.

The city of Uppsala invited BIG to design a biomass cogeneration plant to supplement Uppsala&#;s existing energy infrastructure during the peak loads in the dark and cold fall, winter, and spring. With its beautiful old town, home to the oldest university in Scandinavia and the impressive Uppsala cathedral, it required careful consideration to integrate a vast structure into the historical skyline.

The platforms feature six integrated systems: zero waste and circular systems, closed loop water systems, food, net zero energy, innovative mobility, and coastal habitat regeneration. These interconnected systems will generate % of the required operational energy on site through floating and rooftop photovoltaic panels. Similarly, each neighborhood will treat and replenish its own water, reduce and recycle resources, and provide innovative urban agriculture.

BIG&#;s design combines four universal archetypes across space and time into a new national symbol: the circle, the rotunda, the arch and the yurt are merged into the form of a Moebius strip. The clarity of the circle, the courtyard of the rotunda, the gateway of the arch and the soft silhouette of the yurt are combined to create a new national monument appearing local and universal, contemporary and timeless, unique and archetypal at the same time.