Stockholm Stacked: Vertical City Fantasy

Stockholm is growing fast. Really fast. Land in the centre is becoming hard to come by. However, Stockholm’s traditional urban forms have created large pockets of open land throughout the city, in the form of courtyards. Swedish architecture firm Visiondivision is proposing a solution to the land crunch that’s true to their penchant for bold and fanciful design. They envision magnificent skyscrapers taking the place of the humble courtyards.

How could they consider imposing such structures in people’s beloved courtyards? Visiondivision argues that by placing tall structures within the courtyards preserves the traditional, human-scale architecture at the street level. In their plan, really tall buildings are key for densification and taking the pressure off the housing market.

There is no denying that the world is quickly urbanizing and densification of cities is almost a surety. Is this proposal a tyrannical take-over of valuable city space or a promising solution to the escalating problem of housing shortages?

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