Tower on the Ting

The year is 1961 – and it all started with an architectural competition to design a new courthouse in Örnsköldsvik. The winning entry was an uncompromising concrete building. Built in 1967, it was designed by then-unknown architects Augustsson, Jansson, Sjöberg, and Uusma. Until the inevitable changes that the building faced over time, it served its purpose well.

It is not until Niklas Nyberg saw potential in the building when the now old courthouse was updated with a tall apartment sitting atop the exposed bedrock visible on its atrium. The subject, Niklas Nyberg, is a local builder, the son of a painter, and an overall colorful person. He is also known to collect Bengt Lindström’s art, a well-renowned painter with roots in the same locality as Nyberg.

Color as a common theme among the fan (Nyberg) and the idol (Lindström) made this a focal point of the project. With vibrant hues executed in glazed ceramic tiles, the color scheme was based on Bengt Lindström’s artworks themselves. The strong contrast between the raw concrete of the original courthouse and the then proposed tall, colorful apartment had drawn enough curiosity for the resulting form.

The floor plan started with a basic square layout, eventually divided into smaller squares mimicking a hashtag – with the central core supporting the rest of the cornering squares. The same central core is then wrapped in five apartments, abundant with balconies in all four of their directions. These similar yet varied stories rose to ten stories, which is then concluded with a rooftop villa for Niklas Nyberg.

A prime example of well-represented adapted reuse, Tower on the Ting was a well-liked project right from the start – resulting in the building department immediately adding it to its master plan.