Umeå University is a young institution, founded only in the late 1960s. Here, about 35,000 students from all over the world study subjects in a broad range of disciplines. Located on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia in the far north of Sweden, the campus stands only some 300 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle.
A campus park should offer its students a variety of places that encourage informal discussions and the free exchange of ideas. In contrast to the university’s enclosed lecture halls, classrooms, and laboratories, open nonhierarchical spaces such as these support the creative interaction among students, researchers, and teachers that is critical to learning. The quality of the campus park thus supports the attractiveness and the academic activity of the university in both its educational and social programs.
Campus Park at Umeå University consists of 23,000 square meters of sun decks, jetties, open lawns, walking trails, and terraces, all organized around a constructed lake. Within the lake, its principal island extends as a small archipelago with bridges that lead to the southern shore. Here the visitor meets a hilly landscape with sunny as well as shaded vales, articulated by the white trunks of birch trees. In front of the student union a lively outdoor lounge—a series of gravelled, fan-shaped terraces—orients to the sun. Each terrace is shaded by multi-trunked trees and furnished with tables and chairs that support a variety of uses.
Campus Park, Umeå University, Sweden
Landscape architect: Thorbjörn Andersson @ Sweco Architects
Design team: Staffan Sundström, Emma Norrman, Mikael Johansson, Alexander Cederroth (lighting)
Area: 23,000 square meters
Opened: 2010
SWECO Architects
P.O. Box 17920
SE- 118 95 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone +46 8 522 952 00
For further information contact
Thorbjörn Andersson, Sweco Architects
