RAINWATER ARCHITECTURE Reimagining Kungstorget for Gothenburg’s 400 year jubilee
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Architecture and urban design (MPARC), MSc
Publicerad
2023
Författare
Larsson, Filip
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The purpose of this master thesis is to
investigate, relating to the Gothenburg 400
year jubilee effort ”Rain Gothenburg”, what it
means - in practice - to be the best city when
it rains.
Western countries - Sweden included - today
handle water in a wasteful, non-reflective
manner as if it was an endless resource. Even
though Gothenburg isn’t facing a fresh water
drought in the near future thanks to Göta Älv,
the city - with the intent of being the best city
when it rains - needs to become an exemplary
model for how rain and cloudburst elegantly
could be turned from a problem to a resource
for the urban development.
Moreover, the population of denser urban
areas are increasingly seeking refuge in
rural environments for health and wellbeing.
Has the city failed its inhabitants to provide
the right preconditions for leading healthy,
fullworthy lives?
Studies show that presence of green
and especially blue spaces generate less
subscriptions of antidepressants. Could, then,
dense urban environments become healthier
environments, if blue spaces are tightly
interwoven with the everyday urban spaces?
This thesis therefore explores how rain in
Gothenburg can be integrated in a central urban
setting - utilized through new additions on
Kungstorget - in order to generate awareness
of the potential of rainwater as a resource, and
to create intimate spaces and an increased
proximity to blue spaces in central urban spaces,
for enhanced experiences, healthier and more
meaningful environments.
The project aims to re-establish the teeming
life on Kungstorget, replacing parking lots with
rainwater experiences and spaces for trade and
interaction. The design is informed partly by
historical, cultural and contemporary analyzes,
and partly by how the architecture should
interact with the rainwater chain.
This method could generate a teeming urban
hub that demonstrates how Gothenburg is
turning rain from an inconvenience to an asset, in
the attempt of being the best city when it rains.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Rain interventions, Phenomenology, Blue space, Atmosphere, Construction