In Masmo, in the outskirts of Stockholm, you will find one of Stockholm´s most spectacular subway entrances. An elongated mountain with cliffs and pine trees stands as a backdrop for a square where the entrance to the station is shaped as a concrete cassette pushed into the mountain hillside. Even though the presence of the mountain is prominent and majestic, it is barely visible in the everyday rush to the subway.
A raised garden bed once dominated the center of the square. Instead, a grand open space is created on which a grid of red and orange poles is placed. Through the verticality and contrasting effect the poles possess, they emphasize the mountain and at the same time prevent unwanted car traffic. A large crevice is used as motive, shaping a crack on the square filled with shattered glass and tufts of grass. The big box, covered in wood is in fact a protecting caisson for district heating pipes.
In the evenings, the mountain is illuminated.
The Masmo square is a project with a small budget. The red poles are standard equipment, granite slabs are reused from the previous design, cheap and recycled material are used as far as possible. It is an attempt to give notion to a place that in the inhabitants mind were almost nothing before and a way of highlight an everyday task – going in and out from the subway.
Masmo Square | Stockholm Sweden | LAND Arkitektur AB
Location: Masmo Huddinge, Stockholm
Designers: LAND Arkitektur AB
Commissioned by: Huddinge Municipality
Period of design: 2012
Implementation period: 2012-2013
Image & Text Credit |
