STRUCTURE OF DISCOVERY Bringing activities and beings in contact in an evolving space is the double condition under which something occur : the sudden encounter between human society, a unique urban situation and incredible cultural resources. We wish to support the transformations, exchanges, usages and inventions that this convergence will allow. The site on Blasieholmen offers an exceptional geography combining strong elements: the water, the quays, the Nationalmuseum, as well as a park. Our prime objective is to connect to these different environments and to integrate them into the architecture. Reactivated and solidarised, this tip of land is set to follow its great vocation as a cultural peninsula. In this way, we wish to make the programming a true project component. The program is not envisaged as a fixed quantitative blueprint, but as one of the most efficient generators of atmosphere, life, usage and identity. We wish to provide a tool that encourages the invention of activities, actions, abundance. To depart from a minimal program whose strict operation will be possible, and to suggest and provide conditions to evolve, to progress with the Nobel Foundation and the city. The program is to be an icon. This evolving program will flourish within a versatile, generously-dimensioned structure whose layout, connection and modularity capacities mean that can not only host foreseen spatial situations, but also llows new situations to be imagined. This extremely spacious post-and-beam structure, devoid of solid walls, is a structure for freedom, a creative structure that will incite exchanges and surprises. Three main groups of programs will be assembled here from bottom to top, from one side to another: an area for temporary and permanent exhibitions; an area for conferences and meetings; an area for celebration and festivities where the Nobel Prizes will be awarded. Through its multiple potential configurations, its transparency, and its double envelope enabling circulation facing the water, the Auditorium will encapsulate the strategy of occupancy and appropriation, comfort and versatility that we wish to implement. These three program strata are linked and crossed by an ascending park that starts from the Blasieholmen Park and rises up to the waterfront, hanging over the quays. This landscaped pathway replaces the very idea of façades. Rather than screens, these façades take the form of animated public galleries, sometimes covered, insulated or outdoors, playing with the climate, view and light as well as darkness. Through our explicit aim to promote the dynamics of the content, we wish to accord the greatest possible ambition to the prodigious reserve represented by Nobel culture, whose prizes are the only observable face. We wish to make this unknown world of knowledge, discovery and enterprise, emblematic of the modern era, tangible, available and visible . The Nobel Center is based on a remarkable and motivating initiative: that of inventing a place that assembles culture, knowledge, values and public usage. The pleasure and mobility that the Nobel Center will offer will turn it into a timeless spot which is habitable and inhabited. A major cultural site that is also convivial, following the footsteps of Lasdun’s National Theatre in London, Hans Scharoun’s National and Library in Berlin, or the Sanaa’s Learning Center in Lausanne. The Nobel Center project comprises an overall purpose of innovating sustainable solutions, beyond standards and generic solutions. Considering long-term use of this building, we design capable and changeable spaces over time and we integrate the unexpected future evolutions of use which often turn out to be desirable. Working on the Nobel Center sustainable perspective we want to add an extra something, which goes beyond efficiency, but which might be just a bit of pleasure; something that is more delicate, gentle, welcoming, humane, intelligent, and vividly optimistic. Location : Stockholm, Sweden Design years : Competition, non prize winner 2013 Client: The Nobel Foundation Architects : Anne Lacaton & Jean-Philippe Vassal with, Nelly Bonnet, Marcos Garcia Rojo, Julien Sage-Thomas, Gaëtan Redelsperger, Cloé Cazade, Alejandro Arocha, collaborators Program : 1400 seats auditorium, exhibition rooms, library, meeting rooms, restaurant Area : 30 181 sqm

Le site de Blasieholmen offre une géographie exceptionnelle combinant des éléments forts : l’eau, les quais, le Musée National, ainsi qu’un parc. L’objectif est de se connecter à ces différents environnements et de les intégrer à l’architecture du bâtiment. En ce sens, le programme devient un composant de projet à part entière. Il n’est plus envisagé comme une donnée quantitative et figée, mais comme un véritable générateur d’ambiances, de vie, d’usages et d’identité. Le programme doit être une icône. Ce programme évolutif se développe au sein d’une ample structure polyvalente, dont le potentiel en terme de dispositions, de connexions et de modularité permettra non seulement d’accueillir des situations spatiales connues, mais aussi et surtout de nouvelles situations à imaginer. Trois principaux types de programmes y sont assemblés : une zone d’exposition temporaire et permanente ; une zone dédiée aux conférences et réunions et enfin une zone de réception et de festivités, dans laquelle sera décerné le prix Nobel. Ces trois strates programmatiques sont liées par un parc ascendant qui les traverse. Il débute dans le parc Blasieholmen et s’élève vers le front de mer, surplombant les quais. Ce parcours végétal remplace l’idée même de la façade. Plutôt que des écrans, ces façades deviennent des passages publics animés. Ils peuvent être couverts, isolés ou entièrement extérieurs et jouent ainsi avec le climat, les vues, l’ombre et la lumière. Site : Stockholm, Suède Date : Concours non lauréat 2013 Client: The Nobel Foundation Architectes : Anne Lacaton & Jean-Philippe Vassal avec, Nelly Bonnet, Marcos Garcia Rojo, Julien Sage-Thomas, Gaëtan Redelsperger, Cloé Cazade, Alejandro Arocha, architectes collaborateurs Programme : Auditorium de 1400 places, salles d’expositions, librairie, salles de conférences, restaurant Surface : 30 181 m²