Stockholm City Center - Sergels Torg and Hötorget

1. Objectives

In our text we are going to talk about the historical development of Stockholm City Center,
especially Sergels Torg and Hötorget. We want to find out about historical importance of these
places and how this has changed over the centuries as well as the use in history and nowadays.

2. Method

To understand the history of Sergels Torg and Hötorget

1. Obtain information from Course Compendium, which should have the basic information for
us to start our investigation.
2. Visit libraries e.g. National Library of Sweden and Stockholm Public Library
3. Visit Stockholm Stads Museum to find the historical development of Stockholm city.
4. Obtain information from the internet e.g. Wikipedia, Wikitravel

To get a good insight of the Sergels Torg and Hötorget

1. Go down to Sergels Torg and Hötorget
2. Explore the area and study its layout
3. Take pictures and analyze the surrounding buildings
4. Compare the information that we have with what we see
5. Find some historical evidence

Group Meetings
Discuss all the information that we had obtained
Compare the development of Stockholm city centre to our home cities or other cities in our home
countries.

3. Findings

3.1 Historical background and context

Current Stockholm city centre
The city of Stockholm consist of three parts, namely, the Stockholm city centre (Innerstaden),
South Stockholm (Söderort) and West Stockholm (Västerort). Stockholm city center is divided
into 21 districts, which are grouped into five boroughs. Norrmalms borough is one of them and in
Norrmalm district comprised the area of Sergels torg (Sergel’s Square) through to Hötorget.

This area is well known in Stockholm especially for its downtown location with the center of
business, shopping and fashion. Most of these are banks, office buildings, skyscrapers, and large
department stores such as Åhléns City, Gallerian and NK. This area is usually crowded on a daily
basis just like the downtown in other cities.
Historical Background of Stockholm city centre
The central part of Stockholm was formed during the eighteenth century to the end of nineteenth
century. Large stone houses, often yellow colour, were built in this area due to the new
settlement. Because of its location, Stockholm was an administrative and political centre. This
created jobs and, hence, many people from the different parts of Sweden started moving to
Stockholm. Music and theatre flourished while trade and shipping were successful industries.

During the mid-twentieth century, a new city plan was designed for parts of Stockholm and the
whole city was transformed. Economy started growing and the area became to the country’s
banking, financial, business and shopping center.

There was a major city redevelopment by Stockholm country council in the 1950s and 1960s.
Many old buildings in Norrmalm as around central station through Hötorget were demolished for
the benefits of office buildings, banks, large department stores and multi-storey car parks.
However, the demolition of old buildings was obstructed by those Stockholmers who were
against this project. Thus, the modern buildings with steel structure, concrete and glass wall were
built at only small area at Sergels torg along Sveavägen, Sergelgatan and Slöjdgatan streets to
Hötorget in which surrounded by the old buildings as can be seen today (stockholm.se, 2007).

At the same time, the subway system was built to support the public transportation in Stockholm.
T-centralen station, which is located in between Sergels torg (meaning “Sergel's Square”) and the
street of Vasagatan, is the heart of the Stockholm subway station. This station started its operation
on November 24, 1957 and was the 38th station of Stockholm's subway system. With all the
green lines formed, T-centralen station is then connected to Hötorget station (opened in 1952) by
one stop.

3.2 Planning and Architecture

Sergels torg
History
Sergels torg, a well-known public square in the business center of Stockholm, is named after an
18th century sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel. At that time, his workshop was located in the area
north of the square. Figure 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 show the central square, that it is marked by a 37-
meter tall glass pillar (the Kristall-vertikal accent) that was created by Edvid Öhrström in 1974,
and a fountain. This landmark is well known for its role as a starting point for demonstrations as
well as its super ellipse shape of its traffic roundabout.

Landmarks
In the west of this square is a lower plaza tiled black and white, as shown in Figure 6, known
colloquially as Plattan ("The Slab"), which is currently mostly infamous for the number of drug-
dealers present. West of Plattan are the wide stairs, a popular place for people to set up a meeting
at and west of the stairs you find the main shopping street named Drottninggatan. To the north,
along Sveavägen Avenue, are five skyscrapers Hötorgsskraporna where the department stores
and office buildings are located. These are some of the few buildings taller than eight stories in
inner city Stockholm (Wikipedia, 2007).
The tall glass pillar, which the Stockholmers refer to as “glass obelisk”, at Sergels torg now
seems to be the landmark of financial and business center in Sweden. This landmark is
surrounded by the modern architectures (the high rise buildings with concrete or steel structure
and glass wall which refers to the modernist and also post-modernist ideal involving the world
architectures in the 1950s to 1970s). Kulturhuset, a cultural center opened in 1974, is one such
example. This cultural center is also considered as one of the symbols for Stockholm representing
the growth of modernism in Sweden. Located along the south of the “glass obelisk” are the
banks, office buildings and shopping center. Department stores lie at the northwest. From the
look of it, this area is in good contrast to the surrounding old buildings and historic places.

Underneath Sergels torg is a large area occupied by some retail shops and department stores.
These shopping areas, together with Kulturhuset and also T-centralen subway station, are all
connected to the black and white plaza. This plaza is active especially during the weekends where
some special events or activities are often held.

Figure 1: Layout of Central Stockholm area (source: GoogleEarth)

Figure 2: Sergels torg by day Figure 3: Sergels torg by night

Figure 4: Kulturhuset (source: www.kulturhuset.stockholm.se)

Figure 5: Wide stairs at the west of Sergels torg

Figure 6: The black and white pattern of the lower plaza

 Figure 7: Fountain.

Hötorget
At the west of Sergels torg, along Sergelgatan and Slöjdgatan streets, is a shopping area occupied
by retail shops and department stores. This route will also eventually lead us to Hötorget
(meaning Hay square), shown in Figure 8, a square located in the centre of Stockholm. During
the daytime, this square is a site for outdoor traditional market selling fruits, vegetables and
flowers.

Located in the east of Hötorget is the Stockholm Royal Concert Hall (Konserthuset), shown in
Figure 8. This blue concert hall was designed by Ivar Tengbom and built in 1926. It is now the
main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm and the home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic
Orchestra. It is also where the awarding ceremony for the Nobel Prizes is held annually. At the
south of Hötorget lies the Filmstaden Sergel, one of the largest multi-screen cinemas in inner-city
Stockholm, and the Hötorgshallen food market halls.

The west of Hötorget lies the PUB, which is a department store, which has been opened since
1882, located in two buildings at Hötorget. In the late 20th century, the upper 4 storeys of the
department store were converted into a hotel - the Rica Hotel, Kungsgatan. The five skyscrapers
Hötorgsskraporna as mentioned earlier is located in the southeast of the square are. To the north
of Hötorget lies the Kungshallen food court (Wikipedia, 2007).
Figure 8: Hötorget Figure 9: Hötorget Daytime Market

Figure 10: The Stockholm Concert Hall Figure 11: PUB at Hötorget

3.3 Goals and Ideals

The Sergels torg area has been the center of financial and business in Stockholm as well as in
Sweden. It has been opened up to the modern world since the 1930s, and society has also
changed to a more industrial society. Thus, the new architectures were built with the modernist
ideal and can be also identified as the international style. As one can see that most of
architectures, skyscrapers in this area were designed with the simple form with functionalism,
less or no ornament, and constructed with steel structure, concrete slab and glass curtain wall.
One main reason for such a layout and architecture is to express the modern and technological
ideals that arise in Stockholm.
It is often not good idea to build modern architecture among the ancient architecture and historic
places. Reason for this could be that the construction work would more or less affect the
preservation of old, historical buildings. In this case, initially during the development of Sergels
torg and Hötorget, there were some problems encountered. The Stockholmers disagreed with the
idea of letting the city council destroyed the old buildings from the last century and replaced
them with the modern ones. Despite the protest, the project continued to take place and hence
giving them those modernized buildings in the city center surrounded by the old buildings from
the last century and the historic places, which should be conserved. This could be the reason why
we can see only small area in Sergels torg, through Hötorget, being occupied by modern
architectures in central Stockholm.

4. Discussion
(compare with our city center?)

Qiu Yun’s Part

Singapore

The architecture of Singapore varied extremely. Due to the lack of available space, there are only
a few historical buildings remained in the centre of the Central Business District (CBD) of
Singapore (also known as Raffles Place), as shown in Figure 1 and 2. However, throughout the
rest of the downtown core, there is a large scattering of pre-WWII buildings with some going
back nearly as far as 1827. Many beautiful classical buildings were destroyed during the post-war
decades. In the 1990s, things changed completely and the government started very strict
programs to conserve the many remaining buildings and whole areas that are of historic and
aesthetic value.

Today, Singapore has also become a centre for post-modern architecture and is dominated by
modern architecture. After decades of development, the Central Business District (CBD) has
become an area with many tall office buildings. These buildings comprise the skyline along the
coast of Marina Bay and Raffles Place, shown in Figure 2, a famous tourist attraction in
Singapore.

To compete with other Asian countries, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore has
announced that the city would be transformed into a more vibrant and exciting place with more
buzz by lighting up the city completely. This would make Singapore livelier and help to create a
captivating night scene to increase Singapore's appeal and high-ranking status in the world. The
most prominent transformation of the city would be its city skyline in the Central Business
District (CBD). In 2 to 3 years time, each and every skyscraper in the CBD would be lit up with
bright and colourful neon lights that would change from time to time, festive occasions and
events. Waterfront shows would also be held daily during the night. The future proposed plan for
CBD is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 1: Skyline of the Central Business District Daytime

Figure 2: Skyline of the Central Business District Night time

Figure 3: Future Propose Plan for CBD

Maltes Part
Karlsruhe

The city takes its name from Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach, who founded the city in
1715 after a dispute with the citizens of his previous capital, Durlach.

Since Karlsruhe is a very young city it does not have any medievil structures as many other big
german cities still have today. The city was planned with the tower of the castle (Schloss) (Figure
7) at the center and 32 streets radiating out from it like spokes on a wheel or ribs on a folding fan,
so that a nickname for Karlsruhe in Germany is the "fan city" (Fächerstadt) (Figure 4). Almost all
of these streets survive today.

The city center was the oldest part of town and lies south of the castle in the quadrant defined by
nine of the streets. The central part of the castle runs east-west, and there are two wings of the
castle, each at a 45° angle to the center, so that they are pointing southeast and southwest (i.e.
parallel with streets at the ends of the quadrant defining the city center).

The market place is on the street running south from the castle to Ettlingen. The market place has
the town hall (Rathaus) to the west, the main protestant church (Evangelische Stadtkirche) to the
east, and the tomb of Margrave Karl Wilhelm in a pyramid in the center (Figure 5). The architect
Friedrich Weinbrenner designed many of the most important buildings. The market place today is
regarded as one of the most important and most salient classicistic places in Europe.
The area north of the castle was and still is a park and forest. East of the castle there originally
were gardens and more forest, some of which remain, but the University, Wildparkstadion, and
residential areas have since been built there. West of the castle is now mostly residential.

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Figure 4: Karlsruhe around 1900 Figure 5: Pyramid at the market place

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Figure 6: Castle Karlsruhe at night

Heiko’s Part
Vienna

Founded around 500 BC, Vienna was originally a Celtic settlement. In 15 BC, Vienna became a
Roman frontier city ("Vindobona") guarding the Roman Empire against Germanic tribes to the
north.

During the Middle Ages, Vienna was home of the Babenberg Dynasty and in 1440 became
residence city of the Habsburg dynasties from where Vienna eventually grew to become the
secret capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine
cuisine. The Ottoman invasions of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries were stopped twice just
outside Vienna.
In 1918, after World War I, Vienna became capital of the First Austrian Republic. In 1938 Hitler
spoke to the Austrian people from the balcony of the Neue Burg, a part of the Hofburg at the
Heldenplatz. Between 1938 and the end of the Second World War, Vienna lost its status as a
capital to Berlin. In 1945, the Vienna Offensive was successfully launched by the Soviets against
the Germans holding Vienna. The city was besieged for about two weeks before it fell to the
Soviets. After 1945, Vienna was again the capital of Austria. Vienna became a hot-bed for
international espionage between the Western and Eastern blocs.

Due to industrialisation and immigration from other parts of the Empire, the population of Vienna
increased sharply during its time as capital of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918). However, after
World War I, many Czechs and Hungarians returned to their ancestral countries, resulting in a
decline in the Viennese population. At the height of the immigration, about one third of the
people living in Vienna were of Slavic or Hungarian descent.

By 2001, only 16% of people living in Vienna had nationalities other than Austrian, nearly half of
which were from the former Yugoslavia; the next most numerous nationalities in Vienna were
Turkish (39,000 or 2.5%), Polish (13,600 or 0.9%) and German (12,700 or 0.8%).

The heart and historical city of Vienna, the Innere Stadt, was once surrounded by walls and open
fields in order to deny cover to potential attackers. The walls were razed in 1857, making it
possible for the city to expand and eventually merge with the surrounding villages. In their place,
a broad boulevard called the Ringstraße was built, along which imposing public and private
buildings, monuments, and parks now lie. These buildings include the Rathaus (town hall), the
Burgtheater, the University, the Parliament, the twin museums of natural history and fine art, and
the Staatsoper. It is also the location of the Hofburg, the former imperial palace. The mainly
Gothic Stephansdom is located at the centre of the city, on Stephansplatz.

The Stephansplatz is a square at the geographical centre of Vienna. It is named after its most
prominent building, the Stephansdom: Vienna's cathedral, and one of the tallest churches in the
world. Before the 20th century, a row of houses separated Stephansplatz from Stock-im-Eisen-
Platz, but since their destruction, the name Stephansplatz started to be used for the wider area
covering both. To the east and north, respectively, run the exclusive shopping streets Graben
(literally "ditch") and Kärntner Straße ("Kärnten" is the German for Carinthia). Opposite the
Stephansdom is the Haas-Haus, a piece of striking modern architecture by Hans Hollein.
Although public opinion was originally skeptical about the combination of the mediæval
cathedral and the glass and steel building, it is now considered an example of how old and new
architecture can mix harmoniously.
 Figure 7: Stephansplatz in 1832
Figure 8: Overview of the
city centre from the dome

Figure 9: Donau river and the northern part of Vienna

Figure 10: Schönbrunn castle

Pim’s part
Bangkok
The central Bangkok is called Siam Square, today it is well known as a shopping and
entertainment area in Bangkok, Thailand. Usually, this area and its surroundings are similar to
other central of capital cities included Stockholm. However, the large amount of population in
Bangkok cause larger scale of functions and services in this area compared with Sergel torg and
Hötorget area.

The first buildings in this area were constructed in 1965 with modern style on land belonging to
Chulalongkorn University (the oldest and most famous public university in Thailand). The aim is
to provide rental income for the university. This area quickly grew up because of its proximity to
the university. Today, 100 800 square meters of this area is occupied by a wide range of shops
and services especially clothing boutiques, cinemas, record stores, restaurants, and tutor schools.
Most of the customers are teenagers, college students, office workers and also foreign tourisms
(wikipedia, 2007). Similarly, Siam sky train station is the main junction of sky train system in
which passengers can transfer between lines.

Siam Square is surrounded by modern-up scale shopping malls such as Siam Center/Siam
Discovery Center, MBK Center and Siam Paragon. Around 500 meters to 2 kilometers at the east
and the southeast of this area lie the business and financial areas in Bangkok in which occupied
by modern skyscrapers as office buildings, banks, five-star hotels, and executive condominiums.
However, among the modern and post modern architecture in the central Bangkok, we can also
find old Buddhist temple, traditional Thai houses and even the Royalty palace in the same area.
It can be assumed that because of the problem about land owners, the ineffective of the restriction
of land use and also urban planning in the past.

Figure 1: Siam Square area and its surrounding (source: googleearth)

 Figure 2: Siam Discovery Center (nighttime)

Figure 3: ‘Silom’ business area at the

southeast of Siam center

Figure4: Siam Paragon entrance