Studenthuset Frescati

The Student house stands at the new entrance to Frescati, the campus of Stockholm University. The new building consists of two block volumes with a horizontal expression and a rich usage of natural materials. The visitor is invited by the open square and the generous stairs collecting and gathering visitors from different directions. The floor of the square has been given an expressive and large-scale pattern to make an impression from a distance. The Frescati campus has a rich garden history, dating from the experimental gardens of the Royal Horticultural Academy in the early 1900s. Mulberry trees, fruit trees and thousands of oak trees were planted, which are living memories from those days. The concept for the park is taken from the history; a small arboretum with grey walnut, silver marple, willow tree, katsura and robina. The garden to the east takes the form of a Hortus conclusus, a walled garden; another reference to garden history. Within the dark wooden walls hides a green and luscious meeting place, a glade with benches among birches in a carpet of ferns, woodruff and flowering bulbs.