I stumbled upon an unusual and beautiful new neighbourhood the other day. We were visiting Capellagården at southern Öland. We noticed a sign that said “Artie visningshus” (Artie Showcase houses) when we were about to leave. I am happy that we chose to follow the sign. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful new housing development I have seen.
We were lucky enough to stumble upon Jahan, the architect, initiator and master builder of the project. He showed us around in the area. He told us it was the project of his life. He is also a smith and a glass blower. The lamps and other details in the neighbourbood are created by his hand. The limestone for the facades are reused from old stone barns.
Jahan said it took 12 years to get all the permit needed from the municipality. I am astonished he had the determination to keep on. I do not know the reasons for the long process in this particular case. However, I know from my 10 years of working as a municipal planner that it is usually a very slow and tedious process to get a new zoning or detailed development plan. Big actors have several projects they can spread the risks between and they often manage to push the additional costs for delay to the home owners. Small actors with only one project in their portfolio must be able to bear a very high level of risk. I often wonder how many amazing projects like these are never realised because the uncertainty and the delays were unbearable. This is a big loss for us all and for Sweden.
I highly recommend seeing this project for yourself. My snapshots below does not do it justice. And the neighbourhood will continue to evolve. Next time there will be something new to see. Here is the Google maps link.
For more images and info (in swedish), Artie Arkitekt.
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