Chipperfield Wins Nobel Center Competition

Five months after three finalists were selected from the eleven architects vying for the Nobel Center in Stockholm, David Chipperfield Architects has been announced as the winner with their "Nobelhuset" entry. The design by David Chipperfield and Christoph Felger is a slender brass-clad building that the jury calls "an elegant, timeless and attractive external appearance." The building, which occupies part of the Blasieholmen peninsula, at Nybroviken, an inlet of the Baltic Sea in the heart of Stockholm, is set for a late-2018 completion after a construction start next year.

Chipperfield and Felger's entry describes four main elements in the design:

• Nobel House: A freestanding building that creates civic presence.
• Nobel Auditorium: Located at the top of the building with panoramic windows overlooking the city.
• Nobel Garden: A large public space south of the building.
• Nobel Path: A public promenade through the building that ascends to the auditorium.

Even though the jury's award was unanimous, the project has not been without controversy. Detractors have cited the demolition of a 19th-century Customs House and early 20th-century warehouses, a fact that has as much to do with the Nobel Foundation's selection of the site as it does the winning design for the future home of the Nobel Prize.