With the Stockholm Waterfront, Stockholm has taken a huge step up in the international conference world. Thanks to several innovative solutions, the Congress facility provides Sweden with an arena unique within Europe.
Stockholm Waterfront neighbours Stockholm Central Station, with Arlanda Express and the bus terminal only a few steps away. The site in question is the most highly visible in Stockholm, passed by tens of thousands of train passengers and cars every day. It has the best possible location beside Riddarfjärden and close to Stockholm City Hall.
The project is subdivided into three separate buildings. A lower-lying congress and concert hall closest to Riddarfjärden, an office block facing onto Klarabergsgatan and a hotel with just over 400 rooms directly adjacent to the congress building.
The triangular site, squeezed in between railway and road links, would seem rather cramped considering the programme specification for a congress hall to accommodate 3,000 people and a dining room to seat 2,000 guests.This equation has been resolved by including movable seating, multi-use areas and by having a large part of the congress hall suspended outside the confines of the site, like an enormous canopy. In addition to this there was also the trust of both the commissioning client and the public authorities to allow the Stockholm skyline to be altered.
The upper part of the congress hall is also spectacular – a free form of billowing veils interacting with the movement on the flyovers and quays surrounding the building.The upper seating assemblies accommodate 1,500 people and allow rapid conversion into two separate halls. The seating assemblies can be moved aside to make room for 2,000 banquet guests.
