Gothenburg’s New Cable Car System
In 2021 Gothenburg will celebrate its 400th anniversary and a new cable car (stadslinbana) is part of several projects that the City of Gothenburg will undertake to mark this important moment. The winning proposal was submitted by UN-Studio, an international architecture studio based in Amsterdam.
The project, which represents the first advancement in public transportation in Sweden since 1930s when Stockholm introduced its subway, aims to provide a fast and efficient aerial mode of public transportation to connect the north and the south part of the city across the river Göta älv. The line of 3 km long will start at Järntorget, on the city’s south bank of the river, where commuters will have access to buss and tram lines. From Järntorget the cable line will continue to the north across the river with three further stations.
©Plompmozes
Conscious Design
The cable car system will be made of a cable car line with four stations and six towers. The towers are inspired by the city’s heritage and represent an homage to Gothenburg’s famous shipyard cranes.
“Their light an open structure avoids casting heavy shadows, while facilitating urban paths, streets and green spaces to pass through the base of the towers, avoiding the creation of dark, socially unsafe conditions” – UN Studio. The design aims to connect the history of Gothenburg as a river city to its future defining a new skyline while reinforcing its identity. UN Studio envisions that the tallest tower, at Lindholmen, could become a “city balcony” providing a waterfront gathering place with spectacular views.
©Plompmozes
The four stations are designed to be recognizable within the urban environment while integrating in the built environment via simple geometry and self-supporting structures that enable unobstructed panoramic views to the surrounding city. Energy is generated by the station themselves by Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collectors (PVT panels) which are part or the roof structures and provide both lighting and thermal energy to heat floors and stairs. The large skylights limit the need for artificial lighting that uses low energy systems when in use. The structural elements at the ground floor of the stations will be clad with an innovative moss culture which removes fine dust, nitrogen dioxide and ozone gases from the air and reduces urban heat island effect by effect of evaporation. Moreover, sound absorbing qualities also reduce traffic noise. The surroundings of the stations will be designed to be welcoming and accessible and favor positive social effect on a neighborhood level.
©Plompmozes
©Plompmozes
Gothenburg’s first Linbana
Gothenburg built its first cable car in 1923 for the celebration of its 300th anniversary.
For the event the city organised a six month exhibition that counted more than 4 million visitors, of which 41,000 were international. Most of the city’s renown buildings and landmarks such as Götaplatsen, Botanical Garden and Liseberg were built for this occasions. One of the exiting attraction was the cable car running between Liseberg and the exhibition at Götaplatsen. It was 375 m long and the ride took about 4 minutes.
Gothenburg’s first Linbana- Photo: perrasmotornostalgi
Project credits:
Architect: UNStudio (Ben van Berkel with Arjan Dingsté and Juergen Heinzel, Ayax Abreu Garcia, Xinyu Wang)
Local architect: Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture AB
Client: The City of Gothenburg – Traffic and Public Transport Authority (TRAFIKKONTORET) in collaboration with
The City Planning Authority (Stadsbyggnadskontoret), Västtrafik AB, and The Architects Sweden
Structure & engineering advisors: Knippers Helbig
Lighting design advisors: Licht & Soehne
Visualisations (CGI): Plompmozes
Sources:
UN-Studio https://www.unstudio.com/en/page/9343/gothenburg-cable-car
Göteborg 2021 http://www.goteborg2021.com/jubileumsprojekt/linbana/
Västraffik https://www.vasttrafik.se/info/linbana/
Stadsutveckling Göteborg https://stadsutveckling.goteborg.se/stadslinbana
Read about Gothenburg’s first linbana