Lindängelund Park

Location: Malmö, Se

Client: Municipality of Malmö

Team: Stig L. Andersson, Sofie Kjærsgaard Jørgensen, Helene Koch, Ditte Svindborg, Tom Brons, Martin Søberg, Emil Groth Larsen

Design phase: 2008

Area: 78 ha.

Our vision for the Lindängelund Park is to create a concentrate of the Skåne region. A montage of local elements of nature condensed into an essence that is capable of presenting the peculiar in the well-known. Vegetation, geology, history and development are fitted to customize a dense experience of Scandinavian nature. Biotopes from all of Skåne are brought together and composed in a way so that nature is intensified and contextualized via the similarities and differences of the local fauna. From areas with open nature to rectangular sections in a grid with varying vegetations a large-scale nature-coloured patchwork of Skåne is produced.

The different expressions, textures, and shapes of the vegetation generate sensory, surprising and pensive contrasts between the thick and the open, the light and the dark, soft and hard, wild and tamed everywhere in the park. Here you’ll find samples of the most characteristic and enchanting nature of the North. From the flat plains of agriculture, the curvy hills, from the furlongs to the lakes and the wetlands.

The park is situated between Lindängen and the E 20 motor highway. -Two distinctly urban structures that form the main structures of the park along with the characteristic features of the existing nature. While serving recreational purposes, the park constitutes a green opening to Skåne for the people arriving from the highway. Even at 120 km/h one will be able to experience the grand hills covered in conifer as a relaxing landmark between the loud commercial billboards and neverending verges. The monotonous space of the highway landscape will be interrupted by the white mesh of birch and whitethorn that shield the green. While noise in most of the park is muted by the banks of earth and forest, the sudden sound of passing cars reminds you of the everyday land outside. The muffled buzz of engines join the sounds of birds singing and the wind sighing in the trees.

The park attracts visitors for many different reasons. Learning about and connecting to nature in all its diversity and splendour with all senses is an activity that addresses all ages. Some seek the peace and quiet, go for a walk or find a spot to observe the magnificence of the colours and flickering movements of a butterfly. For others the park is simply a shortcut to other destinations. But while being there you will sense the shifting smells and notice the seasons change more explicitly in the contrasts of the landscape. Some places will be sheltered from the wind, in other places it will caress you biking your way home.

The park will become a new space for the multi-purposes of the urban dwellers near by. Social activities, celebrations, and meetings will come to life in the hypernature of Skåne with the lush scenes of the local fauna.

The forms and shapes as we know them from urban planning and the sharp edges of cultivated landscapes structure the sectioning of the park in its rectangular squares. The varying sizes of the areas refer to the urbanism of Lindängelund with its residential buildings, the large recreational spaces, parking lots and small gardens. Thereby the structure links the urban and the natural feel of the park. Within the squares the vegetation provides variation and contrasts between the changing spaces, materials, smells and colours. The grid gives the park a clear order while being open and flexible according to the placing of plants. Cultivated structure forms the basis for a natural yet contemporary park.

The landscape of Skåne is rich and full. It differs from flat to hilly ground. From dark forests to open meadows. In the north you will find spruce forests and the characteristic furlongs and horsts. Futher south and west Skåne has the fertile soil and large plains. And between there’s the deciduous forests. The variation and diversity of the region is the foundation of the project.

Already today the area holds locations for breeding and forage of birds, insects and small mammals. The small gardens provide good conditions for small birds and eg. mice, porcupines and foxes. The paths function as natural corridors and the wetlands attract not only ducks and swans, but also grebes and herons. Lindängelund expands and upgrades the features of the landscape that serve the wildlife. The mix of common and rare vegetation plus high rate of type of landscapes, herbs, bush, trees etc. will add a new faunal richness in the entire area.

With the interpretation of the man-made and the typical features of Skåne an intense and unique environment is generated in a pedagogical garden space with plenty of amenities and modes of use. Throughout the year the park constantly changes its appearance and offer new possibilities, activities and, impressions.