RBA hosts Swedish urban designer Stellan Fryxell
On February 24th, Stellan Fryxell, a UO guest lecturer visiting from Stockholm, joined RBA for lunch with a small group of local professionals and City staff.
As part of the UO SCI Expert in Residence lecture series, Stellan gave two lectures last month—one in Eugene and the other in Portland. The lecture was entitled 'Rethinking Cities’—A Holistic Approach to Sustainability and Urban Design.
Stellan Fryxell is a partner at Tengbom Architects in Stockholm, Sweden. Mr. Fryxell worked on various projects in Sweden, most notably Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm, and worldwide in Oslo, Riga, London, Dublin, Ostrava, Shanghai, Chongqing, Huludao, Saint Petersburg, Xi’an, and on the multiple award winning project in Wuxi.
Prior to joining Tengbom in 1991 Stellan worked with Ahlqvist and Co architects in cooperation with Ralph Erskine, and worked in New York with the Regional Planning Association 1981. He worked with Stockholm City Planning Department from 1974 to1987. Stellan has completed a Masters in Architecture in 1974 at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and completed further Masters in Architecture 1984 at the Royal University College of Fine Arts.
Mr. Stellan Fryxell is a regularly invited speaker at international conferences and universities, he is a SymbioCity-Expert, a member of The International Federation of Consulting Engineers’ (FIDIC’s) Committee of Sustainable Development, he represents the Swedish Federation of Consulting Engineers and Architects in The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations’ Sustainable Development Task Force, and he was a member of University College London’s steering committee on Urban Energy Systems.
Lecture Summary
Acknowledging that cities have a vital effect on the global environment, Stellan Fryxell will be discussing the need for a holistic approach to sustainable urbanism. Cities cover roughly 2% if the Earth’s land but use 75% of all energy an emit 80% of all carbon dioxide. Society has to “rethink cities” through evolving resource efficiency in cities with increased focus on planning and designing attractive areas. Stellan Fryxell believes urban challenges can be turned into opportunities and he will demonstrate this through Stockholm’s largest urban development project: Hammarby Sjöstad. This district has its own eco-cycle, the Hammarby Model, which outlines environmental solutions for buildings, traffic, waste, energy, water and sewage. The model is predicated on a strong Swedish tradition of public-private co-operation between planning authorities, developers, architects, engineering and environmental specialist. The benefits that can be gained when considering a systemic approach to cities will be further addressed by Mr. Fryxell through findings that were published in a paper by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers.
Video Link to ‘Rethinking Cities’ – A Holistic Approach to Sustainability and Urban Design lecture
