Building residential units on an art gallery makes the space more diverse and more dynamic in a city context. Since Red Rock is only about twenty meters from the Älvsborgs Bridge, the possibility of a connection between the bridge and the boiler house becomes apparent. Currently one has to take a long detour beside car lanes to reach the waterfront. The roof terrace can be connected to the Älvsborgs Bridge with a new timber walkway supported by two lift shafts for the bicycle elevators. The bridge, one of only two connecting Gothenburg city center to the island of Hisingen, will become a significantly more usable commute route for both pedestrians and cyclists.
The roof terrace will serve as a "pocket park" for public space offering fantastic views of the sea and waterfront.
The new building distances itself from its "host" through the use of an open floor as an intermediary between the old and the new. This floor offers both private areas for residents as well as open public spaces such as a bar and lounge with extended space for the art gallery. A way of giving back something to the building with which it is in symbiosis.
The existing building is penetrated by a stairwell which is extended into the new building. The new body follows the existing building's rectangular perimeter of 18 x 36 meters. The new structure follows a module of 3 x 4, 5 meters which also contains two lifts and stairwells connecting residential floors of ten apartments each. Balconies warm the building in a zig-zag formation clad with wood that will grey over time and climate exposure, forming a contrast with the warm mellow wood core they shade and protect.
The balconies create spaces of beneficial micro-climate by use of slender walls of wood and beds of vegetation.
