Scandinavian Airlines head office
Encyclopedia
The Scandinavian Airlines/SAS Group
head office is in Frösundavik, Solna Municipality
, Sweden
, near Stockholm
.
The head office was built from 1985 through 1987 by the Norwegian
architect Niels Torp
. SAS intended to build its head office in the lake Brunnsviken area, near an exit to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. The plans caused controversy since the municipal and regional planners wanted the area to be used for recreation
purposes. The Swedish government was about to sell land in the Brunnsviken area, and was interested in SAS has its main office in the area of Stockholm. So SAS took a plot of land, while the beaches and scenic elements of the area were retained. In 1984 SAS held a competition amongst nine architects to determine who would get to design the head office. Niels Torp won the competition and a 55000 sqm complex was built.
The building has seven separate building blocks with a street, covered by a glass roof, connecting the corridors. The street is lined with shops and cafes. Susie McKellar and Penny Sparke, authors of Interior Design and Identity, said that the SAS building, which opened in January 1988, said that the building "refashioned entirely the traditional notion of office life by creating a giant complex with shops, restaurants, and coffee bars lining a solar-heated internal 'main street'" running through the facility's spine. Jan Carlzon, a company president, explained that the concept was to promote SAS senior managers promenading through the corridor and meeting staff members informally. McKellar and Sparke added that the building "moved as far away from Taylorism in aesthetic and organisational terms as one could get."
SAS Group
Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag , trading as SAS Group and SAS AB, is a holding company based in Solna, Sweden. It is the parent company of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines, Blue1 and Widerøe, and the aviation services companies SAS Business Opportunities, SAS Cargo Group, SAS Ground...
head office is in Frösundavik, Solna Municipality
Solna Municipality
Solna Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, located just north of the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the 'city' of Solna....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, near Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
The head office was built from 1985 through 1987 by the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
architect Niels Torp
Niels Torp
Niels Torp AS is an architectural firm based in Oslo, Norway. The company is named after the founder, Niels Torp.-Works:* Scandinavian Airlines Head Office * Waterside...
. SAS intended to build its head office in the lake Brunnsviken area, near an exit to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. The plans caused controversy since the municipal and regional planners wanted the area to be used for recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
purposes. The Swedish government was about to sell land in the Brunnsviken area, and was interested in SAS has its main office in the area of Stockholm. So SAS took a plot of land, while the beaches and scenic elements of the area were retained. In 1984 SAS held a competition amongst nine architects to determine who would get to design the head office. Niels Torp won the competition and a 55000 sqm complex was built.
The building has seven separate building blocks with a street, covered by a glass roof, connecting the corridors. The street is lined with shops and cafes. Susie McKellar and Penny Sparke, authors of Interior Design and Identity, said that the SAS building, which opened in January 1988, said that the building "refashioned entirely the traditional notion of office life by creating a giant complex with shops, restaurants, and coffee bars lining a solar-heated internal 'main street'" running through the facility's spine. Jan Carlzon, a company president, explained that the concept was to promote SAS senior managers promenading through the corridor and meeting staff members informally. McKellar and Sparke added that the building "moved as far away from Taylorism in aesthetic and organisational terms as one could get."