Location: Tensta, Stockholm
Type: Housing and parish hall
Year: 2022 – 2023
Client: KFS, the Church's Property Cooperation
Area: 5300 sqm

Spånga Church is a stone church dating back to the 12th century, situated between Tensta and Rinkeby. It is part of the Spånga village, a preserved industrial environment consisting of wooden houses from the previous century but with origins dating back to the Iron Age.

The Swedish Church is currently facing significant financial challenges due to declining membership and a large number of culturally and historically important properties. To finance sensitive renovations and operations, and continue to offer open spaces for the public, the Spånga/Kista parish wishes to build and manage a multi-family housing complex on the church's property. Through a comprehensive analysis of the site's cultural, historical, and geographical values, a new building has taken shape that responds to the challenges of the location and contribute to the area as a whole.

Due to the traffic separation in Tensta and its division with mostly public buildings on the central ridge, very few people move through Spånga settlement at night. The western part of the area, the one facing Tensta, is covered with overgrown scrub forest that isolates the church from the city and creates a dark and confined space with poor lighting.

With a new residential building, the northern and southern parts of eastern Tensta are connected by a well-lit and populated pedestrian path. The entrances to the building are primarily facing west to establish a connection with the city and promote movement along the street.

In the southern part of the building, a new parish hall is proposed to strengthen the church's presence in Tensta and provides the opportunity for various events. Alongside the parish hall, a new road is created, making it possible to walk directly from the center to the stone church which also makes it visible from the west.

On the courtyard side, the current soil pit or "gropen" is filled, and a continuous landscape connects the previously separated wooden houses along a courtyard and a north-south walkway.

The house and the courtyard create a new cohesive context for the cultural buildings, which is referred to as "Nya Spånga kyrkby" (New Spånga Church Village). It is linked with Spånga village park in a continuous landscape. New roads and sightlines arise, enabling greater collaboration and use of existing buildings while also increasing the safety in the neighbourhood.