Malmö Live – The new cultural hub of the city

Malmö Live is centrally located on the university’s island and is central part of Malmö’s transformation from an industrial city to a creative city. The new landmark was completed in 2016 and consists of 444 hotel rooms, 24 conference rooms, a conference hall, a concert hall with two venues, a gym, a sky bar and two restaurants. The three main operations, the hotel, congress and concert locations are clearly defined outside, but blend together internally.

The building was designed by the Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen, and has been awarded Building of the Year for 2016 and this year’s best facade. The building has a distinct environmental profile and is classified as Platinum, the highest ranking in the international LEED environmental classification system. One detail that can be seen as a gimmick is the green roofs. But they contribute to giving back to the insects and birds what buildings take from the environment on the ground level.
 
In this newsletter, I feature Malmö’s new meeting place, a location well worth a visit.
Click on the pictures to see them in a larger format with all the details.
 
Enjoy!


 

Inside and outside flow together

The architect’s ambition was to create a new urban neighborhood with the feeling that it’s always been there. Colors and materials have been adapted to the surroundings. There is no front - or back side. The entire building and all services are available from all directions and it is also possible to use the building as a handy shortcut.
 
Materials, colors and street paving follow the building on the ground floor and the open floor plan gives a sense of an inner urban environment.

 

See contemporary art at Malmö Live

Strawberry Art+Design AS, works with the artistic design of the hotels within the Nordic Choice Hotels group. Owner, Petter A Stordalen, has long nurtured an ambition to redefine the concept of "hotel art" by profiling selected hotels with contemporary art and design of the highest quality.

One example is the hanging artwork entitled “Event”, by Cerith Wyn Hild (picture to the right). A little further down you will see a picture of the drapes with shutters that create a fine light show by South Korean artist Haegue Yang. Out towards the canal we see Eva Hild’s sculpture, “Rubato” and the Zlatan Suite features photographs of Zlatan Ibrahimovic taken by Erik Broms.

 

Manhattan meets Malmö

Perhaps you crave a Sunday brunch, a good a la carte restaurant or just a luxury cocktail 85 meters above sea level. Marcus Samuelsson, one of the world’s most successful chefs, is in charge of flavor sensations and has developed the a la carte concept for the location’s two restaurants Kitchen & Table/Skybar and Eatery Social Taqueria/Living Room. Both are operated by Frida Nilsson, a well-known Swedish culinary TV personality.

Flexible rooms for congresses and meetings

Clarion Hotel & Congress Malmö Live is the region’s largest meeting place. There are 24 flexible conference rooms that can be easily adapted to meet the needs of every meeting. The facility can accommodate 2 to 850 participants while the congress hall welcomes up to 1,500 participants.

Concert hall with world class sound

“Every time a new concert hall is inaugurated they speak of world class sound, but in Malmö it is truly justified.”  (Quote from the Danish newspaper Politiken)

The acoustics were created by Akustikon and is modeled on the Musikverein in Vienna, the concert hall considered to have the world’s best acoustics. The concert hall can accommodate an audience of 1,707 and is based on an ingeniously designed geo-facility that eliminates all the noise and vibrations from the environment, including from the City Tunnel under the building.
 
In normal circumstances the number of concert-goers has an impact on the sound quality. But in the Malmö Live Concert hall the seats are designed to absorb sound the same way whether someone is sitting on the chair or not. Add to that a distance between rows of seats of 92 cm, for extra comfort.