Location: Hammarkullen, Gothenburg
Year: 2026
Type: Spatial strategy, social sustainability, adaptive reuse, pilot design
Role: Researcher / pilot designer / project lead
Scale:
10–15 m² test area within an underused basement environment
Status: Proposal developed for discussion and formal approval
PROJECT OVERVIEW
This project translates my thesis research on underused basement environments into a small, reversible pilot proposal. Instead of moving directly from analysis to permanent intervention, the proposal asks a more practical question:
Can a limited, supervised activity help reveal how an underused basement space actually performs before major decisions are made?
The pilot was designed as a temporary 10–12 week test within existing building conditions. A small indoor cultivation setup would occupy approximately 10–15 square meters of the basement. The purpose was not agricultural production, but structured observation: to understand patterns of use, participant engagement, maintenance routines, spatial perception, and informal curiosity within the basement environment.
The Context: A Large Space with Uncertain Future Potential
The basement environment is spatially significant and technically connected to the residential buildings above. Because of its scale and structural relationship to the housing blocks, any permanent change would involve financial, technical, and operational consequences.
Large underused spaces can also affect how residents perceive safety, access, and usability. Even when a space is not actively used, it still shapes the everyday environment around it.
Before proposing a permanent transformation, the first question became more practical:
What can be learned by testing the space carefully under existing conditions?
Beneath the housing blocks, extensive basement structures remain largely unused, revealing a hidden spatial resource within the residential environment
Beneath the housing blocks, extensive basement structures remain largely unused, revealing a hidden spatial resource within the residential environment
The Design Question
Instead of asking what the basement should become, this pilot asked:
Can a small, supervised, reversible activity help reveal whether the basement has future potential?
This shifted the project from solution-making to evidence-building.
The aim was not to prove that one specific use was correct. The aim was to reduce uncertainty before larger decisions were made.
My Approach: Evidence Before Commitment
The proposal was based on a simple principle:
Evidence before commitment.
Rather than treating design as a final answer, I approached the basement as a system of spatial, social, technical, and organisational conditions.
The pilot therefore had to be:
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small in scale
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temporary
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reversible
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supervised
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non-commercial
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low-risk
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simple to maintain
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easy to stop
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useful for organisational learning
This allowed the space to be tested without creating unnecessary burden for the housing organisation or residents.
Pilot Design : A Small Recurring Activity
Spatial Orientation Strategy
The pilot setup was proposed in relation to the primary entry points of the basement.
This positioning allowed the activity to be visible without requiring people to participate. It also made it possible to observe whether passive visibility could generate curiosity, comfort, or informal engagement.
The layout had to ensure that:
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movement flows were not obstructed
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the intervention remained clearly bounded
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most of the basement remained unaffected
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the activity could be supervised during access times
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the pilot could be removed without spatial impact
The spatial strategy was therefore not only about where to place objects. It was about testing how visibility, access, and repeated activity could change the reading of the space.
Operational Model
Evaluation Framework
Evaluation Table
Pilot Timeline
Risk and Reversibility
Value to the Organisation
The pilot offered a low-risk way for the housing organisation to understand the basement through real observation rather than assumption.
It could provide:
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site-specific knowledge of how the space performs
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insight into spatial, social, and operational constraints
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evidence for future internal discussions
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a clearer understanding of risk before investment
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a way to test potential without committing to a permanent programme
The value of the pilot was therefore not only spatial. It was organisational.
It created a structured way to decide whether the space should be stopped, adapted, expanded, or reconsidered.
Long Term Potential
Although the pilot was intentionally small, its wider value was in what it could reveal.
Hammarkullen is often discussed through challenges, but this project looked at the area through another lens: existing space, local capacity, and future contribution.
If a small pilot proved functional, the basement could be understood not only as an underused space, but as a possible platform for local activity. Over time, a larger version could support cultivation, learning, maintenance work, small-scale production, and social interaction.
In that sense, the basement had the potential to become more than a reused physical space. It could become a place where residents participate, develop practical skills, meet others, and contribute something visible beyond the neighbourhood itself.
The long-term idea was not only that Hammarkullen could receive investment, but that Hammarkullen could also produce value for the wider city.
Status And Reflection
The proposal was developed as a structured pilot for discussion with Bostadsbolaget. It was not implemented, as the organisation had other priorities at that moment.
Even though the pilot did not move forward, the process was valuable. It helped me understand that underused spaces do not always need immediate transformation. Sometimes, the first step is to create a careful test.
A reversible pilot can make uncertainty visible. It can reveal how a space is used, avoided, maintained, perceived, and discussed before larger decisions are made.
For me, this project became a way of connecting architectural research with practical decision-making. It showed how design can support organisations not only by proposing what to build, but by helping them understand what is worth testing first.
I still believe that spaces like this hold future potential. If approached carefully, they could support local activity, social connection, and new forms of contribution from neighbourhoods that are too often described only through problems.
This pilot proposal demonstrates an approach to design based on observation, risk reduction, and evidence before commitment.
Not every underused space needs an immediate solution. Sometimes it first needs a careful test.
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