The environment

A harmonious healthcare environment

Skandionkliniken was completed in 2014 and the first patients were treated the following year. The building is about 14 000 square meters and consists of a clinic, an administrative floor and a radiation section. On floors 2-4 there is also the Hotel von Kraemer, which has 83 rooms and a restaurant.

When Skandionkliniken was to be built, there was a strong desire to create an environment that does not resemble a healthcare facility. An environment where architecture, art, color and light interact to create calm and energy. All based on the idea that environment and health are linked.

When the building was built, it was therefore decided to use a lot of natural materials, such as glazed panels with wooden slats, stone and textiles. Walls, floors, doors and furnishings have strong colors that both harmonize and clash. The impression is bold and dispels thoughts. The colors also have an educational function and help patients find their way around. A color trail running from the dressing room to the preparation room and on to the treatment room shows the way. The Japanese-inspired garden is centrally located. There are water features, artistic paving and benches for rest and contemplation. The roof is covered with Sedum and other perennials that give an undulating impression.

At Skandionkliniken, there are works of art both inside and outside: a total of six artistic creations aimed at different senses. The art creates imaginative spaces and works together to create an overall experience that changes with the rhythm of the day and the movement of the body.

Color is art
The color scheme in Skandionklinikens treatment rooms and corridors is like no other. There, artist Filippa Arrias has created a play of colors that gives the feeling of walking through an impressionist painting. Instead of paintings on the walls, the diet at Skandionkliniken consists of different shades of color. The interplay between different colors and between light and dark tones creates a special atmosphere. The color scheme is composed so that there are always new details to discover, while supporting an orientation in the building. The entire color palette can be seen in the stairwell.

Located outside the clinic, freq_out is a collaboration between seventeen artists and musicians from ten countries, led by Carl Michael von Hausswolff. Each artist contributes an individual work, all in different frequency ranges and of different lengths. von Hausswolff mixes the individual parts so that they intertwine to create an atmospheric sound. The strength of the works is a synergy where individual temperaments are given their own space while generating a suggestive overall experience. freq_out 1.2 ∞ (skandion) has been developed especially for Skandionkliniken.

Skandionkliniken is located at the corner of Artillerigatan and von Kraemers allé. At the corner, the property line is only indicated by a white granite, and inside there is a small sculpture park.

Anna Petrus, Mother and Child
The first work placed there was a sculpture by the artist Anna Petrus. It is called Mother and Child and is carved in beautiful red Bohus granite and specially made for Skandionkliniken. The plaster version of the sculpture was one of the few works not destroyed in a fire in the artist’s studio in 1920. The sculpture has an expressive sensuality and the powerful sense of form that characterizes Anna Petrus’ work. The other works in the sculpture park were created by inviting three artists to relate to the site, each other and Anna Petrus’ sculpture. The ambition has been to make something that stands out and arouses the curiosity of passers-by and those staying at the clinic.

Veronica Brovall, Winners
One of the three artists was Veronica Brovalls, who contributed to the sculpture group Winners. Her punky style – mixing letters, body parts and signs in a lively and humorous way – encourages interaction where it stands near the entrance. Depicting arm, tail, hand with braids and text strips, Winners wildly mixes tattoo and street art with Disney and other mass culture references. The openness of the forms is meant to entice passers-by to fill them in with their own physicality, literally or in thought.

David Svensson, The Radiant Globe
Artist David Svensson’s work The Radiant Globe consists of five hand-blown uranium glass globes on four-meter high lampposts. During the dark hours of the day, they shimmer with a luminescent green light. Svensson’s work is inspired by uranium glass, which became popular in Central Europe in the 19th century and was used for everyday objects such as glasses, plates and vases. The artificial and imaginative nature of the glass can be reminiscent of science fiction or Kandor, Superman’s glass birthplace. The Radiant Globe also alludes to the centuries-old and very important discovery that radiation can be used in healthcare for X-rays and radiation treatment.

Carl Boutard, Lebenslauf
The German word Lebenslauf means life course and is associated with the different stages of life. In his work, Carl Boutard has joined together fragments of processed or unprocessed tree trunks. The result is a sculptural collage technique that is then cast in bronze and patinated in shades of green. In winding paths, the sculptures rise up from the ground and out over the site, setting the imagination in motion. The richness of the shapes and the beautiful treatment of the surfaces invite touch. Two of the sculptures become close to each other when they link up with one of the artist Svensson’s lamp posts and one of the newly planted trees. This creates a built-in time aspect as the tree and the bronze will slowly grow together but still remain completely separate entities.