The Turning Torso –
Sweden’s New World-Class Landmark

TEXT: MICHAEL HELANDER
PHOTO: PIERRE MENS/©HSB TURNING TORSO

The recently completed HSB Turning Torso is not a typical residential apartment building in Sweden…it is a piece of art that embodies a spirit of living, working and meeting in one remarkable location.


Barely six months old, the Turning Torso is putting Sweden on the world map of modern architectural wonders. Recently starring at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a model of the breathtaking building was featured in an exhibit alongside the original marble sculpture by architect Santiago Calatrava that inspired the twisting structure in Malmö, Sweden. “Calatrava has designed beautiful buildings around the world, but this is his fi rst residential building design,” according to Anja Trägårdh, who is responsible for information and marketing with HSB (a residential building company). Months before the completion of the Turning Torso, the development won the much-coveted MIPIM award for best international residential development, beating two other developments in London and Miami.

But it was when the Discovery Channel featured the construction of the building last fall in an hour-long TV program as a part of their Extreme Engineering series that the Turning Torso was introduced to the world.

The idea to build this challenging architectural structure with its spectacular technical solutions is credited to Johnny Örbäck, past CEO of HSB, who was inspired by seeing a brochure photo of Calatrava’s sculpture representing the human body twisting around its own spine upwards towards the heavens.

The Turning Torso is 54 stories high, making it the tallest skyscraper in Scandinavia. The building consists of 9 cubes that are connected by a steel spine that wraps up and around the exterior. Inside the bottom two cubes are offi ces, for the discerning company with a reputation that relies on good PR and an image of vision and creativity. The remaining seven cubes house 147 apartments ranging from 45m2 to 190m2 and rental prices that range from 7,000 SEK to 26,000 SEK. There are 33 different layouts with one common detail…open space. The living rooms often have views in two directions with a spectacular view of the surrounding area including Malmö, Copenhagen (Denmark), and the sea.

Safety was paramount when undertaking such an ambitious project. If you take the 38-second ride to the 54th and top fl oor to attend a business meeting, don’t worry about the wind. The 7-meter thick concrete structure will sway less than 30 centimeters during the heaviest wind load that statistically happens only once every 100 years. Fire safety is supported by an extensive sprinkler system with fi re zones limited to individual cubes.

The first tenants of the Turning Torso moved in on November 1st, and all 147 apartments are expected to be occupied by the end of March as tenants have been moving in at a rate of two per day since November. If you were hoping to rent an apartment in the luxury tower, you’ll have to wait in line because there is ‘no room at the inn.’ Every apartment is spoken for with contracts signed.

Having the Torso as an address certainly suggests exclusivity with a 24-hour reception and concierge, not to mention private space in the building’s wine cellar, use of guest rooms and a gym. But the most valuable facility offered to residents of the tower, hands down, is the exterior window cleaning service – included in the rent, of course.