The Tannery

Project

267891

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

The Tannery

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Description

The Tannery in Floda is a fun-filled place for conversion. A sustainable, award-winning food destination and a modern church integrate in an exciting and rewarding mix. A run-down factory in a small suburb has gently been transformed into a unique meeting point. With strong focus on sustainability and social connection this project provides inspiration to a different lifestyle, and a counterforce to the threat of being run over by the ongoing urbanization.

Where was your project implemented in the EU?

When was your project implemented?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Which programme(s) or fund(s)? Provide the name of the programme(s)/fund(s), the strand/action line as relevant and the year.

Please provide a summary of your project

Floda is a typical middle-class suburb where people eat, sleep and commute. It is situated about 30 kilometers east of Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city. A few hundred meters from the small square, where the lake turns into a stream that continues towards Gothenburg, lies the Tannery. A rough, beautiful stone and concrete building side by side with an airy, light and newly built wooden ecumenical church. The old tannery was in its prime in the 19th century. Economic and industrial development eventually closed down operations. The grounds slowly became a shabby, forgotten area where almost no one except the police had a purpose for visiting. The buildings fell in despair. The ground was contaminated. Today it is a mecca for food with a strong connection to sustainability issues. The old tannery has been transformed to a quality food destination. The mixture of a genuine well taken care of rustic building paired with a brand-new light and bright wooden church exceeded our highest expectations. Traditionally a church is located at the highest point in the parish, often becoming a bit secluded from the society and thus relevant only for its members. Here it is the other way around. The church now has come closer to the people, to a place where all generations move. It's easy for anyone to slip in. A win win-situation. When the operation and business started it was a party for all the senses. Conversations, sunlight, freshly baked bread. Food for thoughts …

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met

The cheapest and easiest way would have been to demolish the old building and start over from scratch, but a committed property owner had a vision which meant keeping as much as possible to preserve the soul of the area. The first thing that came in place was a large wood-burning oven for baking bread. The grounds have been decontaminated, the factory gently renovated and supplemented with a modern newly built church, completely made from  wood. A church placed in a new context which opens up opportunities to really function as a community center for the whole of Floda. South facing roofs are covered with solar cells. In the Tannery, all activities follow a common thread. The key words are meet and learn. The bread is baked with locally grown and freshly milled flour. The meny is based on the season. It is organic, ecological and done with as little waste as possible. The aim is to inspire the guests and make them discover a new approach to food. An insecure, declined and forgotten place has been transformed into a rallying point for sustainable change and community across generations. For the good of the society.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met

Obviously, the architectural achievements give the project a certain distinctive character but it is even more the ongoing development of the operation that creates its unique atmosphere. New ideas and new approaches pop up constantly. The architectural challenge was to bring the various activities together. A church congregation, leisure associations, private actors with a profit interest ... The buildings complement each other. The old tannery is meticulously renovated since we did not want to distort it. Furniture, windows and more or less every original interior item is preserved, taken care of and reused. The wooden church, however, we have been able to build from scratch and it is done by the book. Among other things, an acoustics expert ensured that the sound is high-class, almost like in a concert hall. The congregation also helped build a lot themselves. The materials are not so luxurious as you might expect for a church. Almost everything is made out of wood and kept neutral, with no symbols. It's easy to feel quite small in a traditional church. In this building you will not be diminished. The wood contributes to the warm feeling. Some rooms are flexible, with sliding walls, so that they can be made larger or smaller and used in many different ways. The few materials we added are well thought out, the colours are environmentally friendly. It has a modern feel. Timeless.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion and how these have been met

Suddenly there is something in Floda worth paying a visit. A meeting place where food and culture are produced and created at the highest level. Everyone in this small community can go for a culinary experience, a quiz night, stand up…. Things in life you move away from when you leave the big city. The cooking in the restaurant is more or less a handicraft. Everything follows a sustainable common thread. Local farmers can sell their produce here since a large part of the food being sold is locally produced. Guests are supposed to be challenged, thoughts to be set in motion. If you, for example, get remoulade sauce for your fish, you will also learn that the kitchen started producing that sauce two weeks ago. Meet, learn, sustainabilty. 2019 The Tannery won the White Guide award Innovator of the year. The Tannery – or Garveriet as it is called in Swedish – is rough in a pleasant way. Stone and concrete, plywood, pallets, wooden cable reels, visible pipes. The kitchen is open for inspection. Organic goods are on display and buyable, “forgotten” apples turned into carbon box-juice and on the outdoor terrace the coffee cups are steaming. In the Tannery the food operation is the main business, but you will also find a market hall and an office that run a hiking trail (which passes just outside). The Equmenia Church is a modern congregation that really acknowledge the local community without any religious demands. Anyone should be able to visit their premise and enjoy it.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

Fishing is one of the most significant drivers of declines in ocean wildlife populations due to overfishing. Fish grown in so called aquafarms discharge waste, pesticides and other chemicals into ecologically fragile coastal waters. The fish served in the restaurant at the Tannery is grown inside the house. It will not be more local than that. With the help of an entrepreneur of alternative food production we have created a 70 square meter facility where the fish are grown in tanks. Four pools are filled with 800 catfish of the species clarias. The fish are fed with protein-rich vegetables and a small amount of maritime proteins. Their droppings make the pool water very nutritious. Ten tonnes of fish can provide nutrition for one hundred tonnes of vegetables per year. Therefore, a greenhouse is under construction. To show the power of a fish farm combined with a greenhouse. The greenhouse is run by a compost of wood chips and residues from the beer production. Yes, there is a microbrewery, called Bearded Rabbit, in the area as well. The compost bed creates heat for the greenhouse, which means that we can have a completely different range of vegetables in the restaurant due to off season cultivation. Restrictions during the covid 19 pandemic brought up the idea of a food safari. All restaurants in the Floda area each offers a take-away box which means a six-course menu. Among other things the Tannery contributes with open sandwiches topped with clarias, the very same fish that we grow in the house.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project

The church has activities for children, the area is very permissive for the elderly, young hipsters can eat good food and drink an espresso, there is something for those who are out hiking and those who want can just head up to the second floor to play with colours. The facility is managed to a certain extent by the municipality. Every day we get help from between twenty and thirty people in need of on-the-job training and a possibility to develop their networking skills. The fish farm is one element. They also take care of the hen house and will be involved in looking after the greenhouse. They come to the Tannery, grow as individuals and at the same time fulfill an important function. For twenty years Equmenia Church was looking for new premises. When the location for the new church eventually was decided, there was a huge willingness to contribute among the parishioners. Together they have put in thousands of hours of work. Hours that gave participation and insight and at the same time meant many saved millions for the project. The basic idea was quite simple. There was already a large supply of plywood boards available. It became the starting point. With a little support from architect and owner all these volunteers have cut, screwed, painted and worked with the interior of the church. Walls, suspended ceilings, acoustic elements … Often we think that a simple solution is not enough. The result is beautiful – and functional. The church was inaugurated in 2019.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

The innovative challenge was docking a local congregation with a private business running a restaurant and an office for a hiking path. There are lots of exciting connections between all the operations and they are physical as well since the buildings are put together as one. Instead of being a victim run over by urbanization, we create high quality ruralization based on environment, security and a wide range of good culture. The atmosphere and the feel were far more important issues than what material we would use. When you enter the Tannery, you smell the freshly baked bread from the bakery while catching a glimpse of the large church hall as you see the stream flow past outside the windows. You will feel warm and cozy. Lovely. The idea of ​​sustainability is a common thread in the project. The colours are non-toxic and all the tannery buildings have solar cells. At the time of installation, it was the largest photovoltaic plant in the municipality. The old house was filled with stuff. Long ago someone apparently had ordered new windows but it turned out to be the wrong ones, so they were left there standing against a wall. Everything that was possible to take care of was kept to preserve the character of the building. Recycling and upcycling and the use of wood benefits sustainability. It also makes a building beautiful. Wood is a material with a warm feeling and it creates soft acoustics when you move around. The church is entirely built with locally grown wood. The furniture is made of oak from the nearby area.

Please explain how the project led to results or learnings which could be transferred to other interested parties

Our experiences of recycling are contributing to the national research project ccbuild, which is led by IVL Swedish Environmental Institute and funded by the Swedish government. The indoor fish farm is not only sustainable, it is also an opportunity to fight starvation. Such a fish farm can be exported in containers and then built up as a closed system where people in poor countries can get food. One of the biggest challenges society has today is linked to sustainability issues. We need to live our lives in a different way to spare the planet. Especially when it comes to how we consume food. In The Tannery cooking courses spread knowledge on sustainble food to the wider public. Sustainability is, by definition, an approach to business that balances the environmental, social and economic aspects to meet the current needs without compromising or overburdening future generations. This project is an inspiration for people in Floda and other communities. As a consequence of everything that goes on in the Tannery area we can now see a substantial effect on property prices – people simply want to live in Floda. Those who once moved to Floda because they did not have much choice economically, can now say that they live here and are proud of it, because in Floda we have something that others don’t. A food destination of the future.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant independent evaluation source available?

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the Awards more than once under the same category and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.