White Arkitekter wins Architect of the year at Dezeen Awards

Dezeen is the world's most influential architecture, interiors, and design magazine, with over three million monthly readers. The category Architect of the year recognises the best emerging and established players in architecture and architectural practices whose work has significantly impacted the industry. The winner has been selected by the Dezeen Awards jury and the Dezeen editorial team.

– We are delighted and honoured to receive this prestigious award. It recognises our long-term commitment and our ambition to enable sustainable life through the art of architecture. Together with our clients and partners we work to create long-term values that enrich our communities, improve quality of life within planetary boundaries, says Alexandra Hagen, CEO, White Arkitekter.

White Arkitekter has a strategy of seeking new knowledge through working internationally. The interest for Scandinavian architecture and the growing pressure for a shift to sustainable development in the industry has strengthened the practice’s international presence in recent years. Today White Arkitekter has employees in Sweden, Norway, UK, Germany, Canada and East Africa. New Karolinska Hospital in Solna, the masterplan of the city of Kiruna and Sara Cultural Centre in Skellefteå are a few projects that has attracted international attention. Sara Cultural Centre is nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Awards 2024, and the project has been recognised as an international beacon for sustainable design.

– Sustainability has been at the core of our business for a long time, and we were early to establish an in-house sustainability department in the 1990s. Through recent political initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus and the EU taxonomy, to name a few, the demand for sustainable architecture has increased in recent years, which is reflected in an increased demand for our expertise both in Sweden and internationally, says Alexandra Hagen, CEO, White Arkitekter.

Dezeen Awards is an annual awards programme identifying the world's best architecture, interiors, design, and sustainability projects, as well as the studios and the individual architects and designers producing the most outstanding work. Longlisted projects were selected from over 4,800 entries from 94 countries.

The jury’s motivation
Swedish practice White Arkitekter works across architecture, urban design, landscape and interior design with a mission to foster a more sustainable future.

The studio recently developed a stormwater pond to reduce water infiltration in Uppsala, Sweden. The project on a former military training area saw White Arkitekter also create a biodiverse environment around the pond.

Ongoing projects by the architecture firm include a collaboration with K2S Architects to revitalise the Makasiiniranta area on Helsinki's South Harbour and the all-electric Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, Wales.

"Scandinavia's largest architecture practice has the thoughtful output you would expect of a much smaller studio," said the judges. "Over 70 years since it was founded, the shared-ownership studio has been a leading voice in the drive towards more sustainable buildings."

"A leader in timber construction, the studio has pledged that every building it designs will be carbon-neutral by 2030."