Karlatornet (, initially called Polstjärnan) is a skyscraper completed by

Serneke Serneke Group AB, commonly known as Serneke (), is a construction and development company based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Serneke was founded in 2002 as Serneke och Fagerberg bygg och konsult AB, later shortened to SEFA. The company was renamed Sern ...

Lindholmen Lindholmen may refer to: Places * Lindholmen, Gothenburg, a district on the island of Hisingen, Sweden * Lindholmen, Karlskrona, an island south of Karlskrona, Sweden * Lindholmen, Vallentuna Lindholmen is a locality situated in Vallentuna Muni ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The tower reached its final height of 246 meters in June 2023. It has 74 floors above ground. The building was completed in autumn 2024. The building's architecture firm is

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by enginee ...

, and it was built by Serneke Group AB. It was finished in 2024, but the first inhabitants started moving in from August 2023. The building reached 246 meters tall (807 ft), and is the tallest building in Scandinavia and in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

. On 22 September 2022, the tower reached this milestone at 193 meters, officially surpassing

Turning Torso Turning Torso is a neo-futurist residential skyscraper built in Malmö, Sweden, in 2005. It was the tallest building in the Nordic region until September 2022, when it was surpassed by Karlatornet in Gothenburg. Located on the Swedish side of ...

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

. In an early stage the building was budgeted to cost about 4 billion Swedish kronor but, after many changes including increased height, final cost totalled 5,8 billion Swedish kronor or 525 million USD (currency exchange rate at that time). Karlatornet has 5 elevators engineered by Finnish elevator maker Kone. Two of the elevators have a max speed of 6 m/s and the remaining three top out at 8 m/s. At the time of construction, these were the fastest elevators in Sweden. Karlatornet is one out of 9 buildings that will form ''Karlastaden'' (lit. ''Karla City''). Other buildings are: * Cassiopeja, 147 m (482 ft) 43 floors *

Auriga Auriga is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 88 modern constellations; it was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. Its name is Latin for '(the) charioteer', associating i ...

, 125 m (410 ft) 36 floors *

Virgo Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

, 27 floors *

Capella Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the lis ...

, 17 floors *

Lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

, 17 floors *

Aries Aries may refer to: *Aries (astrology), an astrological sign *Aries (constellation), a constellation in the zodiac Arts, entertainment and media * ''Aries'' (album), by Luis Miguel, 1993 * ''Aries'' (EP), by Alice Chater, 2020 * "Aries" (song), ...

, 12 floors *

Callisto CALLISTO (''Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher Innovation in Stage Toss-back Operations'') is a reusable VTVL Prototype, demonstrator propelled by a small 40 kN Japanese LOX-LH2 rocket engine. It is being developed jointly by the CNES, French ...

, 7 floors

Hotel

Karlatornet houses a

Strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

hotel with 300 guestrooms and multiple conference areas, restaurants, gyms and a spa. The total hotel area is .

Karlastaden

Karlatornet with surrounding buildings is called Karlastaden (literal translation: Karlacity). The total area of Karlastaden is . It houses apartments, schools, gyms, higher education institutions, hotels, offices, restaurants and healthcare clinics.

External links

WebsiteWebsite of Karlastaden

References

{{Buildings in Sweden timeline 2024 establishments in Sweden Building and structure articles needing translation from Swedish Wikipedia Buildings and structures in Gothenburg Hotel buildings completed in 2024 Hotels in Sweden Office buildings completed in 2024 Residential buildings completed in 2024 Residential skyscrapers Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings Skyscrapers in Sweden Towers in Sweden Hotels in Gothenburg 21st-century establishments in Västra Götaland County

Hotel

Karlastaden

See also

External links

References