Slottsholmen in Västervik – Focusing on local farming and recycling surrounded by the ocean

In 2018, Slottsholmen in Västervik was acquired by Björn Ulvaeus, and a new investment for the building began. Today, Slottsholmen is surrounded by idyllic views where an expansion of the restaurant has taken place. Now guests can quietly look to sea and almost feel the breeze through the large glass sections. With a long-term approach, Slottsholmen has managed to become self-sufficient through energy and water, and they also bring in locally grown ingredients from farms to create a sustainable cycle. SAPA's folding door AMBIAL blurs the line between outside and inside and makes the restaurant become one with its fantastic outdoor environment.

Slottsholmen was first completed in 1913 as a restaurant, but had to be rebuilt again after a tragic fire in 1950. Already two years later, a new restaurant was in place and was inaugurated in the summer of 1952. The building was later demolished and then got its new face in 2014, which is known as Slottsholmen today. In 2017, the doors were opened to what is now not only a restaurant but also a hotel and event venue. In 2018, Slottsholmen was acquired by Björn Ulvaeus and the renovation process took off again. Today, a new outdoor/indoor room is in place in the restaurant and what was previously only intended as a patio has now become a year-round room with the help of SAPA's transparent folding door AMBIAL.

4 season rooms with fantastic views
Slottsholmen is located in a beautiful and idyllic setting where the place is surrounded by the sea from all angles. SAPA's folding door AMBIAL has created a unique feeling and quite the experience for guests, where the lines between inside and outside really blur. We had the opportunity to chat with Anna Ulvaeus, who is the CEO at Slottsholmen. We asked her what her thoughts were when they expanded the restaurant into a more modern outdoor/indoor space.

- The drawing process went relatively quickly and the collaboration between the various parties worked well and was local, which gave the project a more solid feel to it. The new outdoor/indoor room has created a place suitable all year round, where beautiful environments are reflected around the room. In winter, a cozy environment is created where lit candles give a warm vibe while you quietly look out at the harbor, it will not be a boring auditorium environment that easily can become in larger spaces. In the summer, the room can be opened completely and the proximity to the sea creates a tingling feeling. The entire building has various special solutions, which emphasizes how unique Slottsholmen is, says Anna Ulvaeus.

With a well-thought-out acoustic design, the sound can be muffled, and the echo reduced drastically, which means that the guests do not have to raise their voices when they are sitting and eating their dinner. The ideas around the target group were also somewhat of a back and forth discussion, says Anna Ulvaeus. In the end, they concluded that Slottsholmen is a gathering place where people of all ages can meet and spend time with each other. They can gather for a children's party, staff dinners, birthday celebrations with relatives and so much more. The city of Västervik is growing and Anna explains that they are happy that they have somehow been able to contribute to the growth and with consideration for the next generation.

Locally grown and self-sufficient
Slottsholmen is almost self-sufficient, and the idea was there from the beginning of the process, where sustainability was in great focus. With its southern slope, the place has been specially designed after the solar panels that supply the facility. They take all the water from the sea and convert it into drinking water via a desalination plant, which means that the hotel generates its own water supply. The electricity from the solar panels produces energy for the desalination plant, which in turn provides "solar water" to the hotel guests. When it comes to the choice of raw materials, locally grown and organic options are always chosen in the first place. A large part of Slottsholmen's ingredients is bought from local farms and the menu changes according to the season. Here, environmental and sustainability thinking is bubbling over the entire building.

With its unique self-sufficiency, Slottsholmen has received an outstanding award from Swedish Solar Energy, where the overall impression of solar energy and water supply was highlighted. Slottsholmen does not only have a distinctive sustainability approach in energy, local farming and water supply, but also in the materials that have been used for the construction.

SAPA has delivered the folding door AMBIAL, which is the furthest part of the restaurant's extension. AMBIAL is made from Hydro CIRCAL aluminium, which is at least 75% recycled aluminum from previous windows, doors or facades that have been dismantled from previous buildings and recycled. The melting process of aluminum for reuse requires only 5% of the energy required for primary aluminum production. The higher the proportion that is recycled, the better it is for our cities and the environment, which is really something that can be associated with Slottsholmen. Together with Slottsholmen's self-sufficient part as well as local raw materials and SAPA's sustainable materials, a unique and future-oriented construction is created that can inspire other projects to create more sustainable cycles.

A folding door with optimal future visions
SAPA's folding door AMBIAL can create much more surface area and space in a room, which was precisely the need that existed around this project. The entire beautiful sea view can be highlighted in all angles where only minimal profiles are visible when you open the sections. AMBIAL also contributes with the tightness that is needed when you are close to the sea, where the details make a difference in how good the folding door is. If we talk about the future vision for AMBIAL, we see the need to integrate outside with inside, both for commercial buildings and villas.
SAPA is happy to have been involved in this project, and it’s not the first time. In the previous redevelopment of Slottsholmen that took place in 2017, SAPA also supplied doors and windows to the hotel.

Facts:
SAPA Products: Folding door SAPA AMBIAL, SAPA Door 2160S and SAPA Window 1086
SAPA Production Center: Ostkustens Glas och Montage AB
Project manager & designer: TH-Facades
Photographer: SAPA