Drivbänken has been awarded the Malmö City Planning Award 2026. We are extremely proud and delighted.

The award has been presented since 1982. This year, 73 projects were nominated, with three selected as finalists: Drivbänken, ETC Hyllie and Solidar.

Hyllie has been built quickly and, to a large extent, through commercial development. Public spaces with generous opening hours have been few, and spaces aimed at young people fewer still. Drivbänken helps address that need.

Facing Hyllie stationsväg, the building rises to the full height of the street, defining its edge. To the south, it steps down through terraces, seating and tiered platforms, forming a green route from the future square up to the roof park. Climbing plants will gradually cover the façade. The name Drivbänken — “the seedbed” — sets an expectation for the people in the building as much as for the plants.

The lower floors are open to the public. At the centre of the building, an atrium brings together places for rest, learning, culture, work and meeting, organised around an event staircase open to everyone.

Drivbänken is home to the Dawit Isaak Library, the world’s first library dedicated to freedom of expression, and Work in Progress, where young people aged 16–25 can develop their own projects. Together with Hyllie Library in the Fyrtornet building, they form Kulturhyllan. The atrium seating and the footbridge to Fyrtornet are open to all. The event staircase is used for lectures and performances, as well as for simply sitting down for a while.

Tenants share meeting rooms, coffee points, lounges and toilets beside the atrium, reducing both floor area and resource use. Kulturhyllan also has meeting rooms and a podcast studio.

Commissioned by Granitor Properties, Drivbänken was completed in 2025. It is the second of seven buildings in the Embassy of Sharing block, which Wingårdhs won in Malmö’s land allocation competition in 2017.

The project’s responsible architect is Joakim Lyth, with Monika Pitura as project architect.

Drivbänken is open to experience. Kulturhyllan welcomes visitors, Gemyt serves food, and Meriç Algün’s artwork Ogräs/Oglas can be seen on site. There are terraces to sit in the sun and an outdoor gym in the roof park.

Thank you to Granitor Properties, Byggnadsfirman Otto Magnusson and everyone who helped build Drivbänken. And to everyone who uses the building every day: you are what makes it a living place.

Photos: Björn Forsberg, Kulturhyllan, William Gustavsson, Fabian Schillström, Daniel Borrie, Monika Pitura and Max Nyberg.