{"id":251628,"date":"2025-11-08T17:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T17:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/251628\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T17:19:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T17:19:15","slug":"white-arkitekter-restores-gothenburgs-church-like-feskekorka-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/251628\/","title":{"rendered":"White Arkitekter restores Gothenburg’s church-like Feskek\u00f4rka market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swedish studio White Arkitekter<\/a> has completed the renovation<\/a> of Feskek\u00f4rka, a historic seafood market<\/a> in Gothenburg<\/a>, celebrating the timber-framed structure of its church-like hall.<\/p>\n

Named Feskek\u00f6rka, which translates as fish church as a reference to its grand neo-Gothic style, the 1,120-square-metre market hall\u00a0required updating after adaptations throughout its 150-year history had obscured many of its heritage features.<\/p>\n

\"seafoodWhite Arkitekter has restored the Feskek\u00f4rka\u00a0seafood market in Gothenburg<\/p>\n

Working in collaboration with the owner and contractor Skeppsviken<\/a>, White Arkitekter<\/a> repaired and upgraded the building creating three restaurants, bar, oyster bar and a fish counter.<\/p>\n

The renovation of the hall, originally designed by Victor von Gegerfelt in 1874, has been shortlisted in the heritage project category<\/a> of the Dezeen Awards 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorThe building is known as Feskek\u00f4rka, or fish church<\/p>\n

“Although preservation aspects have been central, the project’s intention has not been to fully restore the building to its original appearance,” explained White Arkitekter.<\/p>\n

“Instead, the goal has been to create a cohesive character that captures the building’s unique atmosphere \u2013 embodying both robustness and complexity, a refined simplicity.”<\/p>\n

\"Neo-gothicThe project is shortlisted in the heritage project category of the Dezeen Awards 2025<\/p>\n

A key aim of the project was the reinstatement of Feskek\u00f4rka’s original timber frame, which, along with areas of brick and granite buttresses and foundations, was replaced or encased with concrete in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Stripping back these alterations, White Arkitekter worked with carpenters to replace worn sections of wood, creating wooden peg and cast-iron bolt fixings that reference the original construction methods.<\/p>\n

\"InteriorThe restoration celebrates the structure of the hall’s church-like interior<\/p>\n

“Feskek\u00f4rka proved to be a building brimming with secrets,” said the studio. “Beneath its 1960s concrete layers lay a remarkably intricate structure, hidden from view for decades.”<\/p>\n

“Removing this concrete became essential to reveal the lower structure’s original form,” White Arkitekter continued.<\/p>\n

“Detailed inspections uncovered that the roof beams had initially rested on granite plinths. Through careful study, the intricate system of buttresses and timber framing could be faithfully and safely restored.”<\/p>\n

\"FishA fish counter has been introduced<\/p>\n

The excavation of a new basement level enabled the introduction of a heat pump system and the relocation of technical equipment, which had previously contributed to the main hall becoming dark and cramped.<\/p>\n

In place of the technical equipment is a series of curved kitchen stations clad in glossy beige tiles, designed as a homage to the tiled stalls once used by market sellers. They house equipment for the restaurants, cold storage and ventilation systems.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"V\u00e5ga<\/p>\n

White Arkitekter completes sculptural water tower “that will stand for centuries”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The kitchen stations and customer seating were pulled in from the building’s perimeter and organised in quadrants, creating a cross-shaped central axis. This maximises the amount of natural light entering through the hall’s distinctive pointed-arch windows.<\/p>\n

Inside, a palette of timber, stainless steel and tilework has been combined with reclaimed materials, salvaged during the restoration works. This includes old parts of the wooden frame, which have been transformed into end-grain flooring.<\/p>\n

\"InteriorTiled kitchen stations nod to the tiled stalls once used by market sellers<\/p>\n

Outside, Feskek\u00f4rka’s connection to the canal \u2013 once used for unloading fresh fish \u2013 has been reintroduced through the creation of a wooden dining terrace that mimics the shape of a barge.<\/p>\n

White Arkitekter was founded in 1951 in Gothenburg by Sidney White and is today led by Alexandra Hagen.<\/p>\n

Previous projects by the studio include a sculptural concrete water tower in V\u00e5ga<\/a> and a series of apartment buildings in east London that draw on “Scandinavian design principles”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Kalle Sanner<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swedish studio White Arkitekter has completed the renovation of Feskek\u00f4rka, a historic seafood market in Gothenburg, celebrating the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,53787,467,43538,35079,41843,40339,40340,1668,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-251628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-gothenburg","14":"tag-markets","15":"tag-public-and-leisure","16":"tag-renovations","17":"tag-restorations","18":"tag-sectionall","19":"tag-sectionarchitecture","20":"tag-sweden","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}