Anders Nyquist was a Swedish architect and a pioneer in designing ecocycle, holistic, and people-friendly buildings and communities all around the world, with a focus on affordable and longtime durable buildings, with low maintenance cost, and a social vision that could facilitate use and lifestyle within the building with reduced negative impact on ecosystems and natural resources.
Born in Sundsvall in 1938, he achieved his master’s degree in architecture in 1962 at Chalmers Technical University in Gothenburg.
After reading the book “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson about the devastating effects of humans overexploiting the resources we are given from Mother Nature, leading to the environment being polluted and birds and other animals being killed, Anders, who was a very active bird watcher and amateur photographer, decided he wanted to dedicate his life to contributing to a more long-term sustainable and ecocycle-friendly world that can be passed on to future generations.
The social vision was key; Anders wanted to promote social interaction between people. An apartment building should not only be a “storage” of people at night, but a place where different people can meet, interact, share ideas and support each other. Therefore, when designing an apartment building, he always considered this very carefully.
Of course, the social vision was also part of his daily personal life. Anders was very engaged and personally involved in his two daughters’ lives, Karin and Eva, but maybe – if possible – even more in the lives of his four grandchildren who became a very important part of his life!
A great example of Anders’ social and ecocycle-friendly vision is the design of the apartment building, with a wooden structure and a well-insulated climate shield, in Tomtebo, Umeå, in the northern part of Sweden where all the residents share a common interior greenhouse area where the residents can meet, interact, grow vegetables, and enjoy the support of each other, even during the cold winter. All the building materials are locally produced and renewable. The energy for heating comes from locally produced, renewable, wooden pellets and the running cost and negative climate impact is very low.
As with all pioneers, Anders’ ideas were way too early to be accepted by the majority. But for Anders it was very important to live “as he preached and taught” and what he believed in.
Therefore in 1967, Anders and his wife Ingrid, together with Ingrid’s brother and wife, bought 16 hectares of land along the coastline south of Sundsvall to develop one of the first eco-villages in Sweden. This village consists of 26 lots where the inhabitants have been able to build their own ecofriendly houses designed by Anders. The social vision is key even here, with lots of commonly shared areas, like the harbor, sauna, and cultivation areas.
The most important project during Anders’ entire career, was when he was approached by Per Carstedt, owner of a Ford car dealership who wanted to build the most ecocycle-friendly commercial facility in the world in Umeå, Sweden, consisting of a car dealership (Ford), a fast-food restaurant (McDonald’s) and a gas station (Statoil). Normally not the most well-known businesses for focusing on environmental issues…
Nevertheless, Per Carstedt challenged Anders to create the most outstanding eco-friendly project, the GREEN ZONE, built in 2000, that is still one of the world’s most sustainable commercial projects. Thanks to Per Carstedt and his visions, Anders was able to promote the knowledge, sustainable design, and innovative system design ideas from GREEN ZONE to other projects around the world. This led to many more interesting and personal contacts, like with Gunter Pauli (thanks to Per’s brother Göran Carstedt), Peter Dean, and Michael Ben-Eli. Friendships and professional connections that Anders valued very highly!
All these important contacts finally led to Bhutan, where Anders had the privilege to work closely with the READ Foundation, giving advice on how to improve, develop and refurbish some of the READ community centers in a sustainable way.
Bhutan and its people became a very important and fond part of Anders’ life. He also had the privilege to have the Queen mother of Bhutan visit him and his wife at their eco-village in Sundsvall, Sweden.
Anders lived a very active and fulfilled life and was still working on some interesting ecocycle adapted projects, when he unfortunately – at the age of 83 – sadly and suddenly passed away due to Covid in 2021.
It is with great honor, as one of Anders’ daughters, to learn that this Prize is named after him. I feel humbled and thankful to Per and Göran Carstedt for their generous contribution that will make this prize program, in the name of my father Anders Nyquist, possible.
Kindly,
Karin Nyquist
