Lidingödoktorn Health Centre, Sweden

White Arkitekter reimagined the historic AGA factory in Stockholm as a healthcare centre that echoes the quality heritage of its predecessor with a sustainability-focused and person-centred building. Alexandra Pratt reports.

The relocation of the Lidingödoktorn Health Centre to a former factory in the Dalénum district of Lidingö, which forms part of the Stockholm archipelago, is turning heads for its innovative and sustainable design. Highly commended in the ‘Design for Adaptation and Transformation’ category at this year’s European Healthcare Awards, the project by White Arkitekter echoes the thoughtful vision and commitment to quality pioneered in Dalénum’s industrial past by the inventor of the AGA, Gustaf Dalén. It reimagines a post-industrial space as a benchmark for sustainability in modern healthcare.

In 1904, Dalen, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, invented a cooker that was clean, safe and easy to use. His factory played a significant role in the industrial development of Sweden and of the Dalénum district in particular. Although closed in 2002, the building had been used as offices until recently, and this conversion is part of a wider regeneration of the area.

Once filled with machinery and factory workers, the building’s generous scale and robust structure provided a solid foundation for reuse. Rather than erasing this industrial heritage character, the
design team chose to celebrate it, allowing the manufacturing past to remain visible in the structure, while giving the interior a new, community-focused role. This sense of continuity between history and present adds depth and meaning to the patient experience.

Several former factories in Dalénum now provide housing, workplaces and community facilities. The preservation and renovation of these industrial buildings has created a new zone, making this area once again a dynamic part of Lidingö. A recent survey by Novus suggested that the service most lacking in Swedish neighbourhoods today is healthcare. In this context, the relocation of the Lidingödoktorn health centre to a newly rejuvenated part of the city is playing an important role in making attractive, convenient and safe places, where residents want to live and work.

A new focus

The site of the health centre has become a focal point locally, as it shares a striking atrium and entrance with a design school, a nursing home and a centre for maternity care. The new health centre is therefore more than just a clinic; it has become a vital civic anchor within the regeneration of Dalénum. By sharing space with other facilities, the new health centre strengthens links between generations and improves overall access to services. This clustering of activity is making a positive contribution to a mixed-use neighbourhood, helping to establish the area as a vibrant, connected neighbourhood once again.  

Accessibility and inclusivity are central themes in this project, and superb public transport access – including via ferry and tram – means both social and environmental sustainability were already integral to the site’s development, even before work began on site.

It was within this context of sustainability that interior architects and lighting designers were brought onto the project by the healthcare provider, Praktikertjanst Lidingödoktorn, to collaborate with project architects VIZ Arkitektkontor.

“We shared a common vision with the client,” explains Isabel Villar, White’s lighting designer. “They were very interested in our expertise in environmental design and re-use.”

White Arkitekter is already a well-known name in healthcare design, following the firm’s innovative work on the Velindre Cancer Centre in Wales, UK. This is a new NHS building that was constructed using mass timber, making it the UK’s most sustainable hospital. In this much smaller healthcare centre in Sweden, White Arkitekter provided colour, lighting and furniture schemes within the wider project. The design included even the smallest details, showcasing how well-crafted environments can be shaped through a holistic approach, where even signage is considered as part of the whole. 

User experience

The guiding principle was the experiences of all users, including patients, staff and visitors. The goal was to create a supportive and welcoming centre that does not feel like a conventional health setting, yet which is safe, accessible and environmentally sustainable. 

In practical terms, accessibility from the atrium to the front entrance can be as easily managed in a wheelchair as on foot, and the welcoming reception desk has different heights. Those with hearing difficulties benefit from the latest technological assistance, and contrasts of colour and texture assist those with a range of visual and neurological challenges.

Consultation was key to achieving this, and “Clinical stakeholders were very engaged,” says lead architect Malin Lindell, “We had reference groups of staff who gave feedback. We listened and modified our concepts.” Working with Lidingödoktorn, White Arkitekter developed a welcoming and supportive interior that draws upon the character of the building and adds richness through careful material choices. Lighting and surface finishes create a cohesive, considered and cost-effective whole, without compromising on high standards of accessibility and sustainability.

The interior design naturally starts with the qualities of the building itself and turns them into assets for the new, contemporary design. This 100-year-old factory has been transformed into a flexible space that can adapt as demands change. White Arkitekter worked with VIZ Arkitektkontor on the layout, as the structure of the building was transformed. Internally, the large industrial windows remained, and Lindell and her team gave feedback to VIZ on partitions and door heights.

“We wanted to make a warm, welcoming environment,” says Lindell, who worked to reconcile environmental concerns, such as reuse, hygiene and cost-effectiveness factors throughout the project.

Light relief

The building offered high ceilings in addition to the large windows, and these have been carefully incorporated into the final design, flooding examination and staff rooms, as well as corridors with natural light. This layout maximises the benefits of existing architectural and vernacular features, while a passive design approach helps to reduce the use of artificial lighting, cutting energy usage and enhancing patient wellbeing. 

Glass partitions above the doors to each of the twenty examination rooms make the most of the building’s tall ceilings, creating a bright and open feel and bringing borrowed light into the core of the building. The staff room was also prioritised as a space that would benefit from daylight.

“Putting the staff room close to the windows makes the layout work well,” says Villar. “We were thinking about what was best for the staff, as they work there for eight hours a day.”

Studies consistently show that access to daylight supports patient recovery times and also improves staff wellbeing, reducing fatigue and stress. By ensuring that both examination rooms and staff areas are bathed in natural light, the design actively supports the health of users. 

Villar approached the lighting plan in the reception and central waiting room differently. In these darker areas, carefully positioned artificial lighting maintains a calm, non-clinical atmosphere. Located in the centre of the plan, the central waiting room has scarce amounts of daylight, so Villar chose large, eye-catching pendants that give a soft and warm light to the room. Different forms of seating also accommodate those with diverse needs. Similar pendants hang in the ‘kids’ corner’ of the waiting room, where dedicated seating, books and games are available for younger visitors and their families. 

“The waiting area is the most important for a calm, safe feeling,” says Villar. “So, we worked with a warmer colour temperature than in the other rooms, pendants, and cove lighting in the kid’s corner.”

This playful element is complemented by a light installation on a wall, consisting of back-lit panels.

“It’s a ‘fake window’ that has the same proportions as the real windows,” explains Villar. “The clinic is not over-lit, and the lighting can be adjusted according to need.”

Colour selection was also part of the interior plan, with contrasting colours and textures between the reception desk and the floor, as well as between the floor, walls and doors.

“We wanted to have a warm, yet pale colour and the walls and floor, due to reduced daylight,” explains Lindell. Green, and one darker shade in particular, is used throughout the centre, including in the examination rooms, where it is used on the tiles around the basins.

“The soft green colour is found in nature. It is comforting and calm,” says Lindell. “In the examination rooms, it creates a big contrast with the walls and floors, and the darker colour is used to ‘ground’ the rooms. We enhanced this with plants, as we didn’t want to add more colours.”

Materiality is also critical to this holistic approach. Each of the partitions is clad in timber for a “less institutional feeling,” explains Lindell and this is echoed in the architrave and skirting around the building. Lindell explains the ethos behind the subtle interiors: “We don’t want users to recognise it, but we have thought about it.”

A new mechanical ventilation system also works unseen and unheard, ensuring the air inside the centre is always fresh, while minimising heat loss. This is just one small part of the effort to reduce resources across the project. Elsewhere, resource management meant making as few changes to the original building as possible.

Innovation in reuse

Sustainability has been a guiding principle throughout this project, with a focus on reducing resources and the reuse of existing materials. This project has pushed the boundaries of what is standard in healthcare settings, with an unusual strategy for sourcing furnishings.

A three-step principle was put in place, in which, where possible, existing furniture from the client’s previous premises was reused. This was mainly the examination beds. Secondly, second-hand pieces were resourced, and thirdly, new furniture was purchased, provided it was long-lasting and easily repairable, making it suitable for reuse in future life cycles.

This approach not only cut costs but also reduced the project’s carbon footprint significantly, with over 80% of furniture diverted from landfill. For example, older examination beds were refinished, while reception seating was ‘refreshed’ with new, hard-wearing fabrics. Each piece was given a second life, contributing to a design that is both resource-efficient and attractive.

This approach has become common in commercial environments over recent years, but has yet to be taken up in any significant way in the healthcare sector. Part of the reason for this could be hygiene considerations.

“The reused furniture was re-upholstered for hygiene,” says Lindell. “And imitation leather was used, also due to hygiene reasons.”

A flexible furniture concept emerged, enabling reuse and allowing different suppliers to contribute pieces that matched the design vision. 

“The reused furniture market is fairly new in Sweden,” says Lindell. “And certainly, reusing furniture is not common on these projects. We had to be iterative with the design, in consultation with the client. The refurbishment market is difficult, and we worked with a refurbishment company to modify the ideas. That provided its own challenges in terms of design time.”

Communication & collaboration

The timescales on this project were one of the key challenges, with the entire project running to just eight months, completing in June 2024. The solution to this was open communication.

“We had a very open dialogue with the client, with clear timescales for reviewing and meetings pre-booked,” says Lindell. “Plus, the client had a good structure for handling decisions, and that was key,” adds Isabel Villar. 

The feedback from staff and users alike has been very positive, and the White Arkitekter team are pleased. The project came in on time, on budget and has a positive response for all users. Warm materials, plants and playful lighting create an environment that feels safe, dignified and supportive for all ages.

“I’m very proud of the result,” says Lindell, again emphasising the subtlety. “Especially the reused furniture. You don’t ‘see’ it, but it’s part of the warm, playful whole that came in at an efficient cost.”

With the project’s commendation in the recent design awards a fitting reward, the team at White Arkitekter attribute the successful outcome to several factors.

“It’s easy to make a lavish project successful,” says Lindell, “But a cost-effective one forces us to be more creative.” It’s certainly true that the project began with worthy and challenging priorities, and the successful impact of the design has had a real impact on the result. The quality of the space is felt as much as seen.

Villar agrees: “It is a small project, but it has attracted so much attention. We have been doing things other people don’t do. It’s been a great collaborative push to move it all forward.”

“This kind of environment is often forgotten,” continues Lindell. “Healthcare projects are often completed on autopilot. This was a small project, but it reached quite far. More love and attention were given to it. They cost little but give so much, helping people, especially the most vulnerable.”

The relocation of Lidingödoktorn’s Health Centre shows how even modest healthcare projects can deliver an outsized impact when design, sustainability and collaboration align. By honouring the industrial heritage of Dalénum while rethinking what a modern clinic can be, White Arkitekter and their partners have created a space that is flexible, cost-effective and deeply person-centred. 

The project demonstrates that careful reuse, inclusive design and attention to detail need not be reserved for flagship hospitals, but can transform everyday healthcare settings. In doing so, it continues the legacy of innovation started here at the beginning of the 20th century by Gustaf Dalén, while setting a new benchmark for the future.