Göteborg, Sweden

Frida Sjostam and her team at Göteborg-based New Order Arkitektur have created an “alternative” corporate head office for a giant Swedish automaker—a company that has set out to do things differently in the car industry.

And Lynk’s head office in Göteborg is no exception.

For its inspiring design and sustainability, the head office was awarded with a Good Design Award for 2023 by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies

When entering the Brutalist headquarters, you’re immediately struck by the new, out-of-this-world aesthetics.

The crude concrete floor, the dotted centerpiece sofa, the giant smiley face that bursts through the wall.

And in the far back—the 01 car. It’s a creative mix of the raw and the elaborate, with a constant element of surprise.

“Lynk & Co is here to disrupt the automotive industry, not to align with it,” states Alain Visser, CEO, Lynk & Co.

“Having a boring office is out of the question. It needs to be wow! If we don’t live and work in a non-conformist fashion, then we’re not truthful to the brand. It’s all about honesty and authenticity. We must stay true to the vision, and it must permeate everything from the offer to the office. I think our design team has outdone themselves.”

“Urban traces” has been a mantra for Lynk & Co’s design team and the local architecture office New Order Arkitektur and Swedish artist EKTA when choosing sustainable materials, picking out the re-used office furniture and creating the interior.

The spaces were designed to feel lived-in. As if they already had a history. And in a sense, they do.

When putting up the concrete walls the team told the craftsmen to leave their measurements and scribbles on the walls and stop before they were done.

Looking at the walls now, they still bare traces of the design process. And that’s the point. Doing things differently to inspire the creative minds that work there.

“When picking out the floor for the building, we really got on the contractor’s nerves. Whichever floor they showed us, it was too neat,” continues Visser.

“Too nice-looking. We wanted raw.”

“And when they took us to a warehouse to show what a botched concrete floor looked like, we fell in love. For them it was wrong. For us, it was wrong in just the right way.”

Project: Lynk & Co Head Office
Architects: New Order Arkitektur
Lead Architect: Frida Sjostam
Artist: EKTA
Client: Lynk & Co International AB