Project

After many years of abandonment, the city of Malmö decided to open up the old ferry terminal to the public. Constructlab Nord was sent out as a pioneering expedition into this unknown space between water and land.

Arriving in the old industrial harbour of Malmö, Sweden, the team took up camp in the defunct garage of the old ferry terminal. Originally for cleaning and maintaining marine infrastructure, the team turned it into its basecamp and temporary research station.

We named our imaginary research vessel CRS Nyhamen—the Civilians Research Station.

It served as a starting point for collaboratively exploring and reappropriating the forgotten waterfront of Malmö together with the city’s inhabitants. Wandering between moss-covered asphalt, sturdy wild birch trees, and marine debris, we slowly rediscovered the site together with students from local community colleges.

For these expeditions into the peripheral unknown of the terminal, the research station functioned as our collective kitchen, workshop, lab, and classroom where we gathered materials, ate together, and co-produced knowledge to establish a common picture of the site and dream up  its future as well as generate new site-specific artifacts together.

In the process of exploration, further research questions arose: How can we reappropriate the terminal together without it losing its character and history, and forcing out the species that have established themselves here in the absence of human activity? And how can it become a place of reconnection between the city and the sea?

We left traces of care after we disbanded for the nordic winter:  something cleaned, something made habitable, something transformed.  From a defunct space to a place that allows people to gather and meet. Small but meaningful gestures that signal attention, responsibility, and the possibility for future use.

We presented the research station and some of our artifacts and impressions on the 20th September 2025.