It is now clear that the Filborna water tower in Helsingborg will be awarded Sweden's finest architecture prize, the Kasper Salin Prize for the best building of the year.

The award comes in the form of a bronze relief that is attached to the building itself.

Replicas of the award are also given to the client and the architect, who in this case is Wingårdh's architectural office.

This year's Kasper Salin Prize will be the agency's sixth.

- It feels fantastic, I'm really dizzy, says Gert Wingårdh to Kulturnyheterna.

"Stunningly beautiful"

Wingårdh himself was convinced that the award would go to Sara Kulturhus in Skellefteå.

- I was really not prepared, so it was very emotional to go down and receive the award.

One who also thought that Sara Kulturhus would win is the architectural critic Mark Isitt.

But despite the unexpected result, he thinks the price has ended up right.

- It is a fabulously beautiful building that looks like something out of a Steven Spielberg film, says Isitt to Kulturnyheterna.

And continues:

- It is also a piece of infrastructure, and we have been lousy at investing in it in this country.

The fact that these vital buildings are now being taken so seriously is a big step forward.

And it's worth a tribute.

Delicious three liters per hour

The inauguration of the tower was planned for September 2020 - but has still not been completed.

The reason is that the tower is leaking water.

The leakage is due to small holes in a kind of inner plastic film that is designed to make the concrete last longer.

In June 2021, the tower leaked as much as 4,000 liters of water per day.

Today, the tower leaks less, about three liters per hour.

According to Gert Wingårdh, the responsibility does not lie with the architect.

- You have to see whose responsibility it is and it is therefore a builder's responsibility that it leaks, he says.

According to Torun Hammar, who sits on the award jury, they were aware of the leaking situation when they named Filborna water tower as this year's winner.

She also emphasizes that it is a contractual error and does not depend on the architecture, on which the price is based.

In the clip above, you can hear more from Gert Wingårdh and Mark Isitt.