Stories from Cities
Karlatornet
Year of completion: 2023
Size: 74 floors
Architect: Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill (SOM)
Life in Scandinavia is known for its nature, a healthy relationship with work, and clean air. Now it’s adding one of Europe’s tallest residential buildings to the enviable list of reasons to live in the region. But how do you get around in Sweden’s newly crowned tallest building? The answer is simple: high-speed, energy efficient elevators.
At 246 meters and 74 floors, Karlatornet is a new landmark on the Gothenburg skyline. With over 2,000 homes, as well as hotels, offices, shops, and restaurants, it’s an architectural triumph that combines technical innovation with green building. But the range of facilities on offer also speaks to a new standard of living for the Nordics, and a generation of aspirational tenants who expect life to be smart, efficient, and better connected than ever before.
These expectations place high demands on elevator capacity, speed, and reliability, making Karlatornet one of the most complex elevator projects undertaken in the Nordic region. In the high-rise, elevators are more than a means of transport – they act as the heart of the building, ensuring the vertical city functions every day.
I was positively surprised by how efficiently the elevator system works. It feels modern, well thought out and very reliable. The elevators really contribute to a smooth and pleasant everyday life in the building.
Resident at Karlatornet
In buildings with high activity, elevators play a major role. Karlatornet was an exciting project that required a unique solution that could both handle the large number of users and support a strong sustainability agenda. The result is a well functioning building where energy savings are maximized and the user experience is optimized.
Markus Westerling Project Manager at KONE
Karlatornet is an architectural masterpiece brought to life by firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – known for, amongst other award-winning international projects, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. The design is said to be inspired by a ripple on the nearby Göta River, tying Gothenburg’s history as Sweden’s largest port to it’s future as a global hub for life and work.
Despite its lofty technological achievements, like all buildings – Karlatornet’s success is defined by its ability to complement modern human life. The goal for KONE was to help make this aim a reality, and to ensure the extraordinary level of reliability and efficiency required are achieved with sustainable solutions.
The result was a high speed elevator solution with destination control that acts as the building’s central nervous system, directing people to the right elevator and minimizing waiting times and unnecessary stops. The solution combines advanced traffic management, regenerative drives, and KONE UltraRope® carbon fiber hoisting technology to maximize energy savings and ride comfort, helping Karlatornet demonstrate how future buildings can unite design, function, and sustainability.
Five high speed elevators controlled by a smart destination system group passengers traveling to the same floors, and direct them to a specific car. This reduces the number of individual trips and unnecessary stops, which cuts waiting times and makes journeys faster and more comfortable for residents, hotel guests and visitors across 74 floors.
Energy consumption is optimized in three ways: ride sharing to the same floor reduces the total number of elevator journeys, regenerative drives feed surplus energy back into the building for uses such as lighting, and KONE UltraRope® carbon fiber hoisting ropes cut rope weight by up to 80%. Together, these measures lower energy use and extend component lifetimes, helping the tower meet its green ambitions.
The integrated KONE Access solution ensures that only users with the right permissions can access locked floors. By presenting an access card at the destination operating panel, authorized floors are automatically unlocked and journeys are assigned, which simplifies administration for building management while keeping daily movement smooth for residents, office users and hotel guests.
Karlatornet has been recognized with the 2025 CTBUH “Best Tall Building” award in its category, reflecting not only its striking architecture but also the way its vertical transportation and smart systems support a new model of sustainable, high rise urban living. The elevator solution plays a key role in delivering this experience.
Karlatornet is equipped with five KONE MiniSpace™ elevators, combining a compact machine room with high rise performance. Three high rise cars run from the ground floor to level 74, while two low rise cars serve up to level 36, together handling the demands of a mixed use building with hundreds of apartments and a large hotel.
A destination dispatch system guides users to the optimal elevator. Passengers select their floor on a lobby screen, and the system groups people heading to the same floors into the same car, eliminating the need to press buttons inside the elevator. This reduces congestion, shortens travel times, and improves overall ride comfort.
The KONE Access™ system ensures that only authorized users can reach restricted floors. When users present their access card at the destination operating panel, the system automatically grants access to permitted floors and assigns an elevator, while integration with the building’s central access control system simplifies day to day administration for the tower’s operators.
"KONE UltraRope® uses a carbon fiber core to create extremely light, strong, and durable hoisting ropes. Compared to conventional steel ropes, UltraRope® can reduce rope weight by up to 80%, which lowers energy consumption, enhances ride comfort and supports higher travel heights, making it ideal for tall buildings like Karlatornet. "
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At 246 meters and 74 floors, Karlatornet is a new landmark on the Gothenburg skyline. With over 2,000 homes, as well as hotels, offices, shops, and restaurants, it’s an architectural triumph that combines technical innovation with green building. But the range of facilities on offer also speaks to a new standard of living for the Nordics, and a generation of aspirational tenants who expect life to be smart, efficient, and better connected than ever before.