Dammhagen (pronounced Doom-haagan according to certain Stockholmers of my corridor) is the newest addition to the AFB lineup of Lund student accommodation. Completed last month, the new building filled up quickly with new tenants and has since become a bustling block of student life comparable to its neighbors Smålands Nation and Parentesen. As it is a building still growing its soul from the hopes and dreams of the students dwelling within, it would be redundant to review the apartments based on peoples' living experiences there. Yet yours truly got a chance to go check out the Dammhagen Gårdsfest for your benefit. Video and photo material is scarce but hopefully this will provide a sneak peak for people looking to rent an apartment there next fall.
Figure 17. They served hot dogs for the open day visitors . +1 for AFB.
Dammhagen features a variety of room layouts for single, double or three bedroom apartments. The open days last January featured a single and a double bedroom for display. The single bedroom layout was an exciting one: the bedroom space was a pavilion/balcony/terrace (nobody agrees on what to call this in English) above the kitchen and living room space. There is a large window bringing in plenty of natural light (or the wandering gazes of pedestrians on the street) and creates an even more spacious feeling in the already large room.
Figure 18. The bedroom pavilion also has the most storage space I've seen for an AFB apartment.
The kitchen surface is large enough for many people to cook all at once. Dinner parties in this kind of layout are a must. I'm certain the social space is larger than in many corridor common rooms. As for the living room by itself (which I neglected to take a picture of), one can easily fit a small dining table and other furniture to create a cozy environment. Even with the large window, I would not expect the space to get too cold even during the winter. Yet, again, I'm talking after experiencing Scottish devotion to uninsulated granite blocks. Others might disagree with the coldness factor. The bathroom is, yes you guessed it, extremely spacious for just one person. If you would take out the bathroom walls, you could fit a jacuzzi there perfectly.
Figure 19. Kitchen surfaces (living room behind the photographer) and bathroom sink (shower behind photographer). Photographer is probably an overly charitable description of my skills with a smartphone camera.
The two bedroom apartment is not quite as big on space as the single bedroom I saw. A more conservative kitchen serves as the apartment living room at the same time and does not have a window. This apartment probably looked smaller than it actually was in contrast to the single apartment. The bedrooms are not quite as big as in AFB corridors, but you will not be pressed for space. You can fit a nice amount of furniture for yourself, along with a dining table into the kitchen. The toilet and shower is a shared one in this unit and doesn't quite have the same airport terminal feeling of spaciousness as the previous one did. However, what more do you honestly need in a flat? In this blogger's opinion, the single room was a bit excessive anyway.
Figure 20. A two bedroom apartment bedroom in all its Nordic interior designing beauty.
Dammhagen strikes me as a new kind of student apartment. Many people I have talked to in Lund have been completely averse to living in corridor apartments due to no guarantee on noise levels or general cleanliness. The Millenials seem to be rejecting the Hollywood portrayal of the frathouse as the ultimate student experience and prefer to have their own space with their own things to withdraw to. This is supported by the queues for other single or double apartments on AFB's website: they are twice or three times as long as the ones for certain corridor rooms. So who knows, maybe Dammhagen is not going to be the last building to feature such spacious rooms. If space, quiet and peace is what you're after, then consider looking at this apartment block upon moving to Lund (no guarantee on the noise pollution from Smålands and Parentesen).
Figure 21. The laundry room in the basement and the view of wintery southern Lund from the top floor fire escape.
For AFB's information on Dammhagen, click here.
