Since Campus Norrköping was inaugurated in 1997, there had been talk of a union house for the students. For the first two years, the study social activities were conducted in a room called Petter Speet. But with the explosive increase in students, that room became too small. In 1998, a larger room was developed and the result was Studenternas Hus, which opened in the winter of 1999/2000. SH eventually became popular and attracted a lot of students, however, the premises only offered space for lunch and party activities. A student union house could provide so much more. The three student unions (LinTek, Consensus and StuFF) agreed that a place of study without a gathering place for the students could not be considered complete.
The idea of a student union house was to gather a larger amount of student-driven and student-related activities under one roof to take advantage of the increased affiliation. The project to build a Union House in Norrköping thus aimed to fulfill a variety of functions: opportunity to develop student life and association activities, increase contact between sections, associations and unions, provide space for more events and activities, greater range of “student-adapted” food and café activities, increased contact between students from different programs and faculties as well as between students and business.
“A union building should be the gathering point for all students in Norrköping. By designing premises with the opportunity for both association activities, catering and party activities, the union building can have a range that offers something for each student. The union building should also be an arena where the rest of society should be able to get in touch with university life and the students and vice versa. ”
On September 9, 2006, the student union house Trappan down on Västgötegatan was inaugurated and the students studied, drank beer and danced on the premises until the summer of 2020. But something was missing over the years. The students felt too far down on Västgötegatan and in 2019 the decision was made that Trappan would move up to Kåkenhus, as close to the students as possible! With the goal of increasing student benefits, Norrköping’s best and only union building is now under the same beautiful roof as the students.
