Sweden Architechture

8/3/2019 Sweden Architechture

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SWEDISH CULTUREP U B L I S H E D B Y T H E S W E D I S H I N S T I T U T E M A R C H 2 0 0 1 F S 1 0 9 bArchitecture in Sweden

Swedish architecture of the 20th century bears witness to a century characterizedby extensive change. From having been an art form reserved for the greatinstitutions of society and its more affluent citizens architecture soon became

public property in the form of sound housing environments. The consequences of

public planning and the extensive social house-building projects which were later

carried out can be seen throughout the country.

A high level of ambition and relatively substantial resources has endowed

Sweden with a uniquely high standard of housing. It has also led to a dominance

of comparatively new buildings with more than half of the countrys homes having

been built after 1960.

ARCHITECTS IN SWEDEN

When, at the close of the 19th century, Sweden became an industrialized nation, itwas not primarily through new ent erprises being launched in urban areas. Iron pro-cessing and forestry were the prim ary industries which developed to supplant t heagrarian society. Both of these indu stries needed to b e located wh ere th e supp lies ofwood and waterpower were abundant. It was not until the 1930s that the urbanpopu lation had surp assed the num ber of d wellers in rural areas. For th is reasonSweden has not developed an urban culture comparable to that which is found incentral Europe. Stockholm is the only centre in Sweden with a population exceedingone million but even there people are accustomed to having large open areas at theirdisposal. During the sum mer m onth s many of Stockholms residents also abandon thecity and move into t he coun tryside for th e holidays.

The modern architect, a businessperson who designs various types of buildings fora range of clients, emerged during th e mid-19t h cent ury, but t he p eriod of realgrowth for th e profession coincided with the b uilding boom during th e industriali-zation of the 1880s. It was an age when an abu ndance of new t ypes of building pro-ject, making new t ypes of demand , arose, and t he infrastructure developed rapidlyfrom a very low level to a world-leader, requiring railway stations, post offices and

telegraph stations. This emerging society also needed industrial plants, administrativebuildings, hospitals, churches and housing. During the 19th century these tasks were,as a rule, executed with in the framework of the Beaux-Arts tradition. Prominentarchitects of the day included Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander, Helgo Zettervall, F. G. A.Dahl, Isak Gustaf Clason and Adolf Wilhelm Edelsvrd, the latter, not unusually,having been trained as a fortification engineer. Many of the advancements in buildingtechnology during the 1800s can be traced to engineers with a military background.

At the turn of the century Sweden had a population of roughly five million andthere were some 300 hundred architects. The majority worked in one of the threelargest centres: Stockholm, Gteb org (Got henbu rg) or th e Malm area. The basictraining programm es for Swedish architects h ave since 1877 been offered b y technicalcolleges. At the turn of the century however training standards varied greatly. Regulararchitect training was only available at the Royal Institute of Technology (KunglTekniska Hgskolan, KTH) in Stockholm. In Sweden the t itle of architect h as neverbeen accorded p rofessional status and oth er educational programmes were t hereforeavailable at, for example, Chalmers University of Technology (Chalmers tekniska hg-

skola) in Gteborg. Many basic programme graduates opted to supplement theirtraining at the Architectu re School of t he U niversity College of Fine Arts (Konsthg-skolan). Today, virtually all members of the National Association of Swedish Archi-tects (Svenska A rkitekters Riksfrbund, SA R) possess a degree from on e of th e tech-nical university colleges in Stockholm, G teborg or Lund. Furth er training at t heUniversity College of Fine Arts remains an att ractive supp lement in th e field ofarchitecture and architectural restoration.

Laboratories for A stra Hssle Medical

Research Center in Mlndal by G ert

W ingrdh (1991).

BengtEricksson/Wingrdhs


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SWEDISH CULTURE

ARCHITECTURE IN A TIME OF TRANSITION

At th e close of the 1 9th century architects sought artistic liberation from th e aca-demic architecture style. The American architect H enry Ho bson Richardson served asan early role model with his asymmet ric compositions which allowed t he bu ildingmaterials themselves to contribut e to the sculptural form. Through bu ildings such asthe Gvle fire station (1890) by Ferdinand Boberg (18601946) and the DicksonPublic Library (1897) in Gteborg by Hans Hedlund (18551931), this freely com-posed architectural style made a significant impact on Swedish bu ilding culture.

At the beginning of the 20th century ideas were also being imported from Britain,Denm ark, Germany and Austria, all of which generated an especially rich and variedarchitecture. From Britain th e ideas of the Arts and Crafts Movement were conveyedby architects like Carl Westman (186 61936) , Ragnar stberg (186 61945) andTorben Gru t ( 186619 45). This material and craftsmanship-based design school wasregarded as an alternative to the increasingly stereotypical mass produ ction offered byindustrialization. From Denm ark and G ermany came t he brick building traditionwhich very quickly established itself as part of the Swedish building culture. Austriaserved t o inspire architects such as Carl Bergsten (18 791935 ) and Georg A. Nilsson(1871 1949) to p roduce m odern, geometric designs without reference to classicismsforms. Others, e.g. Ernst Stenhammar (18591927) and Erik Josephson (18641929),worked with a geometric style where steel and glass played a prom inent role.

One project with unique scope was the construction, around 1900, of an entirelynew com mun ity, Kiruna, in the most nort herly reaches of Sweden. In order t o exploitan enorm ous deposit of iron ore an en tire town was built in t he wilderness in a shortspace of time. The b ulk of the town was designed by architect Gu staf Wickman(18581916) and the church, built between 190212, represents a synthesis of

Nordic wooden architecture and the Am erican shingle style.The rise of the middle classes focused the att ention of architects on p rivate dwell-

ings and resulted in the production of a multitude of fine homes around the countryduring the opening decades of the 20th century.

The architects who set the tone were those who adopted the Swedish countrysideand cultu ral history as their guiding principles. A new generation em phasised t heneglected Swedish rustic tradition. Familiarity with the rich, domestic building cul-ture, from Renaissance and Baroque castles and m anors to th e Swedish timber b uild-ing tradition, spread. Combined with the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement,this resulted in a sensuous and often very personal architecture using wood and brick.This national romant ic architecture was introduced by th e Swedish Med icalSocietys bu ilding (Lkaresllskapet, 1904) in Stockholm d esigned by C arl Westman.The Rhs Museum (Rhsska museet) in Gteborg (1914) and th e Stockholm Court-house (Stockholms rdhu s, 1916) by the same architect are other important buildingsin this style, as well as the Stockholm Stadium (1912 ) by Torben Gru t and the Engel-brekt C hurch in Stockholm (1 914) by Lars Israel Wahlman. Erik Lallerstedt (1864

1955) designed station houses, offices and institutional buildings in the samemonumental style.The periods principal work is Stockholm City H all (Stockholms stadshus, 191123)

by Ragnar stberg. The building is a poem in brick, captu ring its corner location andthe water. The interior is comp osed with an eye t o its ceremonial function and b earswitness to the interest in the late 1910s for classicism from the period around 1800.The craftsmanship and powerful presence of the material in combination with thefunctional layout m ake this an outstanding structure.

In addition to stberg, architects like Ivar Tengbom (18781968) and GunnarAsplund (18 851940 ) m ade magnificent contributions to the neo-classical style ofthe late 1910s and 1 920s, which b ecame known internationally as Swedish Grace.Tengbom largely designed buildings for major companies. His break-through work,the Enskilda Banken building in Stockholm with its ionic portico (1915), marked thebeginning of Swedish G race while his head office for the Swedish Match Com pany(1928 ), also in Stockholm, m arked its zenith.

Gu nnar Asplund is Swedens most intern ationally renowned architect. His playful,irregular classicism awakened renewed interest during t he p ost-modernism of t he

1980s. In the course of a relatively short career Asplund dem onstrated his genius in ahost of different styles. From the massive brickwork of the early 1910s, his buildingstook on a manifestly lighter tone during the 1920s, while in the early 1930s they wereclad in the austere rob e of cubist modern ism. Towards the close of the 19 30s thisstrict rationalism was tempered and natu ral materials with softer forms played anincreasingly important role. The highlights of his classical production include theLister County Court House (Lister hrads tingshus, 191921 ), in Slvesborg, southernSweden; the Snellman House in Djursholm, north of Stockholm (19171918), andthe Stockholm City Library (Stockholms S tadsbibliotek) from 19 27. In collaborationwith Sigurd Lewerentz (18851974) Asplund designed the Woodland Cemetery(Skogskyrkogrden , 191440) in southern Stockholm which has come to lead the wayin modern landscape planning. Asplund and Lewerent z also designed a nu mber ofchapels located on the cemetery grounds.

EARLY PLANNING

At the turn of the century a number of significant urban planning competitions were

held around the country. It was through these competitions that the Austrian archi-tect and urban p lanner Camillo Sittes ideas on th e artistic treatm ent of street spacebased on t opographic dictates made inroads. Gt eborg in part icular distinguisheditself thr ough a num ber of p rogressive planning measures. As early as 186162 G te-borg held Swedens first general urban p lanning comp etition when the city was pre-paring to expand beyond the old fortification structures. In 1900 the city was on theverge of expansion into n ew, more rolling terrain and consequently a new com petition

Fire station in G vle by Ferdinand Boberg

(1890) .

MaxPlunger

Headquarters of the Swedish Match Company

in Stockholm by Ivar Tengbom (1928).

MaxP

lunger

The Woodland Crematorium in Stockholm by

G unnar Asplund(193540).

MaxPlunger


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was arranged. This was won by Per H allman (1869 1941) and Fredrik Sundbrg(1860 1913) who p roceeded to introduce Sittes ideas to Sweden. Responsibility fortheir imp lementation rests largely with Albert Lilienberg (18791967 ), Gt eborgsfirst director of p ublic works from 1 907 to 19 27. The residential neighbourhoods ofBagaregrden and Kungsladugrd rank among the largest and most consistently im-plement ed areas anywhere designed in th e spirit of Cam illo Sitte. Among t he areasqualities are th e small-scale buildings with one storey of stone and two of wood, astyle characteristic of Gteborg. These so-called county governor buildings weregranted uniform yet dignified features throu gh th e work of architects such as Arvid

Fuhre (18851959).The aim of modern urban planning was to achieve architecturally homogeneous

environments, and th e Gt aplatsen project of 191623 was to create a m agnificentarchitectural environment for t he first time in Sweden. The central site is occupiedby a host of cultu ral institutions and forms a backdrop to G teborgs most fashion-able street, Kungsportsavenyn. Its development took longer th an anticipated and con-sequently the original intentions were not realised. The Art Museum (Konstmuseet)and its terraces from 19 23 by Sigfrid Ericsson ( 187919 58) and Arvid Bjerke (188 01952), the C ity Theatre (Stadsteatern) by Carl Bergsten from 1935 as well as theConcert Hall (Konserthuset) from 19 36 b y Nils Einar Eriksson (1899 1978) are, how-ever, high-quality examples of their time.

SWEDISH FUNCTIONALISM

During the 1910s people realized that society had to take initiatives to improve thecountrys general housing standard. Following a number of social reforms the circum-stances of the working popu lation, at work and in p olitical institut ions, had been

strengthened, but housing standards still remained at a very low level in an inter-national comparison. A host of m easures were imp lemented in a short space of timein order t o m ake workers accommodation more fun ctional. Architect O svald Alm-qvist (1 884195 9) p resented prop osals for standardized kitchen fittings based onuser-studies, and governmen t housing subsidies replaced ph ilanth ropy for the financ-ing of practical and h ygienic hou sing. Consequently, when modernist architectu refully emerged in Sweden with the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition a series of importantmeasures in th e spirit of functionalism h ad already been implemented .

The Exh ibition proved to be of great import ance for this new design ph ilosophy.Gu nnar Asplund was the Exh ibitions principal architect and he d esigned the majority of the main buildings in light and elegant modernist style. Several other archi-tects, who w ould later becom e influential, also contribut ed. Among them were SvenMarkelius (18891972), later Urban Planning Director in Stockholm and one of thedriving forces behind subu rban planning, and Uno hrn (1 8971977 ), leading ideol-ogist within the branch of fu nctionalism th at em phasised social aims.

Functionalism received political supp ort in the policies of the Social Dem ocratic

Party which came to power at the same time. Collective effort would now and for-ever eliminate poverty. A planned society was the goal and functionalism was themeans. Sweden adopted the Weimar Republics vision of a broad, social housing con-struction programme. O ver the n ext forty years housing planning and d esign wasarchitectures main t ask in Sweden.

As a style unfettered by tradition fun ctionalism gained trem endous symbolic valuebut in its initial, more abstract form, never achieved general popu larity. Nor were theflat roofs and large windows particularly appropriate for Scandinavia, something thatarchitects only accepted with reluctance.

Changes became evident by the middle of the 1930s and a couple of summerhom es in the Stockholm archipelago exemplify this new, softer, more traditionalarchitectural style. They were designed and built for p rivate u se by Gu nnar Asplundand Eskil Sundahl (18901974). With their cosy atmosphere, where the open fire waspermitt ed to d ominate t he interior, these buildings are more closely related to th eAnglo-Saxon ideal home of the 1910s than the laboratories of Bauhaus. This markedthe beginning of a period wh en fun ctionalisms doctrinaire solutions were softenedup and the concrete brick replaced the abstract white concrete as faade material.

Functionalism remained as a principle but was united w ith traditional elements tocreate a functional tradition. Gun nar Asplunds annex to t he G teborg City H all(G teborgsrdhus) from 1936, a project which occupied him for more than twentyyears, stands as an em inent exam ple of th is period.

Social aspirations to open the labour market to women led to experimentationwith collective housing where certain comm on fun ctions such as cleaning, cooking,child-minding and laundry were handled b y emp loyees. In 193 5 a building designedby Sven Markelius and featuring th ese services attracted considerable attent ion wh enit was built in Stockholm.

POST-WAR ARCHITECTURE

Sweden m anaged to avoid active involvement in th e Second World War and th is iso-lation from a Europ e at war served to reinforce ties with th e Swedish t radition. Thenew b uilding projects, such as the terrace hou sing development known as Friluftssta-den in Malm from 194448 by Sigfrid Persson (18981983) and Erik Blow-Hbe(1879 1963), were execu ted in temp ered classicism. The fact th at reinforcing bar and

asphalt were in short supp ly during the war years contributed to a ren aissance forbrick and tiles.Urban p lanning also changed. The n eighbou rhood ideas as expressed by t he

American sociologist Arthur Perry in 1929 gained a firm foothold in Sweden. Small-scale housing estates designed for social interaction , with schools, daycare, com-mu nity centres and green areas, were developed by Sven Backstrm (1 90392), LeifReinius (190795) and the Ahlsn brothers, Erik (190188) and Tore (190691). The

G unnar Asplunds own sum mer house at Lisn

(1937) .

SuneSundahl/Arkitekturmuseet

Housing in Kungsladugrd, G teborg from

around 1920.

MaxPlunger

Church of St. Peter at K lippan by

Sigurd Lewerentz (196266) .


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Collective housing at John Ericssonsgatan,

Stockholm by Sven M arkelius (1935).

MaxPlunger


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SWEDISH CULTURE

planning of neighbourhoo d units formed t he backbone of Swedish hou sing pro-duction. Sweden also influenced other countries here. In Britain this principle, involv-ing small and medium-sized housing estates with a slightly folksy tone, was known asNew Empiricism and became of major importance to the New Town Movement inBritain, Italy and elsewhere.

The 1950 s were a dynam ic decade for Swedish architects. The political model for-mulated at the close of the 1920s known as Folkhemmet, literally the Peoples Home,had m ade some h eadway. The mod els foundation was a harm onic relationship b e-tween all sections of society. Housing subsidies were not directed towards the most

disadvantaged groups in society but aimed at achieving a high overall housing stan-dard, with overcrowding as public enemy nu mber one. Via a regulated m arket econ-omy the greatest possible prosperity was to be available to as many as possible. Swe-denthe middle way was a concept minted by American journalist Marquis W.Childs in his 1936 book of t he same n ame. Particular attention was focused on Back-strm & Reinius honeycomb bu ilding in Grnd al, Stockholm (1944 46) and Rostahousing area in rebro (194749), Guldheden in Gteborg by Wejke and denfrom 1945 as well as rsta Centre in Stockholm (194353) by the Ahlsn brothers,Erik and Tore. Now the suburbs gained a portion of the larger citys range of commer-cial and cultural activities. It was, however, the establishment of Vllingby (SvenBackstrm and Leif Reinius, 195254) north of Stockholm that attracted the greatestattention, bo th domestically and abroad. This huge hou sing estate on virgin soil wasnot to be a dormitory suburb but a living neighbourhood with workplaces, housingand a town centre. The centre itself, with a cinema, theatre, meeting-places, depart-ment store and church, was inaugurated in 1954. Adjacent to the centre there arehigh-rise blocks of flats with lower, multi-family dwellings beyond and groups of ter-

race houses on th e periph ery. The idea of gathering the terrace houses into smallvillages of 2030 houses and where the private lot was minimized in favour of alarger area of common land, became widespread du ring the 195 0s and was often ex-ecuted with great care.

The increase in leisure time led growing numb ers of families to b uild holidaycottages. As an alternative to the small, detached cottage, architect Stig Ancker tookthe initiative for the establishment of a holiday camp by the sea at Haverdal on thewest coast (1 95356) in the form of a hou sing group characteristic of the p eriod.Today, Sweden has m ore holiday cottages per capita t han any other country.

Economic development made a wide range of opp ortunities available to architects.New residential areas were established throu ghout t he cou ntry. The unassuming fa-ades did not infrequently mask exciting spaces. At the time designing private resi-dences was still common, but this was a market th at was to disappear entirely duringthe 1960s and which to date has yet to recover other than to a marginal extent. Atthe great design exhibition of t he 1 950s, H 55 in Helsingborg, Carl-Axel Acking (b.1910) and Per Friberg (b. 1920) created a sensual pavilion with space and light whereabstract aesthetics were paramount. It came to serve as a dividing line; following the

exhibition structu ral issues advanced increasingly into the foreground.Two trends can be discerned in post-war Swedish architecture. On the one hand

the liberal branch w ith roots in b oth Modernism and Classicism. The Swedish Co-operative Union and Wholesale Societys Architects Office (KF:s Arkitektkontor) pro-duced matter-of-fact and unobt rusive works th at com bined t he classical legacy ofHeinrich Tessenow and G unnar Asplund. This branch has since sprout ed shoots suchas the Ahlsn brothers, Nils Tesch, Nils Ahrbom, Helge Zimdal, Klaes Anshelm, RalphErskine and C arl Nyrn.

O n th e oth er hand there is a more intellectual school represented by names likePaul Hedqvist, Sven Markelius, Bengt Lindroos and Peter Celsing. These architects areperhap s more closely allied to international architecture bu t despite th is their workwould be unthinkable outside the Swedish simplicity. The significance of Swedishpoverty is often raised in discussions of the Swedish cultural inheritance. Foreignextravagance with gold and precious stones received m ore econom ical attire in woodand p aint. In pu rely aesthet ic terms th is often m eant t hat exp ressiveness increasedwhen the means declined.

MASS PRODUCTION AND REACTION

Faith in economic growth continued into the 1960s but despite greater materialwealth in t he form of cars, washing machines and h oliday cottages, the housing short-age in the big cities became increasingly aggravated. In order to address this de-ficiency, caused in part by an influx of people from rural areas, it was decided in 1965that one m illion new dwellings were to be bu ilt in t he com ing ten years. Achievingthis dem anded a well-developed prefabrication system. Production-steered p lanningbecame a concept that fundamentally changed architecture. Until this point buildinghad been based on the techniques of craftsmen. The million target had more or lessbeen achieved when the building crisis of the 19 70s struck. People did not want t omove into t he new housing estates and th e criticism directed towards architects wasblistering. Structuralism was more appropriate for administrative buildings. Duringthe 1960s t he Royal Board of Pu blic Building (Kungliga Byggnadsstyrelsen) amassedconsiderable expertise in the comm issioning of government buildings.

For those more inclined to sculptural architecture, churches were one of t he fewobjects which remained. In connection with the development of new housing estatesin the 1950s, the Church of Sweden once again became an important client. SigurdLewerentz churches in Bjrkhagen in Stockholm (19 5660) and Klippan in Skne(1962 66) are two o f this masters last works. He refined b uilding design t o a m ini-malist art form employing brick, wood and glass.

Peter Celsing (1920 74) also designed a num ber of chu rches in very powerfulbrickwork. His largest works are the C ultural Cent re (Kulturhuset, 19681973),

Collective housing at John Ericssonsgatan,

Stockholm by Sven Markelius (1935).

MaxPlunger

V llingby center by Backstrm & Reinius and Erik

G lemme, landscape architect, (1954).

GunnarHansson/Arkiteturmuseet

MaxPlunger


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SWEDISH CULTURE

which also houses the City Theatre and the Bank of Sweden (Riksbanken) in centralStockholm (19 6576). O ver the course of several decades an anti-historical attitud eravaged Sweden and resulted in t he d emolition of major segment s of many towncentres. The old, richly varied buildings were razed and replaced by large-scale work-places and commercial properties. Celsing, despite the artistic qualities of his work,was made the scapegoat for th e devastation of central Stockholm.

The core of Sundsvall, on th e oth er hand, rem ains virtually intact since the t urn ofthe century and the magnificent stone buildings reflect the public and private wealthinvested in t hem during the golden years of the timber industry.

Few architects were able to avail themselves of the heritage of the 1950 s and1960s. One of t hem was Englishm an Ralph Erskine (b. 1914), wh o just before the warsought out the Swedish Model. At a time when the general publics confidence inarchitects had reached its low-water mark Erskines popularity was on the rise. Theresidential area of Nya Bruket in Sandviken (197378 ) and t he Stud ent Un ion Build-ing (Allhuset) at Stockholm University (1982) are two examples of his light-heartedand expressive architectural style. Through the Byker housing estate in Newcastle,England, this approach to architecture also put down roots abroad. Carl Nyrn wasalso much appreciated for his low-key architecture with deep roots in the oldSwedish tradition. By employing light as the main vehicle of expression he succeededin transforming international trends, uniting them with Swedish m aterials and forms.Among Nyrns foremost works are buildings designed for Pharmacia in Uppsala,Stockholm University and the Uppsala Public Library.

Wh en t he criticism was sharpest t he architectu ral profession was struck by p ara-lysis. Functionalisms doctrines collapsed and the search began for a new platform.Sociological studies of how people u sed their n eighbou rhoods and workplaces led t o

experiment ation with participation, where residents could design t heir own sur-roundings. Environmental d amage had also begun to influence architects. Strong tiesto nature were granted new forms and experiments involving techniques with moreattractive ecological qualities were begun. Ralph Erskine, for example, hung balconiesfrom t he faade in order to avoid th ermal bridges. A special building culture has beendeveloping since the 1970 s in Jrna, near Sdertlje, where anthr oposophists havebeen b uilding colleges, housing and a h ospital designed u nder t he leadership of t heDanish architect Erik Assmu ssen (1 91395) and in keeping with Rudolf Steinerscharacteristic round and p rismaticforms.

Adaptation to ecological considerations was begun in special enclaves of single-family dwellings known as eco-villages. With the aim of minimal environmentalimpact, these communities were built using energy efficient technology, organicbuilding materials and separated t reatment of the households liquid and solid waste.The latter tech nology has since been introduced in m ulti-family dwellings. The shiftto a sustainable society also characterises many of the refurbishing projects under-taken in suburb an areas, where th e large scale environment s of the 19 60s were rebu iltto imp rove their function from bot h a social and Agenda 21 p erspective.

Du ring the 1980s t he m unicipalities lost t heir influential role in planning issues.Instead, the indu stry advanced its position and d ictated building in a manner hith ertounknown in Sweden. By means of so-called negotiated planning the financially weak-ened m unicipalities traded planning perm ission for u tilities that t hey could n o longerafford t o finance them selves. The architecture of the international financial com-munity soon came to dominate building in Sweden. On the other hand, a criticalregionalism founded on t radition and t he ch aracter of the site, thrived in smallerbuilding enterprises. Architects such as Jan Gezelius (b. 1923, homes, museums),Gu nnar Matt sson (b. 1937, mu seums, cultural centres), Ove Hidem ark (b. 1931, res-torations), Dahlbck and Mnsson (b. 1943 and 1933, Vasa Museum 19 90 and others)were guardians of t he indepen dent tradition.

CONTEMPORARY BUILDING

The plans for building the Swedish welfare state could be implemented virtually un-impeded for more than forty years. However, the powerful role initially held by archi-tects gradually diminished as the building industry increasingly dictated the terms and

conditions. With the economic boom of the 1980s the client emerged as the strongerparty. This in turn strengthened t he p osition of th e architect, and in t odays relativelylimited produ ction th e architectural ambitions are often lofty.

Swedens two most successful exp ort corporations, AstraZeneca, the pharm a-ceutical company, and telecommunications giant Ericsson, have applied the Swedishtradition of carefully planned workplaces at several new facilities and this approachhas also come to characterise the companies building abroad. Both companies haveoften commissioned architect Gert Wingrdh (b. 1951) who through the ijaredExecutive Country Club (1988) and Astra Hssle (198897), both outside Gteborg,demonstrated his skill in prod ucing high-tech architecture of international class.Wingrdhs practice is now one of Swedens most expansive and is currently designinghousing, workplaces and cultural bu ildings such as the Science Cent er in G teborg.

The strong emphasis on high housing standards in combination with the boom inoffice building in the 1980s has resulted in Sweden having largely satisfied its build-ing needs. The management and ext ension of existing buildings has therefore becom eincreasingly important. Fuelled by a renewed interest in history and locales, centrallysituated former indu strial sites have been converted into attractive housing areas. The1993 Housing Exhibition on Stumholmen in Karlskrona displayed Swedens skill intransforming older structu res to serve new functions. An indu strial park in th e centreof Norrkping has been rebuilt and now houses a museum, concert hall and universitycollege, while on Norra lvstranden in Gteborg, a former shipyard is beingconverted t o p rovide housing and educational facilities (architects: Arkitekturkomp a-niet, White arkitekter, and others).

Bank of Sweden in Stockholm by Peter Celsing

(196576).

MaxPlunger

Railway station in Jnkping by C arl N yrn

(1983).

SuneSundahl/Nyrnsarkitektkontor

Student Union Building at Stockholm University

by Ralph Erskine (197981) .

MaxPlunger


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SVENSKAI N S T I T U T E T

SWEDISH CULTURE

In such projects meticulous landscaping is of central importance. In all larger under-takings architects collaborate closely with landscape architects. Ever since the housesin parks housing projects of the 1930s, Swedish landscape architects have sought toachieve the most natu ral relationship between th e buildings and th eir environmen tan exp ression of t he Swedish attitud e to nature as being, in all circum stances, superiorto culture. It was not u ntil the m ore figurative architecture of th e 1980s th atlandscape architecture achieved more formal expression. Playgrounds have, however,always been import ant in the planning of housing estates, not uncom monly serving asthe h ub for a group of hou ses. Among th e most pop ular landscape architects of the

20th century are Sven Herm elin, Walter Bauer and Per Friberg.Today Sweden has a population of approximately 8.8 million and about 5,000

architects. A considerable number of them work in th e pu blic sector on general plan-ning and inspection. The Swedish building sector is still characterised by large-scaleenterprises, both with respect to contractors and architectu ral firms. Companies likeSweco and Wh ite arkitekter are am ong th e worlds largest in th eir field. The finestartistic quality is however produced by the smaller practices. In recent years, Swedisharchitects have been challenged by foreigners like Niels Torp from Norway (SAShead office in Stockholm, Nils Ericsson Terminal in Gteborg and others), TegenstuenVandkun sten (hou sing in Bors) and Henn ing Larsen (M alm City Library) fromDenm ark. A Spaniard, Rafael Moneo, designed the most p restigious projects of th e1990s, the new Modern Museum (Moderna Museet) and the Museum of Architecture(Arkitekturmuseet), both in Stockholm.

Du ring the closing decades of the 20 th century Swedish architects turned to historyto rediscover techniques, design and the social significance of architecture. Alongsidethis reconstruction work grew a renewed interest in modernism as form and idea and,

with t he architectu re of the 1930s as a springboard, a new international style has es-tablished a foothold. Building commissions are now mainly for institutions such asschools and colleges. Despite a major migration, chiefly to Stockholm, the level ofhousing construction remains very low. It is concentrated to exclusive sites, which hasserved to justify very high standards. The resources for heavily subsidised housingconstruction are n o longer available and th e states involvement in bu ilding has th ere-fore shifted d irection. One such expression of th is new approach is the architectureaction plan that aims to improve Swedish architecture. One means towards this endis the expansion of the M useum o f Architecture, which, from its new prem ises onSkeppsholmen in Stockholm, is in charge of Swedens official Year of Architecture2001.

Rasmus Waern

Rasmus Wrn is an architectand specialist in Swedish 20thcentury architecture. He is aneditor of the Swedish Review of

Architecture, Arkitektur.

The author alone is responsiblefor the opinions expressed inthis fact sheet.

Translation:Gordon Carmichael/TransWord

The Swedi sh Instit ut e (SI) is a publ ic agency establ ished to di sseminat e know ledge abou t Sweden abroad.It produces a wide range of publications, in several languages, on many aspects of Swedish society.

This fact sheet is part o f SIs inf ormat ion service. It can be used as backgroun d inf ormat ion on condit ionthat the source is acknowledged.

For further inform ation please contactth e Swedi sh Embassy or Consulat e in your coun tr y (in t he U.S.: Swedi sh Inf ormat ion Service,One Dag Hammarskjld Plaza, New York , N.Y. 10017-2201), or Svenska Institute t : Box 7434, SE-103 91Stockholm, Sweden. Office: Sverigehuset (Sweden House), Hamngatan/Kungstrdgrden, Stockholm.Tel: + 46-8-789 20 00. Fax: + 4-8-20 72 48. E-mai l: or [email protected] ht t p://w ww .si.se

ISSN

1101-6124

ADDRESSES

Arkitekturmuseet, Skeppsholmen, 111 49 Stockholmtel +46-8-587 27 00, fax +46-8-587 27 70

Tidskriften Arkitektur, Norrlandsgatan 18, Box 1742, 111 87 Stockholmtel +46-8-679 61 05, fax +48-8-611 52 7

SAR, Svenska Arkitekters Riksfrbund , Norrlandsgatan 18,111 43 Stockholm, tel +46-8-679 27 60, fax +46-8-611 49 30

Kungl Tekniska Hgskolan (KTH) , Valhallav. 79, 100 44 Stockholmtel +46-8-790 60 00, fax +46-8-790 65 00

Chalmers tekniska hgskola, 412 96 Gteborgtel +46-31-772 10 00, fax +46-31-772 38 72, www. chalmers.se

Riksantikvariembetet (N ational Heritage Board),Box 5405, 114 84 Stockholm, tel +46-8-783 90 00, fax +46-8-660 72 84

Bo ve rket (N ational Board of Housing, Bu ilding and Planning),Box 534, 371 23 Karlskrona, tel +46-455-530 00, fax +46-455-531 00

The Vasa Museum in Stockholm by Dahlbck

and M nsson (1990).

MaxPlunger

The Modern M useum and the M useum of A rchi-

tecture in Stockholm by Rafael M oneo were

inaugurated in February 1998.

HansHamm

arskjld/MM

Documents

Sweden Architechture