Speculation is crucial in architectural practice and a central role of the architect is to think differently.
Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron (Arkitekturvisioner: Skeppsbron) highlights the artistic methods and visionary ideas of eight Stockholm-based architects and studios to propose new possibilities for Skeppsbron – a large waterfront site that stretches across the Swedish capital’s old town, Gamla Stan, from Slussen to the Royal Palace.
As Stockholm’s oldest quay, Skeppsbron and Skeppsbrokajen have a unique history as the ‘shop window’ of Sweden: a hub for the import and export of goods, a marketplace, a thoroughfare, and a metaphorical bridge between the capital and the rest of Europe. Between people, ideas and commerce, this was once Stockholm’s foremost site of exchange. Although it still stands as a defining image of the city today, it has come to be dominated by car parks and underused public space.
Through drawings, models, words and references, these eight visions consider possible futures for Skeppsbron as an architectural, symbolic, and public landscape. They celebrate the architect’s ability to address the city as a layered, multifaceted environment capable of absorbing unexpected proposals and, together, can help us to see its potential in a new light.
In conjunction with Gothenburg’s 400th anniversary, Röhsska Museum alongside curator Naima Callenberg presents Architecture Projects: Brunnsparken (Arkitekturvisioner: Brunnsparken) with eight speculative ideas for how one of the most debated public spaces in Gothenburg could look.
About Architecture Projects
Architecture Projects is a rapid-response platform for architects to engage with the city, responding to broader discussions in which architecture has a central role. The project offers space for architects and practices of differing size and experience to be visionary: to speculate, consider and imagine the role of the architectural project in affecting different scales – from that of the interior to that of the city.
2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism
A version of Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron formed part of the Cities Exhibition at the second edition of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (SBAU): Collective City. Curated by Yim Dongwoo and Rafael Luna, the exhibition was based on the concept of ‘cities as a collective consequence’ and aims to highlight cities “not only as an aggregated environment but as living, dynamic systems that are constantly changing.”
