James Taylor-Foster
Selected writing 2015 – 2022
  • About
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Projects
  • Boxen at ArkDes
  • 2018
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2022
  • Boxen at ArkDes

Boxen at ArkDes is a platform for fast-changing, experimental exhibitions.

It provides space for alternative voices to inspire discussions about architecture, design, and their relationship to society by promoting radical and responsive installations, exhibitions, events and dialogues by and between architects, designers, and thinkers. Boxen is designed by Dehlin Brattgård Arkitekter and opened in 2018.


Fig 1. Boxen at ArkDes, designed by Dehlin Brattgård. (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Dehlin Brattgård have designed a structure that creates a transformative experience both inside and around it. Steel, birch plywood, and wire mesh combine to create two distinct exhibitable environments: an interior white-box coupled with a circulatory ramp, encouraging multiple views and perspectives between both visitors and the ideas on display.



Fig 2. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 3. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 4. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 5. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 6. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


The Architecture of Boxen

Placed in one of two 19th Century military exercise halls, which were appropriated as cultural venues in the 1960s (spaces first occupied by Moderna Museet), Boxen contributes a new element of utilitarian architecture to the constellation of spaces and exhibition environments at ArkDes.

A ramp wraps around the gallery, allowing visitors to view the exhibitions from multiple points in space. In this way, people are positioned as an integrated part of Boxen’s external expression. Specific spatial relationships between the gallery and the surrounding hall appear as the ramp ascends through the room.

Centrally placed in the hall, and set adjacent to the museum’s permanent exhibition of models and drawings, Boxen announces itself through the main lobby and connects directly to the temporary exhibition hall. Openings provide a natural flow through the gallery, and the wider museum. From the main entrance at Exercisplan, a long view through all of the museum’s exhibition halls culminates at Rafael Moneo’s hörna.

Built from a prefabricated standard section steel structure, and lined internally with birch plywood and white plasterboard, Boxen is covered by a corrugated steel roof. The primary structure, with columns at regular intervals, make up the main frame of the gallery and is exposed externally. Cantilevering from the primary structure, the ramp begins at the main opening, passing by a viewing platform at a large circular opening, and ending with a balcony that stretches the entire length of the gallery. From this balcony, a concealed stairway allows visitors to re-enter the gallery proper. The roof, lifted from the walls to connect the exhibition space to the surrounding hall, allows natural daylight to enter the main interior space.

The interior is a tall, symmetrical, white room accessed by three doors. Characterised by a reduced visual expression and generous dimensions, it provides a neutral background for exhibitions and events. The plan of the gallery room is defined by classical double-square proportions with a threshold space at the main entrance to emphasise the transition from the temporary exhibitions in the neighbouring hall.

In between the columns are sections of chain-link wire mesh, through which the silver-painted backside of birch plywood is revealed. An additional layer of textile netting forms a railing around the outer edge of the ramp. The layering of materials on the outside of the structure creates a filigree expression and a visual depth that, in concert with the multitude of openings, blur the boundaries between the inner gallery space, the external exhibition surface, and the surrounding museum hall. In this way, the backside of the gallery wall gains an equal importance to the inside.



Projects in BOXEN (2018-)



Space Popular: Value in the Virtual

In Value in the Virtual (Värde i det virtuella) Space Popular (Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg) unfold a groundbreaking installation exploring the role of architecture in the design of virtual worlds.

Fig 7. Space Popular: Value in the Virtual (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron

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 waterfront site in the Swedish capital.

Fig 8. Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron (Johan Dehlin, 2019)


Yarny, Medusa och en elefant
The Craft of Swedish Game Design

Videogames and the culture that surrounds them connect, affect, and inspire us. The analogue material behind a game, however, is often buried or forgotten. This exhibition reveals the visual craft behind one of Sweden’s most important artistic fields.

Fig 9. The Craft of Swedish Game Design (Viktoria Garvare, 2019)


Cruising Pavilion
Architecture, Gay Sex and Cruising Culture

Cruising is not obsolete. Public sex remains a laboratory for political futures and spaces, and is central to understanding new ways of thinking, living, loving, meeting, and belonging. Through the lens of architecture and the city, Cruising Pavilion explores some of the ways in which the traditional model of cruising is evolving.



ASMR: WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD (Konstig känsla känns bra) is an immersive exhibition that explores the emergent world of “ASMR” – a physical reaction, a revolutionary internet subculture, a technology-driven craft, and a field of design.



Commissioned by ArkDes Architects (Boxen) Dehlin Brattgård Arkitekter Graphic Identity (Boxen) Studio Reko Project Manager (Build) Erik Törnqvist Structural Engineer DIFK AS (Florian Kosche) Steel Construction Promostal Build Eckerud EQT Light Installation El och scenteknik (Anders Bill)
Selected Press ArchDaily, designboom, Dezeen

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Are.na

James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
  • CuratorialI.
  • ProjectsII.
  • PublicationsIII.
  • SpeakingIV.
  • WritingV.
I.Curatorial
  • ✶ WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD2022
  • Mira Bergh × Josefin Zachrisson: Utomhusverket2022
  • ✶ Solicited: Proposals2021
  • ✶ Studio Ossidiana: Utomhusverket2021
  • An Exhibition About ASMR2020
  • Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron + Brunnsparken2019
  • Cruising Pavilion: Architecture, Gay Sex, Cruising Culture2019
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design2019
  • Petra Gipp and Mikael Olsson; Sigurd Lewerentz – Freestanding2018
  • Space Popular: Value in the Virtual2018
  • You Are Not Alone2017
  • In Therapy2016
  • Keeping Up Appearances2015
II.Projects
  • ASMR, An Exhibition Trailer2022
  • Watch & Chill 2.0: Streaming Senses2022
  • Plug-in Poesi2020
  • ✶ Interdependence: Stockholm and pandemia2020
  • Future Architecture Rooms2020
  • SOFT GOSSIP2020
  • Mukbang Veneziano2020
  • Körper2019
  • Architecture on Display2018
  • Boxen at ArkDes2018
  • The Stones of Venice: A Kimono2017
  • Misunderstandings (A Reliquary)2016
III.Publications
  • ✶ softspot2021
  • Living on Water2017
  • Elemental Living2016
  • People, Place, Purpose2015
IV.Speaking
  • ✶ Scaffold #612022
  • ✶ Protagonist of the Erotic: An Island2021
  • A Future for Exhibitions2021
  • Future Architecture CEx2020 Focus Talks2020
  • Modevisningar är den flyktigaste formen av arkitektur2018
  • Exhibition Models2017
V.Writing
  • Studio Ossidiana on the Sentimental Scale of the City2022
  • A Strange Sort of Weight2021
  • What’s Mine Is Theirs: an interview with Max Lamb2020
  • ✶ Screen Glow Sedation2020
  • No Time to Stand and Stare2020
  • On Norra Tornen2020
  • ✶ Don’t Fear a Snowflake2020
  • In Riga, A Conference On Architecture and Migration2019
  • On Practical Futurology2019
  • Foreword: On the Manifesto2019
  • Making Believe with Charlap Hyman & Herrero2019
  • ✶ To Speak As If In Capital Letters2019
  • Baltoscandia: A Complex Utopia2018
  • ✶ Virgil Abloh, Editor in Brief2018
  • A Weak Monument2018
  • Sigurd Lewerentz: Villa Edstrand2018
  • On the Cruising Pavilion2018
  • A Diary of Virgil Abloh’s First Louis Vuitton Show2018
  • ✶ The Boat is Leaking. The Captain Lied.2018
  • Concrete Mountain2017
  • ✶ On Liquid Modernity2017
  • ✶ #003399, #FFCC00; The Meaning of a Flag2017
  • Pillars of Society: “Jantelagen”2017
  • Exhibiting the Postmodern2017
  • Future Architecture and the Idea of Europe2017
  • Domains of Influence2017
  • Ingress: Black Rock City2017
  • In Dialogue With Gravity2017
  • Rem, Redacted2016
  • Media States, Or The State of Media2016
  • A Piece of England to Call One’s Own2016
  • Upon This Rock (I Will Build My Church)2016
  • The Design of the Species2016
  • Venice Isn’t Sinking, It’s Flooding2016
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2022
Projects
  • Boxen at ArkDes 2018
  • by Dehlin Brattgård Arkitekter at ArkDes (The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design)
Back

Boxen at ArkDes is a platform for fast-changing, experimental exhibitions.

It provides space for alternative voices to inspire discussions about architecture, design, and their relationship to society by promoting radical and responsive installations, exhibitions, events and dialogues by and between architects, designers, and thinkers. Boxen is designed by Dehlin Brattgård Arkitekter and opened in 2018.


Fig 1. Boxen at ArkDes, designed by Dehlin Brattgård. (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Dehlin Brattgård have designed a structure that creates a transformative experience both inside and around it. Steel, birch plywood, and wire mesh combine to create two distinct exhibitable environments: an interior white-box coupled with a circulatory ramp, encouraging multiple views and perspectives between both visitors and the ideas on display.



Fig 2. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 3. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 4. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 5. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Fig 6. Boxen at ArkDes by Dehlin Brattgård (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


The Architecture of Boxen

Placed in one of two 19th Century military exercise halls, which were appropriated as cultural venues in the 1960s (spaces first occupied by Moderna Museet), Boxen contributes a new element of utilitarian architecture to the constellation of spaces and exhibition environments at ArkDes.

A ramp wraps around the gallery, allowing visitors to view the exhibitions from multiple points in space. In this way, people are positioned as an integrated part of Boxen’s external expression. Specific spatial relationships between the gallery and the surrounding hall appear as the ramp ascends through the room.

Centrally placed in the hall, and set adjacent to the museum’s permanent exhibition of models and drawings, Boxen announces itself through the main lobby and connects directly to the temporary exhibition hall. Openings provide a natural flow through the gallery, and the wider museum. From the main entrance at Exercisplan, a long view through all of the museum’s exhibition halls culminates at Rafael Moneo’s hörna.

Built from a prefabricated standard section steel structure, and lined internally with birch plywood and white plasterboard, Boxen is covered by a corrugated steel roof. The primary structure, with columns at regular intervals, make up the main frame of the gallery and is exposed externally. Cantilevering from the primary structure, the ramp begins at the main opening, passing by a viewing platform at a large circular opening, and ending with a balcony that stretches the entire length of the gallery. From this balcony, a concealed stairway allows visitors to re-enter the gallery proper. The roof, lifted from the walls to connect the exhibition space to the surrounding hall, allows natural daylight to enter the main interior space.

The interior is a tall, symmetrical, white room accessed by three doors. Characterised by a reduced visual expression and generous dimensions, it provides a neutral background for exhibitions and events. The plan of the gallery room is defined by classical double-square proportions with a threshold space at the main entrance to emphasise the transition from the temporary exhibitions in the neighbouring hall.

In between the columns are sections of chain-link wire mesh, through which the silver-painted backside of birch plywood is revealed. An additional layer of textile netting forms a railing around the outer edge of the ramp. The layering of materials on the outside of the structure creates a filigree expression and a visual depth that, in concert with the multitude of openings, blur the boundaries between the inner gallery space, the external exhibition surface, and the surrounding museum hall. In this way, the backside of the gallery wall gains an equal importance to the inside.



Projects in BOXEN (2018-)



Space Popular: Value in the Virtual

In Value in the Virtual (Värde i det virtuella) Space Popular (Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg) unfold a groundbreaking installation exploring the role of architecture in the design of virtual worlds.

Fig 7. Space Popular: Value in the Virtual (Johan Dehlin, 2018)


Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron

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 waterfront site in the Swedish capital.

Fig 8. Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron (Johan Dehlin, 2019)


Yarny, Medusa och en elefant
The Craft of Swedish Game Design

Videogames and the culture that surrounds them connect, affect, and inspire us. The analogue material behind a game, however, is often buried or forgotten. This exhibition reveals the visual craft behind one of Sweden’s most important artistic fields.

Fig 9. The Craft of Swedish Game Design (Viktoria Garvare, 2019)


Cruising Pavilion
Architecture, Gay Sex and Cruising Culture

Cruising is not obsolete. Public sex remains a laboratory for political futures and spaces, and is central to understanding new ways of thinking, living, loving, meeting, and belonging. Through the lens of architecture and the city, Cruising Pavilion explores some of the ways in which the traditional model of cruising is evolving.



ASMR: WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD (Konstig känsla känns bra) is an immersive exhibition that explores the emergent world of “ASMR” – a physical reaction, a revolutionary internet subculture, a technology-driven craft, and a field of design.



Commissioned by ArkDes Architects (Boxen) Dehlin Brattgård Arkitekter Graphic Identity (Boxen) Studio Reko Project Manager (Build) Erik Törnqvist Structural Engineer DIFK AS (Florian Kosche) Steel Construction Promostal Build Eckerud EQT Light Installation El och scenteknik (Anders Bill)
Selected Press ArchDaily, designboom, Dezeen
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