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Medborgarhuset /Civic Centre

Photo by E®go Martini™

In 1930 the city of Stockholm arranged an architectural competition on the building of a new civic centre at the heart of the Södermalm borough. The building needed to contain auditoriums, a library, a gymnasium, a concert hall, a theatre and a public bath. The winning architect Karl Maritn Westerberg came up with a late neoclassical building composed of three volumes - thereby allowing light to reach the core of the massive construction. Building started 1936 - a time when functionalist ideals had started to dominate the architectural climate, and thus all overtly classical decorations were removed. Yet the house is not 100 percent swedish funkis either, but instead, the long rows of windows bring to mind factories in wake of Peter Behrens and German expressionism. Construction finished in 1939.

The pictures below show to some extent not only the fine crafstmanship put into details, but also the massive volume of some of the bulding's halls.

Unfortunately, this place doesn't look as good as it does in the pictures any longer.

For Swedish Readers:

http://www.dn.se/bostad/vindsvaningar-har-blivit-ett-satt-att-leva-1.1185309

Satir?

http://markmalmstrom.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/flerfamiljshus-har-blivit-ett-satt-att-leva/

Satir?

Visions of Space: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

A beautiful documentary by Robert Hughes for BBC FOUR.

RedTub

Atelier van Lieshout, 1992

from wright

Former Home of Renaat Braem, Belgian Architect

These pictures, taken by Tim Van De Velde/OWI, are from the personal residence of belgian architect Renaat Braem in 1955. I really like those wood-panneled ceilings common in the 60's and 70's. Not seldomly did they have really nice spotlights, often in brass, which kick the shit out of all the ugly-ass ones you see today in every freshly renovated (destroyed) home.