The Architectural City Walks on Tuesday evening, June 9th, will be guided tours where conference delegates and any accompanying get to visit a reknown place in Stockholm or thematically look at how Stockholm evolves. Tours will start outside the main conference halls, and the delegates can choose from the following six tours.
1. Tensta
Tensta is the single largest modernist housing area built in Sweden. The suburb houses almost 18000 residents in approx 5600 apartments. Initially a prime example of the mismatch between top-down planning and cities as self-organising systems, a symposium theme, but in recent years interaction between these forces have proved more successful. We will take a long walk around the area to get a sense of both the original intentions and future possibilities. The tour will include visits to apartments both in original and refurbished states, and schools.
Guides: Erik Stenberg & Stefan Petersson, School of Architecture, KTH
Transportation: Subway from KTH
More info: The Municipality's Website on Tensta
2. Hammarby Sjöstad
Hammarby Sjöstad is a new city district to the south of the city centre of Stockholm. The aim of the project is to expand the inner city with focus on sustainable development, while converting a run down industrial area into a modern, mixed-used neighbourhood.
This new district will comprise 11,000 apartments and 200,000 sq. m. of retail and office space. A total of about 35,000 people will live and work in the area. Today more than half of the total development has been completed and the area has received international recognition as a leading example of sustainable urban development.
Guide: Malin Olsson, Public Planning Authority, Stockholm
Transportation: Subway from KTH
More info: The Municipality's Website on Hammarby Sjöstad
3. The Unesco World Heritage: Skogskyrkogården - The Woodland Cemetery
When the architects Sigurd Lewerentz and Gunnar Asplund designed the landscaping and the buildings, they started with the experience of the visitors – the concept of mourning and the feelings surrounding it. The tour of about two hours includes guiding on site and access to the chapel interiors: The Woodland Crematorium and its three chapels designed by Gunnar Asplund, completed in 1940. Also, the Woodland Chapel; designed by Gunnar Asplund, inaugurated in 1920 and the Chapel of Resurrection; designed by Sigurd Lewerentz, completed in 1925 will be showed.
Guides: Domimic Wach, School of Architecture, KTH & Jaime Torres, Stockholm City Museum.
Transportation: Subway from KTH
More info: The Cemetary's Website
4. Stockholm and Architecture Competitions
Departing from the campus area of the Royal Institute of Technology, the tour uses the architecture competition as an instrument to zig-zag through the built environment in the inner city of Stockholm. During approximately 1.5 hour, the urban qualities of Stockholm and its architectural high-lights are investigated. The tour ends at the Kornhamnstorg, and will especially be accompanied by encounters with architecture resulting from a competition. A short guide in English (map and short information) will be handed out.
Guide: Jonas E Andersson, School of Architecture, KTH
Transportation: Walking from KTH
5. Allotment-Garden Area on Södermalm
The allotment-garden movement was introduced in the beginning of the 20th century in Stockholm by Anna Lindhagen on the pattern of similar movements in Denmark and Germany. The aim was to give families who lived in confined and overcrowded quarters an opportunity to grow food on a small piece of land for their own living. It should also serve as an opportunity for recreation and some of the allotments have small cottages. The area is very popular today and the allotments are still today much sought after. Today the whole phenomenon has also come in a new light because of the discussion on urban sustainability and proposals for new areas are in the pipe-line. The tour along the Årsta bay includes two of the allotment-areas and there will even be an opportunity to visit some of the small gardens.
Guide: Ingela Blomberg, School of Architecture, KTH
Transportation: Subway from KTH
6. Årsta Community Centre
Årsta community centre was built in 1947-53, situated south of central Stockholm. The buildings as well as the polychrome paintings covering the walls facing the square were designed by the architects and brothers Erik and Tore Ahlsén. The community centre in Årsta represent a modernistic language of architecture and colour for common man, an answer to the search for a more "human" approach in architecture constituting an important and recognized example of "The New Empiricism" in Swedish post-war planning and building.
Guide: Marie Ferring, School of Architecture, KTH
Transportation: Bus from KTH
