Stockholm was once a small city with much less global influence, and occasionally you can still catch a glimpse of this other world. Stockholm, built on 14 picturesque islands scattered at the point where the Baltic Sea meets Lake Mlaren, is a city of stately waterfront buildings, expansive views, modernist houses, and tree-lined boulevards. Based in the heart of Stockholms SoFo district, the gallery puts on exhibitions of established and up-and-coming artists from all over the world, exploring everything from smart textiles to traditional techniques. Its a gorgeous building, both inside and out, and offers free entry every Tuesday between September and May. The visual appeal of Swedens capital, nicknamed the Venice of the North, speaks for itself. With large windows framing expansive harbor views, its an enchanting way to enjoy a meal or an aperitif. A small, edgy gallery that showcases unique pieces and limited editions of fabulous fiber art and design, Fiberspace never disappoints. HANS MURMAN AND his wife, Ulla Alberts, architects who own a firm in Stockholm that often designs health spas, were in a perfect position to experiment on Gotland. A post shared by Svenskt Tenn official account (@svenskttenn) on Jun 5, 2019 at 4:40am PDT. The architecture of Stockholm has a history that dates back to the 13th century, possibly even earlier. Theres also a new restaurant and cafe where visitors can sample modern Swedish cuisine by Swedish chef Fredrik Eriksson on tableware and furnishings (including vases, lamps, and chandeliers) created for the space by 30 of the nations leading designers. Among these houses there is every era, every generation. [1] Buildings in Stockholm are characterized by their unique location between Lake Mlaren and the Baltic Sea. Pushing at the boundaries of what counts as a beautiful building, Stockholms premier concert venue deserves a place on this list for its sheer imagination.

Let us know of any items that should be on our list, The BUILD Blog is a discussion of modern design and architecture, created and written by. Likewise, royal wealth had increased dramatically and large palaces were constructed, like the Royal Palace. Such stereotypes, they insist, no longer have such a stronghold in a modern world, one where Stockholm now leads in billion-dollar technology companies per capita, second only to Silicon Valley. Moderna Museet and the Swedish Museum of Architecture by Rafael Moneo Stockholm is a city that has exploded outwards from just one tiny island, and its architecture reflects that journey. Just by Norrmalmstorg square in central-eastern Stockholm sits this Neo-Gothic gem, boasting a lavishly decorated balcony that Gaudi would be proud of. [photo by BUILD llc]. Ostentation is a high crime.. It also organizes workshops, lectures, and events. In addition to the list weve rounded up some of our favorites below. If you were to tell your friends in Stockholm that youre going to your familys vacation house here, youd perhaps be telegraphing that you are well off but very low-key. The now-gentrified island of Sdermalm was once Stockholms working class district, so the occupants here wouldve been cleaners or nannies for the richer residents of the old town. The house is open to the public, with self-guided smartphone tours available in many languages as well as a full calendar of year-round cultural events. Before conceptualizing their own house, the couple designed a number of structures for relatives on the 2.2-acre plot, inadvertently creating a sort of stages-of-man evolutionary chart of their aesthetic. The areas to the south and to the north of The Old Town were called Malmarna. The excavation and underground construction process felt like laboring in the mines. The buildings that survive from this period are mostly churches and royal buildings since these were built from more durable materials than other buildings from that period. Hot tip: If you visit in summer, make sure you leave some time to eat in the beautiful courtyard restaurant. The Swedish capital is much more colorfuland eclecticthan you may think. The main house at Millesgrden was built in 1908 for a married couple, sculptor Carl Milles and painter Olga Milles. The Hanseatic League during the great period of industrialization saw a strong desire to modernize the city. Stockholm's historic buildings are largely conserved due to the fact that the city has escaped destruction through war, which was commonplace in Europe. In addition to a studio that they made as newlyweds little more than a shack the property includes her brothers unadorned two-story limestone farmhouse built in 2002 from plans that the 54-year-old Alberts drafted in architecture school, as well as a 1,700-square-foot, midcentury-inflected villa with a peaked wooden roof and bright orange accents that the couple finished in 2014 for Ullas sister. In July and early August, Gotland is a tourist mecca; young professionals, starved for heat and light, party in the beer gardens of Visby, a port town of 24,300. Gotlands typically flat meadowland seems to flow through the barnlike house created by Jens Enflos firm and Deve Architects.

Artipelag defies easy description. Think public spaces with marble floors and dark mahogany walls, columns with beautiful stucco work, and gilded ceilings. But by late August, tourist season is over. Whilst the area surrounding this church teems with history and politics, its a sanctuary of calm inside, with elegantly painted ceilings and countless candles.

As a museum of art and design, it alluringly displays paintings, sculpture, and drawings from the late Middle Ages to early 20th century alongside applied-art and design objects dating from the 16th century to the present day. At Six is another recent-ish hotel built in the brutalist former headquarters of a bank and refurbished by London-based Universal Design Studio. The idea of filling its metro stations with artworks began in the 1950s as a way of democratizing art. This led to the construction of a fortress in Gamla stan, Stockholm's Old Town. Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. The citys contemporary photography museum is a must-see. After spending time away in the U.S. a second home was built for the pair on the lower terrace in the 50s and filled with furniture by Svenskt Tenn designer Josef Frank. The cobblestoned, hilly Old TownGamla Stan in Swedishand the creative SoFo neighborhood in the citys Sdermalm district, are each compact and filled with coffee shops, independent stores, and galleries. Vasamuseet by Marianne Dahlbck and Gran Mnsson Go by boat for the full archipelago experience (it takes an hour and a half from central Stockholm). In winter, go for Christmas-card scenes and frozen waterways. Housed in the same building as Moderna Museet, Swedens leading museum for contemporary and modern art, ArkDes is the national center for architecture and design. Foreign trends tended to arrive later in Sweden and were adapted to Swedish tradition and taste. The commune alludes to the Sea Ranch, the meticulously planned 1960s utopia in Northern California albeit modified to include Gotlands bunkers, some of which Skalso modernized by scooping out enough earth on one side to allow for an entry, making them a kind of Swedish hobbit dwelling. Every season brings an entirely different atmosphere and related things to do. Like most cities, Stockholm has a shopping mall, but the execution of the mall placement is far more intelligent than most. Whilst the functionalist, modernist area surrounding it is one of shopping malls and restaurants; the Globen stadium itself is first and foremost a place to see live music or catch a hockey game. Subversion, it seems, takes its most intriguing form when there is something beautiful and pure to bend. Still their only brick-and-mortar location anywhere in the world, Svenskt Tenn also houses a tea room with views over Nybroviken bay. Stockholms city library looks like a large orange top hat at the crossroads of Sveavgen avenue and Odenplan square. Although the museums shell seems overly complicated the 17th century salvaged ship it houses is spectacular. Stockholms metro system doubles as a giant museum for art and design. For the price of a metro ticket you can see sculptures, mosaics, murals, paintings, art installations, inscriptions, and reliefs dating from the 50s through the present day, many of them painted directly onto the rock into which many of the stations were built. hand-wired, not glued). Nowadays, the Artist House is open for contemporary exhibitions, showcasing Swedens latest up-and-coming artists. Beyond the cluster of museums around Skansen, Djurgrden island is an oasis of calm and nature in the centre of Stockholm. Moving along through Stockholms archipelago makes the exclusive shores of the United States seem shortsighted and foolish. On a tour of these 1920s red-brick halls, you can mingle like a Nobel laureate as youre granted access to the glitzy Golden Room, the walls of which are covered in 18 million gold mosaic tiles. [1] According to some sources, there might have been a simple defense structure, perhaps a small castle, on the northeast part of the island Stadsholmen.

Between the 13th and 17th centuries, these areas contained only very simple buildings. Founded in 1874 with the aim of promoting quality Swedish textiles, providing education on textile creation and design, and giving women a source of independent income, today the association still has a studio doing pioneering work, as well as a gallery, shop, and school. A post shared by Monika Henriksson Art (@paintventure) on Jun 6, 2019 at 7:48am PDT. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. There are more contemporary houses in the works on the island over the next decade, including a streamlined enclave of a dozen on the islands northeast inlet anchored by the Fabriken Furillen inn. From cast-concrete bunkers to glass-framed aeries, the new houses shock, subverting long-established order with a cool blast of modernity, while also paying homage to the islands chilly dignity. The Museum of Architecture is a large space, filled with highly respectable work. At right, a 43-foot missile silo contains a three-floor-deep marble-lined hammam inside a former Cold War bunker transformed into a home by the firm Skalso. Stockholms most iconic building sits at the tip of Kungsholmen island, just opposite Central station. Unlike the Stockholm Archipelago, a set of islands near the capital that Swedes visit year-round, Gotland seems to disappear like Brigadoon. The minimalist plaster box that serves as architect Bolle Thams vacation home rises from a ridge above one of Gotlands stony beaches. Collections designed by TAF Studio, Note, Andreas Engesvik, Main, and Norm Architects, among others, are styled and displayed in lifestyle settings within steel frames and on black podiums. The summer cottages along the largely unmarked roads are also free of embellishment: low-slung bungalows painted a familiar Falu red, the auburn-hued weather-resistant oil pigment derived from the copper mines of Dalarna, in central Sweden, during the 16th century. Yet it is hard not to think of Sandemose as you drive along the winter-deserted roads of Gotland, Swedens largest island, a 40-minute flight south from Stockholm. If it werent for the outrageous prices and weak U.S. dollar we would have bought a sommarstuga and lived out our days talking funny and fishing for herring. Nordic churches are known for their simple style, and Adolf Fredrik in central Stockholm is no exceptionbut this one is beautifully simple. A post shared by At Six (@hotelatsix) on Jun 29, 2017 at 6:18am PDT. The North German architecture is most prominent in Gamla stan. That is precisely the effect that Stockholm-based architect Jens Enflo was seeking when his firm built it in collaboration with Deve Architects several years ago: I wanted it to seem as though the land was just growing all the way through it, the 42-year-old Enflo says. A tip: You can join a free guided art tour, in English, via the Stockholm traffic agency website. The work of Gert Wingardh was on display when we visited and well have a post on his work in the coming weeks. Iconic midcentury Swedish designer Carl Malmsten opened his shop in 1940 to sell the simple, high-quality furniture he made out of natural materials. The house was built as the winter residence of Walther and Wilhelmina von Hallwyl in 1898 and donated, along with all its contents, to the Swedish state in 1920. The mural wraps around the buildings wooden exterior on a galvanized steel frame about two feet from the walls. But one owner, a Swedish industrialist who bought one of the largest bunkers in the development six years ago, asked Skalso to take the firms concept to astonishing depths, both aesthetically and literally. This list includes some of Stockholms finest, starkest and most controversial architecture, from a 1980s stadium that resembles a giant golf ball to wooden cottages that housed working-class Stockholmers centuries ago. At left, the residence by married architects Hans Murman and Ulla Alberts is wrapped in a scrim printed with life-size photographs of the surrounding juniper trees. With a white dome that sticks out amongst Norrmalms modern skyline, this large church has a picture-perfect yard, laid out with flowers and benches that makes it a gorgeous inner-city spot on a summer day. Try another? While it came to serve as the church of choice for royal burials, another church, Storkyrkan (The Great Church) came to be used for coronations. To follow the natural curve of the land and avoid blasting into dense rock, Tham, the architect, designed the concrete floors of his near-bare dwelling to rise and fall from room to room. In the basement, theres an archive of Malmstens work, while many of his original designs are sold in the store alongside accessories and pieces by other Swedish companies and students in the Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies course, now part of Linkping University, in Stockholm. Since 1921, Liljevalchs also hosts the annual Spring Exhibition that showcases work from emerging artists selected by a jury. Swedes know how to party. Founded in 1916, Liljevalchs gallery in Djurgrden got its name from Josef Franks Liljevalch sofa, which was first shown here. [3] King Gustav Vasa rose to power as a result of the dispute and declared the city an independent monarchy. Theres a plush main restaurant, three bars that also serve food (including a top-floor one with outstanding views and a terrace), and an art gallery. Theres also the Skyview, a kind of outdoor bubble lift that goes up the Globe, providing a wide view over southern Stockholm. This feast of Neo-Baroque and Art Nouveau style from the turn of the 20th century is still, one hundred years later, Swedens primary theatre. Jante is governed by the Law of Jante, rules for living that reflect both Scandinavias ethnic homogeneity and its long-held belief that people are happier when both pleasure and pain are spread among all citizens: You shall not believe that you are someone.You shall not believe that you are as good as we are.You shall not believe that you are any wiser than we are.You shall never indulge in the conceit of imagining that you are better than we are.You shall not believe that you know more than we do.You shall not believe that you are more important than we are.You shall not believe that you are going to amount to anything.You shall not laugh at us.You shall not believe that anyone cares about you.You shall not believe that you can teach us anything.