Jacopo Moret - Master Dissertation thesis (KU Leuven) by Jacopo Moret

BEYOND THE WALL

Master dissertation project by Jacopo Moret 2016-17

With gratitude to all the people and professors that helped me during this work, in particular to my academic promoter Prof. Adrià Carbonell and to Prof. Erik Stenberg from the Stockholm’s KTH. To the “Sacchetto in testa” for tolerating me. To my mother.

beyond the wall

KU Leuven

Department of architecture International Master of Architecture Campus St Lucas - Gent Master Dissertation: Promiscuous Assemblages Academic promoter: Adrià Carbonell Co-promoter: Joris Van Reusel Student: Jacopo Moret A.A. 2016-17

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

THEORETHICAL FRAMEWORK

THE CITY OF STOCKHOLM

MILJONPROGRAMMET

THE WELFARE STATE THE MILION PROGRAM

THE IDENTITY THE MATTER OF THE IDENTITY

THE SITE SITE READING

SITE CHARACTER

THE INTERVENTION

SITE MAPPING

100

STRATEGY REFERENCE PROJECTS

108

126

DRAWINGS

REFERENCES

118

149

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INTRODUCTION

440’000. 710’000. 500’000. I started my Master Dissertation research from these three numbers, which represent the housing need in the next 5 years, 10 years in whole Sweden, and how many people are planned to move to the Stockholm area in the next future. [1] The Sweden’s housing queue of course represents an emergency which, on one hand, carries opportunities and possibilities to experiment, to explore new housing systems or techniques, but on the other hand brings risks and dangers, already occurred in the previous housing developments. That’s why I believe that a study of Sweden’s housing history, of its expressions and of its relationship with the politics, needs to be addressed. In order to make a research as complete as possible, I followed different research paths; at first I conducted an historical and political research on how the housing issue has been faced during history in the country, centralizing mostly on Million Program Era, one of the biggest housing program ever produced in Europe. I will use it not as an important local lesson, trying to understand the choices made, its strengths and its weaknesses, its techniques, in order to overcome it and propose a new, improved, way to deal with the housing issue. The second research path is represented by a spatial and site investigation, where I analyzed the site from a territorial and functional point of view, from its political situation, to its architectural characteristics and from my personal impressions. The work of the Master Dissertation Studio: Promiscuous Assemblages, it has been focused on an industrial area in Liljeholmen, on the Southern part of the Sweden’s capital, far from the alleys of Gamla Stan, the Old Town, and even further from the geometrical grid of the expansion rings. An urban space originally created as an active and intense industrial area, which now has been mostly redeveloped, where schools, shops and new housing blocks have been erected during time. In this urban context, our site looks like detached from it, still maintaining its old industrial identity. In this framework, exactly the concept of the identity has been [1] “Housing. Now. Then. 99 years of housing issues and responses.” published by ArkDes - Arkitekturoch designcentrum Skeppsholmen, Stockholm

central. I tried to explain what does it represents, how it generates, how it evolves and how can it be respected or taken away. The second step has been to apply this concept either to our site, as well to the Million Program, in order to create a project which would maintain the real identity of the site, or even generate a new one that would deal with the existing one in a respectful dialogue. Analyzing the concept of identity helped me to also give a more objective review of the Million Program, too many times harshly contested and gloomy depicted. In a continuous crossing between space and history, the different paths will then join, as a real assemblage, in the final product of my research, which will be the final project.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The Master Dissertation Studio’s name: Promiscuous Assemblages, already creates an important framework to work with. First, it’s fundamental to understand the notions of Promiscuous and Assemblage, then to analyze the concepts of Territory, Ecology and Welfare State, the three main fields of our research. PROMISCUOUS ASSEMBLAGES Reading the meanings of it: PROMISCUOUS: demonstrating or implying an undiscriminating or unselective approach; indiscriminate or casual; consisting on a wide range of different things. ASSEMBLAGE: a collection or gathering of things or people; the action of gathering or fittings things together. In my opinion, when we analyze a space, an urban block, or even the city or territorial scale, these two concepts pop out in every analysis, either if we look for them voluntarily, or even accidentally. In his writing “Genius Loci: towards a phenomenology of architecture” Christian Norberg-Schulz proposes an interesting over overview of the word “phenomena”, stating it consists: “Of people, of animals, of flowers, trees and forests, of towns, streets and houses, doors windows and furniture. (...) But it also comprises more intangible phenomena, such as feelings.” [2] These all creates an “environment” or, in other words, “a place”. Pushing this analysis on an architectural perspective, we can study a place through its historical layers and political events which generate different architectures, through its activities which create different situations, through its territorial structure which produce different paths and shapes. But isn’t this already a collection or a gathering? Isn’t this casual, different and wide? After all, a man-made place is a continuo[2] Christian Norberg-Schulz “Genius loci, towards a phenomenology of architecture” 1979, Rizzoli New York

us relationship between natural conditions and built elements, between political will and spontaneous expressions, between public relationships and private spaces. In this perspective, a space itself can be considered a “promiscuous assemblage”: when we are able to analyze these different characteristics and their relationship, we will be able to really understand a place, to understand its identity. TERRITORY, ECOLOGY, WELFARE STATE In our given framework, the three main fields that we needed to focus on were territory, ecology and welfare state. While the first one has been already explained and represented by the ensemble of natural aspects, man made ones, historical factors, other than more “intelligible” aspects, and how they relate to each other in a continuous dialogue, I interpreted the ecology factor as one to take always in account in the development of the whole project: not only in a environmental protection perspective, but also, as its literal translation suggests, studying the relationship between organisms (in this case represented by the man) and the environment around them. But I identified the key factor as the Welfare State, a concept strictly connected with Sweden’s history and politics, which guided the development of the country in the whole XX century, influencing as well its architecture. Understanding this field its central to understand recent Sweden housing itself. In my research. I focused mostly on this last factor, because the political theories behind it had the greatest influence on the urban development of Stockholm and on its architecture.

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THE CITY OF STOCKHOLM Resting on an archipelago, the city of Stockholm is located on the short outlet of Lake Malaren. Founded in 1252, the city had a first phase of development which brought it to become the main commercial center of Sweden already in 1300. In 1600 the population was estimated around 8’000 people, but in 1700 it rose to more than 50’000. This expansion was reflected in the town plan, which expanded from the island of Gamla Stan to the North and South coasts, following Renaissance’s urban principles of regularity, following a rectangular grid network. Masonry buildings ought to communicate the strength of the city and of its nobility were rapidly constructed, transforming radically the appearance of the city. The poorer classes were pushed on the outskirts of the city, while the nobility were building its palaces on the new town. This expansion stopped at the end of 17th century, when the country started to be involved in long wars. The expansion started again in 1720, following the same principles, and again between the second half of XIX century and the beginning of XX, during the Industrial Revolution which triplicated the number of population in the city. In the first ‘20 years of the XX century, due to the overcrowding tendency going on in the city, a phenomena of urban-sprawl started, where the mid-upper class fled on the outskirts in single family houses with gardens, neighborhood later called as villa-suburbs. In the main time, the city center was facing a Neo-classical development. [3] At this point, the general housing condition of the country was one of the worst in whole Europe, and the government launched several housing campaigns which improved this condition drastically in less than 50 years: new housing stock was produced constantly, until the 1970, when different factors that are going to be explained later on stopped the building production. Nowadays, Stockholm is a city where the housing stock is almost completely full, while the population is growing continuously, as it’s expected to reach around 2’5 million inhabitants in 2025. [3] Henrik O Andersson and Fredric Bedoire, “Stockholm architecture and townscape”, 1988, Bokforlaget Prisma, Stockholm

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MATERIALS IN URBAN HISTORY The different expansion periods of the city have a reflections in the use of the materials. The Old Town (Gamla Stan) was built with two main materials: red brick and timber. While of the first few examples remains, such as the old Civic and Riddarholm Church, from the second one is, naturally, more rare to find examples nowadays, also because the great fire of 1625 distroyed most of it, bringing with it also a change in building regulations. The expansions occurred between the 16th century and the 19th change drastically the image of the city: stone became the main used materials, following the Italian and French tradition. Still, some influences from German architecture brought back the red brick as the alternative material. The use of stone, in particular sandstone, was an exception for the Swedish architecture of that period: few other cities were using this material. This happened not only because of the influences from international architecture, but also because of the particular position of the city, sat in between water and hills, where the sandstone extraction and manufacturing could proceed easily. [4] The use of plaster was also introduced during this period of expansion, especially in the colours of pale red or yellow, which are still the most dominant colors of the city. The industrial revolution brought then in the city architecture the use of iron, mostly used for the new structures and floors, replacing timber, and for the cladding of roofs. In these, new lanterns were opened, improving the light condition of the apartments. The industrial revolution brought also a new approach to constructive methods: prefabrication, factory making and serialized production started to diffuse. This was the prelude to the new architecture of the XX century, where concrete, a new industrial material, represented the main character of the housing development of this century. In the end, the most recent developments of Norrmalm, showcased a combination of glass, steel and, as well, concrete. [4] Henrik O Andersson and Fredric Bedoire, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stockholm architecture and townscapeâ&#x20AC;?, 1988, Bokforlaget Prisma, Stockholm

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1.7-9 the Stockholmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Old Town facades

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MILJONPROGRAMMET

THE WELFARE STATE THE SWEDISH MODEL To understand the urban and housing development of the city of Stockholm throughout the XX century is important to first explicate the role of politics on the country and, in particular, the concept of “welfare state”. The recent history of Sweden has been always associated with the social democratic political party, which created a so-called “Swedish Model” back in the ‘30s. This kind of model has been depicted, especially from the Anglo-Saxon countries, as “the middle way between capitalism and communism”. The guiding principle of it was to guarantee a general welfare to all the Swedish citizen, reachable through the constant presence of the government in every aspect of the daily life of its citizens, housing included. Being Sweden a country not subject to the disasters of the two World Wars, the political sphere has been never affected by sudden and violent changes: in this way, the social democratic theories, image of the government in charge for the most part of XX century, took roots and could develop its action through the years. The main keyword to read these theories is the “statist individualism”, in other words the research of individual freedom of the Swedish citizen not from the state but through it: paradoxically, the effort to obtain a greater individual autonomy through greater dependency from the state. This type of Welfare State model appears to be kind of unique, for instance if compared to the Anglo-American countries, where is displayed an absolute apathy towards state intervention, or to the European model, where the family acts as key factor, as the means and the end of state policies. STATE

Sweden

INDIVIDUAL

Europe

Usa

FAMILY [1]

[1] Graph from Henrik Berggren and Lars Tradgard “Constructing the Welfare State-Pippi Longstocking, the autonomous child and the moral logic of the Welfare State”, published on VV. AA. “Swedish modernism, architecture, consumption and Welfare State”, 2010, Black Dog publishing, Stockholm

2.1 manifesto of the Swedeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social democratic party

Different approaches and diverse opinions have been told regarding the Welfare state. A traditional approach, where the parliamentary democracy is seen as the precondition for the realization of individual rights, has been depicted as the “theory of the winners”. On the other hand, a critical approach reverse the point of view, stating that, instead, the individual right have been subordinated to democratic politics. It’s not worthy to develop in details the strengths and weaknesses of the two theories, but a generic pattern can be defined: in both trends, it’s underlined the strong influence on the politics on the country’s life and, in both of them, the individual rights are not reached with autonomous initiatives, but through the state intervention. This pattern can also be reflected in the architectural development of the country in the last century, from the Folkhemmet to the Million Program. THE FOLKHEMMET In the beginning of the century, the housing situation in Sweden was amongly considered as one of the worst of Europe: overcrowded flats, lack of hygienic, healthy and clean conditions were the biggest concerns. To answer this situation, the social-democratics, represented by Per-Albin Hansson, created the idea of “People’s home” (Folkhemmet, indeed) in the ‘20s. The foundation of the home is the feeling of togetherness and cohesion (...) In the good home, equality prevails, as well as attention, cooperation, helpfulness. Applied to the people’s and citizen’s home at large, this would mean tearing down all social and economic barriers now dividing the citizens into priviliged and deprived, rulers and dependent (...) propertied and pauperized. [2]

In this sentence, it’s possible to notice how the main focus was the population in its generality, not mentioning the individual as an actor of the process: a generality of which conditions should be improved and, in a way, equalized. In other words, the target was the realization of the Welfare State, through the realization of a general housing program. To do this, a system fast, standardized and able to guarantee good living condition was needed: the FUNCTIONALISM was defined as a comprehensive answer to this. [2] Quote taken from Pal Castell“The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published in Pal Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg

2.2-4 examples of housing in the Welfare State

FUNCTIONALISM AND THE 1930 EXHIBITION The functionalist theories took roots easily in the social-democratic Sweden, not only because of the simplification, standardization and rationalism intrinsic of this movement, but also because the attitude of the country toward architecture was already well disposed in this direction. In 1919, in order to make housing production less expensive, it was formed a Committee of Standardization, which dealt with constructions and functional studies of kitchen. As a traditionally centralized nation, as explained before, Sweden adopted building standards as an instrument of the state control in order to produce better housing and to influence consumption. Moreover, the special relation of the country with daylight has been always an issue with Nordic architecture: in this historical period, the pressure to admit the greatest possible amount of daylight into apartments and workplaces (necessity always present in Sweden’s history) was bigger than ever: the answer given by modernism of large window surfaces represented the best possibility for solving this need. Reading afterwards this correlation between needs and answers, makes the passage to a functional and modernist architecture almost natural and consequential. In the ‘20s the first houses following this new architectural trend were produced: the “Funken”, small houses where the functionalism met the tradition, and its bigger version “Hollywood” were an example of the housing production in this period. [3] The key moment where the new style has been showed definitely was the 1930’s Stockholm Exhibition, where the overall layout of the show, designed by Gunnar Asplund, followed the new modernist style. In this exhibition were introduced not only new everyday tools and more luxurious ones, but also the new housing typologies. Architecture was showed not only as technology or art, but even more as a reflection of the politics, of the ways politics could improve, and in the same time influence, the life and habits of its citizens. [3] Eva Rudberg “Building the utopia of everyday”, published on VV. AA. “Swedish modernism, architecture, consumption and Welfare State”, 2010, Black Dog publishing, Stockholm

2.5 housing in the Welfare State: the Hollywood

2.6 Stockholmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1930 Exhibition

EARLY CRITICISM: THE LACK OF SWEDISHNESS Although the Stockholm Exhibition raised a general great acclaim, on the other hand it was also greeted with harsh criticism. On the same way the Welfare State divided the general opinion, as well the arrival of the modernism generated a great debate, not only on a public level but also among professionals. Younger architects claimed the new qualities of the new style, while the older ones, with a much more traditional approach, criticized mostly the appearance of these new constructions, their fixed dimensioning and most of all their “lack of swedishness”. [4] On a broader meaning, it’s possible to resume the whole critics in a lack of identity of the new architecture. This criticism has been a common denominator of the whole modernist movement, and even more in Sweden, where the modernism and functionalism represented the leitmotiv of the housing production throughout the whole central part of XX century. FROM FOLKHEMMET TO THE MILLION PROGRAMME Despite the criticism, the decisions taken by the government were able to increase incredibly the amount of building production. As we can see in the graphic on the next page, the production increased constantly until early ‘70s. In this way, the housing quality improved steadily. Nonetheless, another question rose simultaneously. The improved life quality aroused an increase in birth numbers; in addition, the immigration phenomena intensified, creating the issue of the housing queue. More and more housing needed to be created. The cities expanded and more and more suburbs were edificated. The new masterplans were designed, strongly influenced by modernist principles and from the ambition expressed in the People’s home statement already enunciated. This situation reached its climax in the development of the biggest housing program of whole Europe, at that time. The new areas were thought to be arranged around common areas with services, spaces for play and green zones. It was the prelude for the Miljonprogram (Million Program). [4] Eva Rudberg “Building the utopia of everyday”, published on VV. AA. “Swedish modernism, architecture, consumption and Welfare State”, 2010, Black Dog publishing, Stockholm

2.7 image describing the controversies connected to Per-Albin Hansson

2.8 Swedenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s housing production in the XX century

THE MILLION PROGRAM Known to be one of the broadest housing programs in European history, the Swedish MP represents the peak of the idea of Sweden as a welfare state able to serve its citizens from cradle to grave. Important to underline is the fact that Sweden wasn’t affect directly by WWII: there were not strong changing in the politics and there was no need of reconstruction due to damages. Therefore, the building production kept on growing regularly, with the same tendencies and guiding principles of the first half of the XX century. THE DEVELOPMENT From 1965 to 1974, the MP consisted in the edification of around 1’000’000 apartments to answer to the country’s housing queue of the time. Based, as said, on modernistic principles and thought to merge residential, working and commercial spaces (Arbete, Bostad and Centrum, ABC in Swedish) the developments of this program have been built mostly on virgin grounds, outside of the city center, following the tendency of the time to expand the city on the outer sides. The spaces foresaw large green areas, mostly car free, where the walking and cycling path were divided from car route, trying to create a positive and ecological friendly environment. [1] The plots were tenuously connected to the existing infrastructure with a single railway or highway, while at the same time, despite the basic principles, the workplaces were located elsewhere: in this way, the dependency of this area from others already raised. This fact is already pointing out one of the contradictions connected to the Million Program, the fact that the ABC principles started to be betrayed since the very beginning. Making a couple of steps back, in order to favorite the fast development of these areas, the government adopted a series of strategy aiming to increase the building production rhythm exponentially. First, the central government encouraged the local municipalities to become main actors in the process, establishing their own housing companies, which shouldn’t strive to generate [1] Erik Stenberg “Revisiting Sweden’s Million Program Era-Contemporary Design Strategies for Prefabricated Structural Systems” published on Walter Nageli, Niloufar Tajer “Small interventions-New ways of Living in Post-War Modernism”, 2016, Birkhauser, Basel

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maximum profit, instead they should have been led by the “allmannytta” (general interest). [2] These companies would then have access to a funding system with very low rates. At the same time, in order to access this form of credit, the buildings and apartments should have complied not only a minimum of 1000 built flats, but also the minimum standard requirements indicated in the God Bostad (Good living), basically a booklet of building codes where the standard living requirements, according to functionalist studies, were indicated: thanks to this stratagem, a strong connection between architectural theory and building practice was guaranteed. In practice, the functionalist principles were reflected on the plans and elevation of the buildings. The plans were based on modules, appropriate for the room functions: the results were flats with generous dimensioning, really suitable for the life of tenants. Nonetheless, relying so much on functional and social studies lead to the design of really standardized size apartments, mostly with two or three bedrooms, reflection of the standard composition of the Swedish family of the time. SWEDEN’S HOUSING: MUNICIPAL? PUBLIC? SOCIAL? This particular form of agreement between municipalities and central government created a singular situation in the housing market. The principle of allmannytta has never be meant to refer to just the low-wage class, instead it was referred to the population as a whole. Consequentially the new MP areas, for the 80% built by municipal or co-operative companies, were meant to attract every type of consumers, and their scale was responding to this will. Soon, these areas became the only ones with affordable rents or market prices. When, then, the first tenants who bought a flat in the developments improved their life conditions, more and more low-wage people and, most of all, immigrants started to move in them. This generated a situation of segregation, over-scaled low-wage neighborhoods, with a consequential stigmatization towards these new suburbs. [2] Pal Castell“The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published in Pal Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg

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STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS Despite what can be expected from a program so fast, deterministic and targeted to develop a huge amount of building in a cheap way, the Million Program has been actually an opportunity for experimentation not only from an architectural/urban scale, where architects were able to design different housing developments, but also from a structural point of view. Different structural systems, accompanied with different edification techniques. [3] Firstly, 700’000 multifamily buildings, only 100’000 (around the 15%) were built using prefabricated structural systems, while the others, still edificated with highly industrialized processes and using standardized components or formworks, were using as well in situ concrete structural systems. To give an overview of these, hereby will be shortly described some developments, pointing out their structural systems and how much the ABC principles have been respected.

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[3] Erik Stenberg “Revisiting Sweden’s Million Program Era-Contemporary Design Strategies for Prefabricated Structural Systems” published on Walter Nageli, Niloufar Tajer “Small interventions-New ways of Living in Post-War Modernism”, 2016, Birkhauser, Basel

VÄSTRA ORMINGE -1964-71, Municipality of Nacka (Stockholm) -2600 apartments built in this period -Structural system: SKARNE SYSTEM 66 - pre-fab concrete panel system - pre-cast columns on in situ foundations - ready-to-install floor sections -exposed concrete facades The masterplan is based on zoning principles, divided in three areas: an inner green zone, a housing zone, a commercial center on the outer border. High standardization, intense use of pre-fabrication, giving to the area a repetitive appearance, underlined by visible joints on the facades. The ABC principles are only partially respected, since the A (work) is absent.

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All the images in the following pages regarding the structure of the Million Program have been given by Erik Stenberg and published on the book “Structural systems of the Million Program Era” by the same author

ORRHOLMEN -1964-70, Municipality of Karlstad (VaĚ&#x2C6;rmlands) ca. 900 apartments Structural system: ALL-BETONG - cranes on rails - pre-fab room-width floor slab - pre-cast concrete walls - pre-fab facades modules The concept was to build a car-free area, facing the sea. In this, the original plan was respected, but the principles of the ABC became only B. The overall appearance is repetitive, although there were two different typologies of buildings.

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ARABY -1966-68 (Växjö) -currently it hosts more than 6000 inhab. - structural system: BOOKSHELF STRUCTURE - load bearing pre-fab partition walls in concrete - pre-fab exposed concrete façade panels The architecture is one of the most representative of the strong industrial influences of the MP: the whole building process has been planned in a functional, rationalized and standardized way. The whole area is immerged in a big green space, with common areas sprawled all around. The ABC is also not respected: the A is, again, absent.

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HENRIKSDALSBERGET - 1966-69, Municipality of Nacka (Stockholm) - 770 apartments divided in two long buildings - Structural system: BOOKSHELF STRUCTURE - in situ concrete casted in steel formworks - pre-fab stairs and balconies - painted concrete facades Green areas, recreational and sports facilities, common areas are all placed in the middle of the squared space embraced by the two long buildings. The orientation of inner spaces is strongly designed in order to use as much as possible natural light. Regarding ABC, the C is absent, as well as the A, but they are (despite difficulties on time) replaced by schools and recreational spaces, giving to the inner part a lively appearance.

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NAVESTAD -1968-72, Norrkรถping - ca. 1800 apartments - structural system: LOAD BEARING WALLS ERECTED WITH NORRKร PING METHOD - using cranes on both sides, the load bearing walls are erected - in the meantime, the inner walls were brought on the top - the internal partition was built along with the structure making the construction very fast Another clear and visible example of industrialization, pre-fabrication and rationalization, the construction rose very fast, so fast that a large number of apartments stood empty for decades. Also in here the B appeared to be much stronger than the rest.

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ÅLIDHEM -1969, Umeå -ca. 300 apartments - structural system: LOAD BEARING WALLS Compared to most of the other MP developments, this one looks smaller, with a much less pre-fab appearance. This because the facades presents an alternation of vertical patterns of bricks and metal beige panels. In this way, the overall view looks much less repetitive. The development is submerged in a green area with cycling and walking paths, while the car traffic is pushed outside. The ABC principles are not respected, but due to its small scale that’s not appear as a real issue. A public center is also located on the inner part of the project.

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TENSTA -1967-75 (Stockholm) - plan to house 16.000 people, the single largest MP development -structural system: BOOKSHELF STRUCTURE To many, the Tensta development has been depicted as the sum of all the problems connected to MP. Its large scale development, all treated like as a single architecture signature gave the zone a really repetitive appearance, not making it real desirable for new owners, nor for surrounding population, who always look at it with a skeptical glance. Its reputation describes it as much worse than what the reality is; the planning of the new development was really thought, with the higher fabricates close to the E18 motorway, on the North side, while going southern the houses are lower: in this way, the whole neighborhood have a protection against the noise of the motorway, while it is able to gain as much light as possible. Nonetheless, the project received critics from the very beginning, becoming more and more segregated. One of the mistakes made was to complete the most part of the project more than 5 years before the metro network reached the area, making it really dependent from car transportation. Secondly, the internal standardization and rationalization has been pushed to the maximum level here: out of 3300 apartments in the main part of the project, only 10 were larger than a 2-bedroom typology.

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RISE AND FALL OF THE MILION PROGRAM At the moment of the launch of the Program, the general attitude towards it was actually very positive. First, the promoters showcased very colourful image, highlighting the green areas, the separation of car and walkable zones, the public facilities and so on. Secondly, new users were constantly moving to the new developments, declaring their happiness in living in those areas, where they could live in a modern functional home, with three rooms and kitchen, close to small commerces for their daily needs. But this situation didn’t last. In the beginning, it was published an article depiticting the fact that Tensta was looking more like a huge lager than an ideal neighborhood. On the other hand, the same development was built before the completion of theexpansion of the railway to reach it, created an area more and more segregated from Stockholm. Thirdly, a change of the tax system in the early ‘70s made much cheaper to buy a house. In this way, the enriched part of the population living in the MP suburbs began to move again to the city or to the villa-suburbs (indipendent houses with garden). The newly emptied apartments started then to be filled by immigrants, who tended to create groups based on their nationality. Therefore, the problem of segregation rose even more. [4] Moreover, the oil crisis and subsequent impaired economic conditions played a role in the drop of the building production. But this drop was mostly caused by the overturning of the housing situation: while at the launch of the MP the shortage of apartments pushed the government to force the building production, at this moment the housing stock reached such high numbers that the landlords began to have difficulty filling all the new apartments. But the happening which unleashed the Pandora’s vase was the inauguration of the Skarholmen Commercial center in 1968, an event symbolically loaded which should have been the celebration of the modern Sweden: instead, the occasion rose critics for the consumption at large, for the brutal aesthetics of the buildings, [4] Thomas Hall & Sonja Viden “The Million Homes Programme: a review of the great Swedish planning project” published on “Planning Perspectives, 20”, July 2005, Routledge, London

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for their inhuman scale and monotonous design. The concrete, dominant material of the Program, became the symbol of the whole idea of the suburbs: hard, industrial, monotonous and grey. The idea itself of suburb, while before was indicating the different expansion zones around the main cities, came to be associated with the most large-scale housing areas from ‘60s and ‘70s, by then fully stigmatized. The book Alienation is my nation, written by Ove Sernhede, describes the youth culture developed in the MP suburbs, emphasising the fact that the general opinion of these has been created by external observer, from the outside, by others than those who populated the areas. Stereotype conceptions about criminality, about racial, cultural and religious conflicts, have produced moral panic which not only contributes to the legitimisation of the division between “us and them”, but also enforces the experience of exclusion for people in these areas.[5] From this quote, we can infer the contradictions connected to the Milion Program, especially in the general perception of it. An environment harshly criticized from the common audience, more appreciated by the actual inhabitants of it. A strong and double-tied parallelism between the dualism of critics and praises referred to MP and the one concerning the beginning of the Folkhemmet concept is easily deducible. After all, the first is the natural evolution of the latter, not only in the architecture, not only in the functionalist principles, but also in the public conjectures. The different opinions regarding the Million Program’s developments, and in particular the one of Tensta, rose my curiosity, so I decided to have a first-eye experience of them: during my second visit to Stockholm, I visited the development of Satra Torg, Bogsatravagen, Vastra Orminge; Henriksdalsberget and, of course, Tensta. [5] quote by Ove Sernhede “Alienation is my nation”, quoted in Pal Castell“The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published in Pal Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg

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REPORT FROM THE DEVELOPMENTS At the beginning, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know what to expect from my visit: so many different opinions on the program, most of them pointing out the worst aspect of it, probably influenced my thoughts in the beginning. But, once arrived on the real field, my feelings drastically changed.

2.36 view of Tensta

SATRA TORG Although the first glance may create scepticism, more and more I walked, more I started to notice positive aspects. First of all, despite being so close to a highway, the carsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; noise dropped drastically as I started to walk in the inner part of the program, because of the blocks on the border, shielding the green spaces. Secondly, these green areas, mostly kept, as in whole Sweden, as natural as possible, made me understand that the project planning gave importance to the environmental aspect. Thirdly, I noticed a lot of small areas for the kids playing, not only with slides and swings, but also with sport fields, proving the attention given to the youth in the planning phase. BOGSTRAVAGEN The first thing I noticed was the separation between car routes and pedestrian areas: these latter were surrounded by the buildings, small 3 to 5 blocks, with some verandas. In these inner spaces, people were meeting each other, some of them doing barbecues and kids were walking alone in a safe place. Again here, the thought planning was truly expressed in the actual realization of the project.

2.37-40 views of Satra Torg

2.41-43 views of Bogstravagen

VASTRA ORMINGE The farthest one from Stockholm, among the ones I visited, is actually a small residential area, where small grey multifamily houses are built close to an highway, to which is divided with a big parking lot: the area is, indeed, not accessible by cars. These are placed in a big parking lot on the border of the area, where is placed a small market. In Vastra, the impression was of a silent place, strongly detached from the city, with no activities other than the one connected to housing, with the only cafè on the other side of the street, reachable with a tunnel underneath the highway. In the space between the houses, small green spaces with playgrounds can be found. HENRIKSDALSBERGET Surrounded by two continuous wall buildings, the area is filled with wide green spaces. It’s clear in this project the attention given to the youth education and recreation: the green area contains, indeed, a school and wide playing areas. Although close to an highway, the two housing building protects the inner space from the noise. Moreover, the view from the West side apartments opens to almost the whole city, being the complex situated on a hill. Small commercial spaces are opened on one side of the wall buildings. Architecturally very repetitive, despite their big scale the two housings don’t give an overwhelming impression, due to the broad free space in the middle.

2.44-45 views of Vastra Orminge

2.46-48 views of Henriksdalsberget

TENSTA The first glance was actually very negative: the back side of the Tensta centrum station is used nothing more as a “gang out” space. But then, stepping on the main square, the atmosphere that I witnessed was a very vibrant one: small stands with local markets, ethnical shops,small bar and restaurants are here opened. Observing the people’s composition, it was clearly noticeable the high percentage of immigrants of the area, mostly from Turkish and Arabic countries. Depicted as one of the biggest issues connected to this area, the Stockholm Municipality is trying to change the population composition with the openings of new student housings. The whole area is filled, as usual, with green spaces, with schools and playgrounds. Clearly visible is the division between walkable paths and car routes, according of course to the Million Program principles. Although the appearance of the building is strictly geometrical and repetitive, the different typologies and colors of the blocks create slight differences in the overview.

2.49 Tensta’s station square

2.50-52 views of Tensta

INTERVIEWING THE USERS In every stop that I made, I proceeded to interview users of the different areas. The questions were focused on trying to understand their sensation connected to the place, how much they appreciate it or despise it, if the architectural style proposed had an impact on their life or in their judge of the neighborhood, which were the best and worst aspects of the developments, as well as trying to understand if the social issues, historically associated with the Million Program, were an effective reality influencing the life in the areas. Surprisingly, the answers given were very similar to each other. Almost the totality of the users praised the quality of the areas, underlying the proximity to all the necessary activities for daily needs, the broad green spaces, which represents a protected space to spend their free time and the one of their children, and the good connection with public transportation to the city center. Although the interviewee were generally pointing out the repetitive style of the fabricates as one of the weak points, they declared that for them it never represented a real issue, moreover some of them never questioned that. Even more, talking with an architect in Tensta, who actually worked in the office of Igor Dergalin, designer of the whole development, the quality of the housing has been defined as â&#x20AC;&#x153;superbâ&#x20AC;?: the functionalistic studies made and the flexible wall system created a good living space, which despite its standard size, can potentially be modified quite easily. Nonetheless, the standardized apartmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; size was depicted as one of the limits of the housing system, creating houses not every time adapt to current society composition: overcrowding problems had happened in time and keep on existing, more rarely, currently. Also, the social issue has been sometime raised, especially in Tensta, while in Satra and Bogstravagen was never mentioned. Two main factors have been underlined; first, the high amount of immigrants living there generated different and distinct social

groups based on native languages: this can be recognized as an indicator of low integration level in the Swedish society, considering the fact that most of the immigrants doesn’t speak Swedish and don’t learn it or practice it. Also, the lack of educational spaces outside of school time helps to create a youth generation lacking of role models and empty daily moments to fill hanging around. In this way, the main role models that the youngsters look up to are represented by the people surrounding them. This fact leads to a situation where the social issues, such as unoccupancy, small gangsterism and drug dealing can never be eradicated. “Young kids are deprived of positive spaces and role models: another park, in a place already full of it, just creates another place to “gang out”, to spend the free time basically doing nothing. In this way, is very difficult to give educative role models to the youth.” On the opposite hand, improvement on this issue has been done by the Municipality, especially in Henriksdalsberget, improving the social situation radically.

2.53 Tensta

STUDY CASE: THE WORK OF ERIK STENBERG IN TENSTA As a case study, I would like to show the work of Erik Stenberg, Swedish architect and professor at the KTH. During his professional career he had focused on the study and refurbishment of MP housing, but also he has been living in one of these development for more than 12 years, becoming a first-hand witness of this historical housing program. The works are all focused on the Tensta development where, although all the 5600 apartments were fully occupied at the time he started his operations, only few users were the original ones, and some of them were overcrowded. This because the apartments were not able to change along the changing of the society. The work of Stenberg was meant to refurbish some of this apartments, using the minimal intervention and money investments: to do that, he decided to work within the existing structure which was able to guarantee a good level of spatial variation. Indeed, the high degree of standardization, rationalization and modular construction system inherently possessed a wide range of flexibility for the space. COMPARISON WITH OTHER REFURBISHMENTS Different kind of refurbishments occurred in the recent past in different Million Program developments. For instance, the district of Alingsas has been object of restoration of 300 apartments, in order to improve the energetic efficiency of the buildings and its overall appearance. This type of operation, although it could be defined successful, is still maintaining a stronger top-down approach, due to the fact that the entrepreuners were represented by municipal companies. Different customer focus groups were created, to understand the overall needs of the population, focusing mostly on the public space. But the design of the renewed apartments has been still imposed and showed to the tenants only after a first demonstrative apartment were refurbished. Not only a different scale of intervention, much broader the one of Alingsas, minimal the one of Prof. Stenberg, but also a different approach differentiates the two interven-

tion: the first one, although proposing a certain level of co-participation, has been still profit-oriented, focused on the improving of the general economic condition of the area and on its raise in attractiveness to attract new investitors. The approach of Stenberg, instead, proposes smaller scales of intervention, where the actual needs of the tenants are tackled, while the overall appearance is maintained: not a way of intervention profit-orientated, which requires huge amount of money invested; instead, an intervention to improve the living conditions of the users according to their needs, with the minimal amount of money invested. The two approaches can be also read in the contrast between a top-down one and a more bottom-up one: in the first, the municipal companies tackle the issues of the neighborhood in an uniform way, where the users would take an advantage as a consequence of it; on the other hand, the latter is an intervention which starts from the small, apartment, scale and, if replied in enough amount, can improve the overall situation of the neighborhood. In the Swedish housing stock there is lack of one bedroom and large four-five bedrooms apartments, with the MP devolpments, and Tensta in particular, offering more than half of theirs as two-bedroom flats, less than 2% with 4-5 bedrooms and less than 5% as one-bedroom. In order to adapt these houses to the current need of the population, which demands an higher level of variety in the layouts, Erik stenberg proposes four different strategies.

THE OPEN PLAN With this approach, the work is focused on the inner plan layout of the single apartments, considering them as “open plans”. The modernistic layout of the rooms is rearranged to a more contemporary one, creating wider rooms or changing the function of them.

2.54

All the images in the following pages regarding the interventions on the Million Program have been given by Erik Stenberg, and published on “Small Interventions”

THE GRAB & GIVE The second strategy implies to “grab” or “give” rooms between adjacent apartments, at the moment when one apartment would become empty. In this way, the spaces would be easily adapted to the different needs of different times, following the evolution and changing of the residents’ familiar nucleus.

2.55

THE DUPLEX The third strategy implies to create opening on the ceiling, linking different apartments on different floors. So, a wider apartment can be created, while at the same time the two parts stay independent from each other, giving already the possibility of dividing them again when the residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; children would grow.

2.56

THE TWO APARTMENTS Joining two apartments together by creating an opening in the separating wall would create a much wider house, which could solve the problem of overcrowding. Modifying the layout of the rooms of the resulting flat would then update the plan to the current design principles.

2.57

All of these interventions wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be possible to be realized in a simple and cheap way if the structural and construction system didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t follow the principles of the MP of standardization, modularity and flexibility. Studies made at the KTH School of Architecture showed that these restoration techniques can be applied to most of the Million Program developments, symptom of the high level of adaptability of these kind of constructive systems. Trying to apply the same basic executive principles also to current housing construction would represent a possible answer to contemporary housing needs in Stockholm and, more in general, in Sweden.

2.58 flexibility on the plans of the MP

REVIEW OF THE CRITICISM Trying to synthesize the critics connected to the MP, we can differentiate them in three categories: socio-economic, ethnic and environmental. The first one derives from the analysis of welfare indicators, such as average income, unemployment rate, education levels, health conditions and so on. From these datas is visible the higher representation of disadvantaged people in these areas, compared to the rest of the country. Considering the high number of immigrants and the fact that these places for most of the time were the only ones providing a type of affordable housing, it appears a natural consequence that the general welfare level, especially in regards of average income, is lower than other parts of Sweden. To this first condition is also strictly correlated the ethnic stigmatization: again, the high amount of immigrants lead to a general discrimination and economic disadvantage. Moreover, the high concentration of non-Swedish may generate a stronger division between, as Sernhede stated, “us and them”, based on an ethnic base. The last point is based on the most justified basis. First, the design of outdoor environments was mostly neglected, sometimes just imagined as an empty green space. Secondly, the scale of the buildings, although really good looking on a big scale drawing , appeared to be oversized for its actual realization. Then, the tenous connection between the developments and the main cities, nowadays reinforced by the diffusion of the railway system, represented a problem which lead to a stronger division between the MP areas and the rest. [6] In this analysis, however, some points are neglected, which I had the occasion to witness personally. The open spaces create a good environment for playgrounds and recreational areas which, together with the division of car routes and pedestrian ones, design a space where people and especially children can move and grow up safely. The apartments, also, presents high standards in terms of spaces (although standardized, but as shown modifiable) [2] Pal Castell“The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published in Pal Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg

and quality. The last and most rooted critic is connected to the appearance of the buildings. The monotony and uniformity of shapes and facades didn’t help to create a local vital identity. On this point is important to reflect: the same concern was expressed 40 years before, in the debate concerning the Stockholm Exhibition. The “lack of Swedishness” was one of the main stronghold of the detractors of the modernist style when first showcased at the exposition. In that occasion, the defenders of the functionalism reversed the assertion, stating that it represented a natural continuation to the constructively honest and practical tradition that had characterised Swedish building production in the past. Also, as it was shown on the history of Stockholm’s development, the XVIII century expansion of the city was actually based on foreign influences, despite being used as an example from the detractors. But the particular appearance can be also read in another way: it has been actually representative of the shifting occurring in society, in Sweden, but also more in general in the world. From a craft society, Sweden became an industrialized one and following the principles of the modernism, as a movement strongly relying on the possibility of industrialization and new materials such as concrete, has been only a reflection of this shift. Even in new developments all around the city outskirts, is actually easy to notice the signs of pre-cast or pre-fab panels: this kind of approach to construction has been actually never abandoned. The use of concrete, as well, can be read as representative of this change: despite being depicted as the image of clumsiness and maintanance problem, it’s also the representative material of the XX century, of the evolution from an architecture of stones and bricks to a new one which uses more complex materials. So, one question arises: it’s really true the lacking of identity of these places? Or maybe they possess a different one, which still needs to be fully accomplished and recognized? From this question started my following research path, on the matter of the identity.

2.59

THE IDENTITY

THE MATTER OF IDENTITY As stated, one of the main issue connected to the Modernist movement diffusion in Sweden has been represented by the lack of identity, of Swedishness, of it. But what is intended with this term? How is possible to define a place more identitary then another one? This question is a strongly multifaced one, and it’s hard to give a overall comprehensive answer. In the effort to solve this issue, different aspects should be tackled. First of all, is basic to underline the relationship between the individual sphere and the space around it. This correlation is dual and inextricable: the individual influence the environment around him, while at the same time he’s affected by the environment itself. When the man, intended as mankind, started to dwell in the sense of shaping the space, he began to modify the natural environment, giving a different character to it. This can be seen as the first modification of a place’s identity. Without penetrating the philosophy’s field, it can be stated that the identity of a natural space is defined by its morphology, by its weather, by its vegetation, by its idrography, which all together generates smells and feelings in the viewer. Instead, a man-made place not only is comprehensive of all these characteristics, but it’s also influenced by other aspects which generates a complex atmosphere, affected by and affecting the living man. First of all, the man seeks to organize the space, which means creating boundaries, paths, private and public areas, gathering spaces and individual ones. In this way, the natural place is strongly modified, to fulfill the needs of man. The first of these can be defined as the desire of protection: in the primary edification of a settlement, the man seeks to create a separation between the outside sphere, seen as stranger and dangerous, and its inner one. This attitude can be found from the prehistory, to the Medieval Era, to contemporaneity. The second aspiration of man is the orientation: architecture not only generates spaces, but it’s one of the most important orientation tools. A representative building, an avenue, a square or even

a series of narrow roads, are all useful ways that man uses to move in space, to orientate himself. For him, moving around a space made by himself appears much easier than in a natural one. In the edification, man sees also a realization of himself: shaping a space can be read as the dominance of humans towards the nature, adjusting it in its own image.[1] Nevertheless, what has been previously described refers to the act of building, the act of shaping brought on by man. But when a place has been already modelled, other factors appear: the organization is settled, the orientation has been already defined, the protection has been guaranteed. In this situation, the identity of a place is given by subjective factors, visual ones and objective ones. While objective factors are related to how the environment works, how much it is ease to use, how much it is connected to others, how well it is planned and organized, the other two categories are the most tricky and diverse ones. In the first category are implied the feelings of the users toward the environment, which reactions this one generates on the intimate sphere of the observer, in which level he’s pushed to interact with the built environment, how much security he perceives from it. Being these feelings, they are subjective and they are easily influenced by the personal attitude of the user, from his tastes and from the belonging empathy the environment can create on him. Again, the dualistic relationship between man and space is strongly present. The belonging is one of the key aspects in the definition of a place’s identity. The observer will always define a place as much identitary as much he feels connected to it, as much he senses to belong in it. Proof of it is the care of heritage buildings: they belong to the history of the city, they characterize it and the citizens feel connected to them: automatically, the heritage edifications belong to the citizens who feel to belong to them. [2] But this relationship is not automatic: the built environment has [1] Christian Norberg-Schulz “Genius loci, towards a phenomenology of architecture” 1979, Rizzoli New York [2] Vladimir Czumalo “Architecture and identity”, published on Autoportret nr 1 (36), 2012 (EN translation by Anna Miroslawska-Olszewska)

to be able to suscitate this kind of appreciation in the observer. To do this, visual factors are necessary, such as aesthetic values and qualities. These are partially objective, partially subjective: while architectonic masterpieces are amongly considered to be so, the topic starts to be complicated in regards of everyday buildings, such as housing, shops, working places and so on. After all, these are the spaces that users relate to usually, on a daily basis. Those spaces need to stimulate the citizens, they need to provide a qualitative environment, in synthesis they need to communicate “something positive”. THE MATTER OF IDENTITY IN THE SWEDISH ARCHITECTURE According to what has been written before, the matter of identity has been clearly one of the main issues related to the XX century Swedish architecture, especially to the Million Program. The lack of “Swedishness” can be also expressed in the lack of “Swedish identity”, while the monotonous and uniform appearance of the MP blocks appears to bring a lack of visual beauty, characterization and, on a broader meaning, of identity. After all, the whole modernism was accused to lack on this; quoting Jean Prouvè assertion on mass housing Can one really believe that people and children brought up in these surroundings could grow and develop more beautiful bodies and minds? (...) The problem of our environment is the most crucial problem of our time. The fate of humanity is closely linked to it.[3] Gio Ponti stated as well, in his book “Amate l’architettura”: While an italian traditional “palazzo” was able to communicate the power of its possessors (...) what does these constructions communicate? Uniformity, standardization, of buildings and people. (..) They are not architecture, they are industry.[4] Although not directly referring to the MP, these words could ea[3] Jean Prouvè “Prefabrication, structures and elements”, Pall Mall Press, 1971 [4] Gio Ponti “Amate l’architettura. L’architettura è un cristallo.”, Rizzoli, 2015 (1st edition 1957)

sily have been pronounced in a debate regarding it. But reducing the MP to this it’s a superficial approach, it’s an opinion which can only be stated from an external observer, not from people living there. As described before, none of the users interviewed condamned the program, none of them expressed this harsh criticism. This because the intimate sphere of the inhabitants bonded a close relationship with the environment, with its limits and with its positive aspects. The intimate sphere of the inhabitants generated in them a sense of identity that architecture, and the Modernism, was not able to create in the beginning. For the citizens, the belonging feeling became much stronger than the aesthetic value, the sense of being home overcame the image of dangerous places depicted in the newspapers, the sense of community surpassed the segregation. We can then state that, although full of limits and mistakes, the MP developments are starting to create their own identity: communities, maybe not rich but culturally variegated, who live in a green suburb where their daily life has been made easier by the thought planning of the areas. Even the architecture, again with a lot of limits, sometimes overwhelming appearance, can become identitary: an identity no more connected to aesthetic values, but to technological ones, brutal but able to improve the life condition of their users. In conclusion, I would like to propose the reflection of Karl-Olov Arnstberg (1999) on how the old-stone town (stenstaden) was first used to symbolise dirt and unhealthiness, from which in the early ‘20s the upper-class fled away, while nowadays the same town is considered in a positive way, as an attractive core.[5] This all to state that the perception of a place can change during times, like it’s happening with the MP, whereas the identity of a place is not only a consequence of the “beauty”, but of a series of different spheres and values which can evolve and change during times. The same focus on identity I decided to bring in the analysis of our project area, in Liljeholmen, South-West Stockholm. [5] Karl-Olov Arnstberg “Genrebilden av miljonprogrammet” quoted in Pal Castell “The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published in Pal Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg

3.1 evolution of a Swedish urban block: evolution of its architecture, of its shape and of its materials

4.1

THE SITE

4.2 site plan

SITE READING FIRST REPORT The chosen project site is located in the industrial area of Lovholmen, part of the bigger one of Liljeholmen, in the South-West of Stockholm. On a first glance, coming from the metro station of Liljeholmen, the site’s appearance is dominated, on the foreground, by the still operating Cementa factory, a cement factory recognizable from its 6 big silos and already giving a clear industrial character to the close surroundings. Going further through the street of Lovholmsgrand, this industrial character is reinforced by the presence of a disused factory, the Kolsyrefabrikernas AB, on the right side. On the left side, the Stadsmissionens skolor (City’s Mission School) with its services are located. These work together with others in the direct surroundings, although they don’t look to have spaces for other educational activities out of the scholastic hours. On the back, the former Beckers color factory attracts the attention.

4.3

From this wide scale, we passed through a narrow street, enclosed by two stone walls, which creates a totally different atmosphere than the previous situation. At the end of this one, we faced the water front, an important aspect of the Stockholm history and environment. The industrial character is confirmed also in this part of the site, with the former Beckersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; buildings standing tall in the area, appearing still solids but mostly ruined in their parts. One of them, the FĂĽrgfabriken, as we know, has been cleaned and renovated as a contemporary art & architecture gallery, while another one is still operating as offices.

4.4

4.5 the passage, in winter

4.6

Personally, I found these buildings the most attractive ones of the plot. The brick fabricate on the waterfront still shows full red brick facades, despite the years and the pollution to which it was exposed during its lifetime, while the main building on the back shows on the outside its W concrete structure, which I find quite unique. Also, my main feeling about this space of the plot is that, although is really at a closed distance from the main street of the area and from an active environment, it appears as much more quiet, informal and kind of isolated, this last not necessarily with negative meaning. The narrow passage which we had to cross, along with the snowing weather and the fact that at the moment this part was enclosed by rails, accentuated this impression at my eyes: it almost looks like the passage was, at the same time mentally dividing and physically connecting the school and Cementa factory part with the waterfront plot.

4.7

4.8

4.9

SECOND REPORT I had the possibility to visit the site another time, during the Spring season. In this way, I was able to look at the site under a different light, with completely different weather conditions. What impress me the most was the different intensity between the site itself and the neighborhood around. In the surrounding area, the atmosphere was really active and vibrant. students coming out from schools were enjoying the sun walking around in the close parks, sitting around tables or playing pick-up basketball, while people were jogging at the Trekanten park, eating at sunlight or just walking around. Moving then in the area, the atmosphere was much slower, in a way more private. People were slowing coming to the Fargfabriken cafe to enjoy a meal at the open-air tables, while few people were working for an upcoming art installation or organizing the space for a party in the small building on the waterfront. The rest of the area, enclosed by fences and mostly disused, was completely empty and the noise of the close Lovholmsvagen was mitigated by the buildings on the borders. The feeling of enclosure and calmness was, so, confirmed. At the same time, seeing people moving to the area in small groups made me understand that the area was actually used by the neighborhood, as a quiet space to spent time during the sunny days. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s then possible to describe the site as an area with different level of use during the year period: almost empty during winter times, where the only activities are performed in closed spaces, while in spring or summer times the activities appropriate also the open-air zones, as much as the boundaries and fences allow that.

4.10-13 views of the Trekanten park, during springtime

4.14 the passage, in springtime

4.15

4.16

SITE CHARACTER ENCLOSURE Firstly, I want to focus on the idea of enclosed space. Not only the narrow passage previously described, but also other “barriers”, may them be natural or artificial, separate the area from the surrounding city. ARTIFICIAL BARRIERS The artificial barriers are represented by fences, by gates, by walls and, of course, by building themselves. To proper understand this division, it’s first necessary to explain the political divisions of the area. Being an industrial site, different companies acquired the land during years, in order to develop their structures. In this way, we can find four different land owners, which of course correspond to four different areas, each one of them with a different level of separation from the surroundings. All of these fences, gates, even a turnstile surround the area, strongly separating it from the rest. These are very difficult to overcome, only from authorized personnel. Although this division needs to crumble, it doesn’t mean that it should lead to a complete opening: again, to keep the idea of an enclosed space the “wall” should work as a filter, from the loud city to the quiet area. In the end, the Beckers’building represents another part of this “wall”. With its huge structure, obtrudes the view of the inner part of the area from the whole SE side. Other artificial metal fences close the rest of the side. Using this building as a part of the project would not only help to maintain the enclosure of the spa ce, but would also give a real, useful function to this wall.

4.17-19 artificial barriers

NATURAL BARRIERS The natural ones are represented by trees, by the water and by the natural shape of the ground. On the West side of the plot, the trees “fill” the gap between the existing buildings and the water, as well as what’s happening on the East side. The water then encloses the whole side of the area, creating a natural division with the Reimersholme island, which rises in front of our site. As a natural barrier, this one can be, of course, overcome by boat transport, as already is happening with the sailing club nearby. But also in this one, the informal character appears evident: not a touristic small harbor, open to everyone, but a local activity where people can cultivate their hobby.

4.20-21 natural barriers

SPONTANEITY The political divisions, the different development periods, the different architecture and the informal spaces in front of the Fargfabriken, created an image of a complete unplanned area. Observing the built environment, it appears clear how every building developed in different ways: the older buildings, such as Fargfabriken or the Lingotto, use brick as main material, influencing the visual appearance with its recognizable color, while the newer ones on the border use the concrete as main material, with reflections on their appearance. What itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visible is the different in scale between these new edifications and the old ones: much bigger and higher the firsts, more contained the latters. Analyzing the plan, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s as well evident how the buildings were settled without following a defined orientation: any grid can be found, any path is drawed on the asphalt which covers most of the site, any claim of architectural uniformity is achieved. Uniformity which is not found even in the activities which take place in the area. So, other than a spontanous place, we can define the project area as well as a various space.

4.22-23 informal spaces in the area

VARIETY All of these charateristic creates a place with an high level of variety, from an architectural to an functional point of view. Different colours are showcased here, given by the materials used in the construction, by the finishings, but also by the natural environment, from the water to the trees. Various activities, as said, take place here, all expressed in different ways: disused industrial factory go along with others still working, with art galleries and ateliers created re-using older buildings, with leisure spaces carried out in small open-air areas, where the space has been appropriated just by putting tables, trunks and a small stage for performances. Variety which can be found as well in the size of the spaces along the area: from wide empty spaces, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible to reach in a couple of seconds narrow passages; from spaces enclosed by overwhelming building to ones surrounded by smaller ones, from built environments to more natural others, to flat ones to ones on a hill.

4.24-25 alternance between wide and narrow spaces, with different materials

4.26 historical view of the area

THE INTERVENTION

SITE MAPPING - FUNCTIONS

100

101

SITE MAPPING - POLITICAL DIVISIONS

102

103

SITE MAPPING - TRAFFIC

104

105

SITE MAPPING - ENCLOSURE AND ACCESSES

106

107

STRATEGY - CONCEPT

108

109

STRATEGY - SECTIONS

EXISTING SITUATION - A series of barriers divide the inner space from the surroundings, creating like a wall

DEMOLITION - The first step is represented by the demolition of disused, excessively damaged buildings, leaving the most identitary ones or the ones still used, such as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lingottoâ&#x20AC;?on the forefront

CONCEPTUAL SECTION - Creating a building which would embrace the whole area, respecting its variety in shape, colours and functions. This new wall will be porous, opened in specific points.

110

111

STRATEGY - DEMOLITION PLAN

112

113

STRATEGY - THE NEW WALL

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The main purpose of the project is to mantain the feeling of enclosure of the area. In order to do that, a wall-building is thought, which are going to follow the perimeter as a filter between the inner space and the surroundings. In this, the principles applied to the Milion Program of the ABC are reproposed: instead of being sprawled around the area, they are mixed in a continuous dialogue. The housing provided use as starting points the flexibility of the functionalist plan, as well as prefabrication and industrialization. The apartments are proposed on a modular base, and no fixed layout is designed: the walls are easily movable, thanks to their dry assemblage, while the walls dividing the apartments are fixed on rails. This techniques would create a flexible plan that will propose apartment of different sizes, able to follow the diverse needs of the users through time. The prefab systems will allow the construction to be rapid and the future changes to happen in a fast and cheap way. Overcoming the strict and rigid facades connected to the functionalism, the design of the elevations are treated in various ways: on the south, a glazed wall fills the space in between the structure, in order to gain as much light as possible from the sun. A fixed frame covers the joints between the glazing and the structural components, insulating it. On this frame is attached a series of panels, movable in order to achieve the best light comfort for the users. The North oriented facade is, instead, designed with a more fixed layout, recall of the Stockholm building tradition. The housing rests on a strong platform, where the public functions are located. Wanting to work with the existing school system of the area, the functions are strongly focused on cultural aspects: library, laboratories, ateliers and workshop spaces are here located. On this platform are opened the accesses to the inner space and to the housing. From a system of stairs, the conjuction floor between housing and public can be reached. Though as a continuos path, common areas for the houses are alternate with leisure and

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small commerce spaces. One of the key aspect of the project is to maintain the industrial identity of the area, to do this the more representative buildings are kept and integrated in the wall-building. The structure of the former Becker building is maintained and filled with new student housing. Through the platform, its ground floor will host a small sport venue, to be used by the schools and by the public. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lingottoâ&#x20AC;? is connected to the project by the Ground Floor where more and bigger studios can be opened. On the inner space of the area, a small theatre is placed, while an intricated pattern of routes would create various directions along the green area .On the waterfront, a system of platforms will work as performing spaces: small acting performances, spontaneous commerce and other activities can be done here. The material used is planned to be concrete, not only as representative of the Swedenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s XX century architecture and of the industrialization, but also for sustainable reasons: the Cementa factory would produce it, reducing the embodied energy of the process.

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REFERENCE PROJECTS

support

& infill theories

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OKOHAUS, FREI OTTO

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NEXT 21, SHU-KOH-SHA

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SOLIDS 11 & 21, FRATTON ARCHITECTS

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FUNENPARK, LANDLAB

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FLOREY BUILDING, JAMES STIRLING

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hakka villages

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arctic town, ralph erskine

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DRAWINGS - GROUND FLOOR PLAN

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INTERVENTION - F

DRAWINGS - FIRST FLOOR PLAN

1:10

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

000

DRAWINGS - SECOND FLOOR PLAN

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INTERVENTION - UP

DRAWINGS - THIRD FLOOR PLAN

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1:10

PPER FLOORS PLAN

000

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DRAWINGS - SECTIONS

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THE SECTION The whole project can be read as a rotation of a basic section. On the base level, as said, public and educative functions are located. In between them, the passages create a continuous connection between the city and the inner space: at the same time locating this passages in specific points, instead that putting them all over the place, helps to mantain the feeling of intimacy of the inner space, which remains protected by the new building. The first floor is then thought as the meeting point between the private spaces and the public ones. On the inner side, the public walkpath connects the access to the housings with public activities, such as cafĂ¨s and small commercial spaces. In between those are placed common areas for the inhabitants, with laundries and meeting rooms. Then, from the same accesses of the housings, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible to access to co-working spaces, which I see as the natural evolution of the traditional office spaces: the job not seen anymore as an individual activity, but as one where is still possible to engage relations with others. Moreover, Sweden is amongly considered as one of the world pioneer countries in start-ups, image of the capacity of the country to evolve their ways of thinking the working activity. On the other side, a common winter garden rests underneath a continuos alternance of single height and double height spaces. A meeting space where the connection between inhabitants can be strenghten, ideally creating a community with a strong belonging feeling towards the living environments and the building itself. While in winter times this area can be closed with glazings, in summer times these can slide, creating a complete open-air space. On the top, the housing is built following the functionalist principles of pre-fabrication and flexibility. As can be seen in the section, the walls are fixed in a dry system to the beams and slabs: in this way, as said, the layout of the apartments can constantly change in times following user needs.

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PERSPECTIVE SECTION

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VARIETY IN FUNCTIONS POROSITY - SCHEME OF ACCESSES Creating a various environment in the building was one of goal of the project. An active environment, such as the neighborhood where it is located, but at the same time maintained around the Fargfabriken area, almost in a respectful way for its inner space and its quiteness. As can be seen in the section below, the existing buidlings are WORKING WITH SUNLIGHT CONDITIONS an active part in the project, partecipating in the daily life of the building. t GRADIENT - FROM PUBLIC TO PRIVATE

DOUBLE HEIGHT TERRACE TO GAIN MORE

POROSITY - SCHEME OF ACCESSES

POROSITY - OPENINGS TO CREATE POINT

GRADIENT - FROM PUBLIC TO PRIVATE

RE-PROPOSING THE PRINCIPLES OF M.P. HOUSING, WORKING, CENTRUM

WORKSHOPS

SPORT AREAS

COMMON SPA

ART LABS/STUDIOS

LEISURE

WORKING

COMMON SPACES CIRCULATION

HOUSING

WORKSHOPS LIBRARY

SPORT AREAS

ART LABS/STUDIOS

LEISURE

WORKING

LIBRARY

CIRCULATION

HOUSING

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POROSITY - OPENINGS TO CREATE POINTSCHEMES OF VIEWS

WORKING WITH SUNLIGHT CONDITIONS

DOUBLE HEIGHT TERRACE TO GAIN MORE SUNLIGHT

POROSITY - SCHEME OF ACCESSES

POROSITY - OPENINGS TO CREATE POINT OF VIEWS

RE-PROPOSING THE PRINCIPLES OF M.P. HOUSING, WORKING, CENTRUM GRADIENT - FROM PUBLIC TO PRIVATE

RE-PROPOSING THE PRINCIPLES OF M.P. HOUSING, WORKING, CENTRUM

SPORT AREAS

COMMON SPACES

ART LABS/STUDIOS

LEISURE

WORKING

LIBRARY

CIRCULATION

HOUSING

WORKSHOPS

ACES

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VARIETY IN SHAPES AND COLOURS

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PRE-FABRICATION & CONCRETE The intense use of the industrialized processes was one of the main guidelines of the Million Program. As stated in the beginning of the research, the current Swedenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s housing situation appears very similar to the one when the Program rose. I then decided to working again on these processes, focusing on the pre-fabrication of the different components of the building: from the structure, to the flooring, to the walls and facades. I believe that working with these technologies can be one solution to the Swedish housing issue, since it would be able to produce fast and cheap housing in the next future. Nonetheless, I tried to overcome the standardized, grey, appearance connected to this type of housing, designing different type of facades, which with their colours recall the shadings of the city of Stockholms: variation of red, orange and yellow, usually connected with a stronger basement, which I decided to leave in bear concrete. The concrete itself is central in the project: it represents the main material of the XX century Swedish architecture, and in particular of the city of Stockholm. In this century, as already noticed, a shift happened between an architecture of stone, brick and wood to a concrete one. And the Million Program has been only the final representation of this shift. From the semi pre-fab grid of columns, to a pre-fab concrete hollow core slab, to the aerated concrete dividing slab, to the lightweight one of the facades, the material is showed in its traditional ways, but also according to its evolutions. The design of the facades tries also to overcome the typical standardized and repetitive appearance of the pre-fab concrete architecture: on the North side, a modular facade based on numeric ratio, while on the South side a series of movable panels creates a dynamic facade. Two different approaches which resemble the two different relationship with the surroundings: the quiet inner space and the frenethic outside.

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ASSEMBLAGE OF THE ELEMENTS

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PRE-FABRICATION & FLEXIBILITY

The use of pre-fabrication works along with a modular housing system, based on a 6x6 m grid. This systems helped me to create 8 different configurations of apartments, which allow variations in the future. The first spatial configuration displays 33 apartments of different sizes: 11 of fixed dimension, 22 based on this module which can be modified during time. Different dimensions which can attract different type of users and families.

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REFERENCES

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BIBLIOGRAPHY -VV. AA. “Housing. Now. Then. 99 years of housing issues and responses.” ArkDes Arkitekturoch designcentrum Skeppsholmen, 2016, Stockholm -C. Norberg-Schulz “Genius loci, towards a phenomenology of architecture” 1979, Rizzoli New York -H. O Andersson, F. Bedoire, “Stockholm architecture and townscape”, 1988, Bokforlaget Prisma, Stockholm -VV. AA. “Swedish modernism, architecture, consumption and Welfare State”, 2010, Black Dog publishing, Stockholm -P. Castell“The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published on P. Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg -E. Stenberg “Revisiting Sweden’s Million Program Era-Contemporary Design Strategies for Prefabricated Structural Systems” published on W. Nageli, N. Tajer “Small interventions-New ways of Living in Post-War Modernism”, 2016, Birkhauser, Basel - E. Stenberg & VV. AA. “Structural systems of the Million Program Era” , KTH School of Architecture, 2013, Stockholm - T. Hall, S. Viden “The Million Homes Programme: a review of the great Swedish planning project” published on “Planning Perspectives, 20”, July 2005, Routledge, London -V. Czumalo “Architecture and identity”, published on Autoportret nr 1 (36), 2012 (EN translation by Anna Miroslawska-Olszewska) -J. Prouvè “Prefabrication, structures and elements”, Pall Mall Press, 1971 -G. Ponti “Amate l’architettura. L’architettura è un cristallo.”, Rizzoli, 2015 (1st edition 1957) -N.J. Habraken “Supports: an alternative to mass housing”, Urban International Press, 2011 (1st ed. 1961),U.K. -S. Brand “How buildings learn: what happens after they’re built”, Penguin Books, 1995 (1st ed. 1994), New York -J.J Kim “Next 21: a prototype multi-family housing complex”, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, USA

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SITOGRAPHY - C.P. Zilliacus “A million new housing units: the limits of good intentions” http://www. newgeography.com/content/003811-a-million-new-housing-units-the-limits-good-intentions, first access February 2017 -C. Demsteader “Concrete jungle. Sweden’s suburbs become cool” https://www.thelocal.se/20070209/6356, first access February 2017 -O. Hatherley “How Sweden’s innovative housing programme fell foul of privatisation” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/16/sweden-housing-programme-privatisation, first access March 2017 -”Swedish riots rage for fourth night” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/ may/23/swedish-riots-stockholm first access March 2017 -”Riv i miljonprogrammen för integrationens skull” http://www.dn.se/debatt/ riv-i-miljonprogrammen-for-integrationens-skull/ first access April 2017 -D. Sotiropoulos “Athens-CIty of Architecture; Urban growth and the development of Polykatoikia” https://issuu.com/dim_sot/docs/research_report_a3 first access April 2017 -P. V. Aureli, M. S. Giudici, P. Issaias “From Dom-Ino to Polykatoikia” http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2012/10/31/from-dom-ino-to-em-polykatoikia-em-.html first access April 2017

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IMAGE CREDITS -0.1 Stockholm view http://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/locations/emea/sweden/ -1.2 Gamla Stan https://www.pinterest.com/teawithgee/city-country-island/?lp=true -1.4 Stockholm https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.25504729.1064/raf,750x1000,075,t,fafafa:ca443f4786.u3.jpg -1.5 Stockholm in XVII century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm#/media/File:Suecia_1-013_;_Stockholm_fr%C3%A5n_%C3%B6ster-right_side_detail.jpg -1.6 Stockholm in XVIII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm#/media/File:Stockholm_panorama_1868.jpg -1.7-9 Old town facades, from M. Andersson “Stockholm annual rings: A Glimpse Into the Development of the City”, 1998 -1.10 Stockholm’s Gamla Stan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm#/media/File:Gamla_stan_February_2013_01.jpg -2.1 Manifesto of Social Democratic Party http://www.inspiteofitall.se/news/architects-of-a-people%C2%B4s-home%3A-italian-facsists-and-swedish-social-democrats/ -2.2-5 https://teamwhitearkitekter.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/modernism-in-sweden/ -2.6 1930 Stockholm Exhibition http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nEDvuGrkAmI/UDKwKVV6AdI/AAAAAAAACiY/Fq11PodRJ88/s1600/AG84_0580.jpg -2.7 http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2012/06/RIR-120617-hr2.html -2.8 graph from P. Castell“The Swedish suburb as myth and reality”, published on P. Castell “Managing yard and togetherness: living conditions and social robustness”, 2010, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg -2.9 Skarholmen centrum https://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/post/17027 -2.10 Hammarkullen http://www.gp.se/n%C3%B6je/kultur/per-arne-ivarsson-detta-%C3%A4r-m%C3%A4nskligt-sett-inte-god-arkitektur-1.807725 -2.11Tensta http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=5665896 -2.12 Rinkeby http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3993&artikel=5226250 -2.13-15 God Bostad and functionalism http://godbostad.se/tag/kungl-bostadsstyrelsen/ -2.16 Norra Botkyrka http://www.imgrum.org/user/svenska_fororter/2052185303 -2.17 M.P. masterplan proposal from E. Stenberg “Structural systems of the Milion Program Era” -2.18 Advertisement of Tensta from E. Stenberg “Revisiting Sweden’s Million Program Era” -2.19-31 all images from E. Stenberg “Structural systems of the Million Program Era” -2.32 Tensta image 1970 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tensta_1971b.jpg -2.33 Skarholmen https://www.allmannyttan.se/historia/tidslinje/ -2.34 Courtyard in Hammarkullen http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image. html?id=16001000010561

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-2.35 Carnivival in Hammarkullen https://pamflett.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/kampanjtidingen-gick-at-som-smor-i-solsken-i-hammarkullen/ -2.54-58 All images from E. Stenber “Revisiting Sweden’s Million Program Era-Contemporary design strategies for prefabricated structural systems” -3.1 Evolution of Stockholm urban blocks https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Stadsplanesystem.jpg All the other images, photos and drawings by Jacopo Moret.

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