BEST OF SWEDEN
During his 30-year career, Swedish Gert Wingårdh has made himself and his drawing office with more than 200 employees a supernova in architecture’s celestial sky.
One might expect a coy response to the question of the secret behind their success, but architect Gert Wingårdh is quite blunt:
“For more than three decades, we have managed to design buildings that are experienced as new and relevant.”
Wingårdh’s is today among the foremost drawing offices in Sweden, with offices in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Malmö. At the helm is Gert Wingårdh, the closest Sweden comes to a star architect.
“My breakthrough came in 1988 when Öijared Golf Club received the Swedish Kasper Salin award, Sweden’s most prestigious architectural award,” explains Gert Wingårdh.
“Our next project was a pharmaceutical research facility in Mölndal , which received the Kasper Salin award in 1993. With these two awards to my name, I was invited to participate in the competition for the air control tower at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, the Stockholm Olympic Stadium in Hammarbybacken and Sweden's embassy in Berlin. We won all three projects, two of which were realised.”
Since then, the drawing office has remained a leader in Sweden, garnering another three Kasper Salin awards and no fewer than eleven nominations.
“I graduated in the early 1970s, and Charles Moores Searanch, Friis-moltke, Klas Anshelm and later Vandkunsten Architects have all greatly influenced my style,” says Wingårdh. While others at that time embraced social-realism, Gert Wingårdh went another route.
“I was more interested in narrative architecture. The building we designed for Öijared Golf Club tells the story of life underneath a mound in the forest, while Astrazeneca speaks of light and group work in a tightly knit social structure – featuring a path inspired by the alleys of Venice.”
The air control tower at Arlanda Airport has been compared to two birds side by side, the Olympic arena to a turtle shell.
Gert Wingårdh openly admits that these projects require tremendous teamwork, not just a boss at the top who hands down orders. “What type of architect do you hire?” “We pursue two tracks; one is technical skills. We have always stressed that the things we propose can actually be built. Our proposal and the final construction are usually very similar. That takes knowledge. The other track is naturally artistic abilities, drawing skills and hard work. Everyone’s contribution helps shape our projects. I’m the artistic manager, but the team makes and realises the design.” In 2015, he and his colleague Rasmus Waern published a book with an ambitious aim: to uncover the essence of architecture. “Why did you write What is Architecture? “The short answer is that I was asked that very question. The long answer is that Sweden needed to know about what architecture is and what it can do.” Lastly, although this is a risky question to ask an architect: “What building project do you wish you had made?” “Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. That would have been an exciting assignment!”
OPPOSITE PAGE: THE visitor centre Tåkern by Gläns in Sweden is covered in golden rush by means of a traditional construction method. This is quiet architecture that becomes one with the bird sanctuary people come to observe. VILLA KRISTINA from 2014 is a private home outside Gothenburg. The atrium is surrounded by buildings so as to create a private outdoor space. IN VASAPLAN IN UMEÅ, this roof provides cover for people getting on and off busses in central Umeå. The 160-metre-long roof has become a symbol of both public transport and timber construction. SVEN-HARRY’S ART MUSEUM in Stockholm shines like a jewellery box with the same alloy as the Swedish ten-kroner coin. The museum was built in 2011.
THIS PAGE: VICTORIA TOWER is one of Stockholm’s tallest buildings (120 metres). The building, which houses both a hotel and offices, is close to the freeway and has a facade constructed of eight different triangular colours. THE UNIVERSERUM SCIENCE CENTRE in Gothenburg is primarily made of wood, has solar panels and is the product of an elaborate organic mindset. House of Sweden is Sweden’s (and for a period also Iceland’s) embassy in Washington, DC. The embassy is open, light and optimistic at a time where most embassy buildings have been turned into impenetrable fortresses. The embassy includes accommodation, exhibition facilities and a conference centre. THE CHURCH OFFICE in Sundbyberg is a simple glass-covered building next to the churchyard. It includes an office and garage but is also a gathering point for mourners.