wilhelmson arkitekter:
=====================================
recent projects:
=====================================
> floating summerhouse /2009-/
> kvarnholmen /2009-/
> BMC uppsala /2009-/
> Helsingborg palsjo/2008-/
> new kiruna /2006-/
> slussen /2006-/
> reflection /2005-/
> maria sofia /2004-/
> 13K gallery /2005-/
> gångsätra /2005-/
> alderholmen /2005-/
> ringtorpsplatsen
/2002-/
> stockholm 2030
/2003-/
> saab /1998-/
> hamnen /2004/
> eos /-2002/
information:
=====================================
> selected
bibliography
> selected cv
> selected projects
> collaborators
> the enigma of
departure
contact:
=====================================
> wilhelmson arkitekter
> alsnögatan 3
> se-116 41 stockholm
> sweden
> t +46 8 55 60 09 30
> f +46 8 55 60 09 31
> office@wilhelmson.se
pålsjö /2009/ ------> home
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slussen /2006/ ------> home
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Presented at Kulturhuset Stockholm 22/03/06
Wilhelmson plus proposal for the slussen area
in
Wilhelmson plus are
for further information please contact: ba@wilhelmson.se or
call +46 8 55 60 09 30
------------
slussen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson, peter sundin
> download image 1: hi res
> download image 2: hi res
--
slussen --------------------
foto: stockholm stadsbyggnadskontor
> download image: hi
res
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slussen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson, peter sundin
> download image: hi res
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slussen --------------------
illustration: björn andersson
> download image 1: hi res
> download image 2: hi res
> download image 3: hi res
--
> ---> home
new kiruna /2006-/ ------> home
=====================================
in collaboration with ÅF-Infraplan AB
wilhelmson has over the last year been involved with the relocation of the city of Kiruna, which has to be moved due to the mining conditions.
on the 8th of January 2007 the decision was made by the municipal council of Kiruna to move the city towards the northwest in accordance with the LKAB study.
more information and an extensive presentation of this project will be available soon
in the meanwhile you can find more detailed information about the New Kiruna project by downloading the official report: Nya Kiruna – Nordvästra alternativet, Stadsutveckling 01/03/06.
(Swedish version only)
> www.lkab.com
> www.kiruna-kommun.se
for further information please contact: ba@wilhelmson.se or
call +46 8 55 60 09 30
exhibited in the 10th International Architecture Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia, Cities. Architecture and Society.
exhibited at the Swedish Museum of Architecture in the exhibition Arctic Cities
> www.northerngateway.no
client: LKAB
--
new kiruna --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, björn andersson, peter sundin
new kiruna from the south with the LKAB mine in the foreground
> download image: hi res
--
new kiruna --------------------
animation: wilhelmson
sample movie from VR model 08/12/2006
wilhelmson is currently working on a interactive real-time 3D visualization (VR model) of New Kiruna.
--
new kiruna --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson, peter sundin
simulated night view of the new kiruna from lake luossajärvi.
> download image: hi res
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new kiruna --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, björn andersson
birdseye view of the new kiruna growing seamlessly from the existing city. the deserted mine to the right and the kirunavaara mine to the left and the lake luossajärvi in the centre.
> download image: hi res
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new kiruna --------------------
illustration: einar rodhe, björn andersson
section showing the ore body penetrating under the present city of kiruna and the estimated progression of the deformation zone forcing it´s relocation.
> download image: hi res
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new kiruna --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson
railroad alternative with a tunnel through Luossavaara
> download image: hi res
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new kiruna --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson
railroad alternative with a loop south of lake Luossajärvi
> download image: hi res
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new kiruna --------------------
illustration: björn andersson, ivo lejon
kiruna town plan conceived as an environmental grid structure consisting of 90 meter wide blocks meandering across the landscape. Netscape meets Landscape
> download image: hi res
--
new kiruna --------------------
illustration: björn andersson, ivo lejon
> download image: hi res
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new kiruna --------------------
illustration: björn andersson, ivo lejon
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
reflection /2005-/ ------> home
=====================================
The proposal Reflektion (Reflection) was awarded the
first prize in an invited competition for a storage building located in the
client:
structure: Francesco Gammarota, Dewhurst Macfarlane and Partners,
------------
reflection --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
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reflection --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
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reflection --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
--
reflection --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
--
reflection --------------------
animation: peter thuvander, måns nyman
> download movie:
--
> ---> home
maria
=====================================
> download text: maria
The planning application has been approved and the ground is expected to be
broken in spring 2007.
Maria Sofia is a 35 single-housing unit to be sold as a co-operative. Based on
a research project 8x8 by Wilhelmson, that was
presented at the Architectural museum in
Each house occupies a square of
Specially concern has been given to the Swedish law of
accessibility.
The housing units are designed to adapt to different orientations, giving the
area a lively character inside as well as outside. Elevations are clad with aluminum panels dyed in four different cross-over colours
and then anodized, creating a varied and luminous character.
----------------------
maria
model: wilhelmson
> download image: hi
res
--
maria
model: wilhelmson
> download image: hi
res
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maria
model: wilhelmson
> download image: hi
res
---
maria
illustration: oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi
res
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maria
illustration: peter thuvander
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
13K gallery /2005-/ --------> home
=====================================
Project for a new shoppingcenter located on Kullagatan in the old town of
client: Fastighetsbolaget Kullagatan
graphics: Sweden, Stockholm
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13K gallery in helsingborg ----------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
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13K gallery in helsingborg ----------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
--
13K gallery in helsingborg ----------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
--
13K gallery in helsingborg ----------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
gångsätra /2005-/ ------> home
=====================================
Proposal for a future Gångsätra. A typical housing
area for its time with 1000 apartments in 5 to 6-story buildings built 1974 on Lidingö,
client: Local tenants'
association Gångsätra
structure: Olle Norrman, Konkret,
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gångsätra -----------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
--
gångsätra -----------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
--
gångsätra -----------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
alderholmen /2005-/ ------> home
=====================================
Invited competition for apartments/row housing in the
client: Gavlegårdarna
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alderholmen ---------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson
> download image: hi res
--
alderholmen ---------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson
> download image: hi res
--
alderholmen ---------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
ringtorpsplatsen /2002-/
------> home
=====================================
> download text: ringtorpsplatsen
Exhibited in the 9th International Architecture
Exhibition at the biennale di Venezia.
Exhibited at Arkitekturmuséet,
Ringtorpslatsen is an abandoned space just outside of central
Helsingborg.
The programme called for a housing co-operative of about 20 units. The resulting
nine-storey high building contains 16 one-storey apartments and 4 duplexes The building is approached via a horizontal entrance court. Parking
is situated underground. Located in-between 1970s social housing slabs and a
top-end middle-class detached housing area, the building tries to mediate and
remain indifferent to its ill-matched surroundings. The walls and roof are
pierced with circular openings of 4 different dimensions. Positioned at
different heights, the windows create a random pattern at the exterior of the
building, making it hard to discern the different units. All apartments are
planned with an enclosing perimeter wall, free from fixed connected interior
walls. This, together with the slenderness of the building, creates a vivid
light-effect inside and outside. During daytime the light penetrates, reflects
and moves in relation to the viewers' own movement. In some positions the
building volume appears almost hollow. At night it blends with the starlight. The
building is cast in exposed reinforced concrete as one monolithic piece. The
circular window frames act as a connection between the walls. Entrance wall and
doors are made of aluminum, dyed yellow and anodized.
This wall is the only coloured element in the building's exterior.
client: hsb nordvästra skåne
structure by masahiro ikeda, mias,
------------
ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander
> download image: hi res
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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander
> download image: hi res
--
ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: anna chavepayre
> download image: hi res
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ringtorpsplatsen -------------------- illustration: anna chavepayre
> download image: hi res
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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: oscar hafvenstein, eveliina säteri
> download image: hi res
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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: oscar hafvenstein, eveliina säteri
> download image: hi res
--
ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
model: joacim bengtsson,
owe stenman, ulf stenman
photo: ulf b jonsson
> download image: hi
res
--
ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
model: joacim bengtsson,
owe stenman, ulf stenman
photo: ulf b jonsson
> download image: hi
res
--
> ---> home
>
=====================================
> download text: stockholm 2030
Exhibited at Stadsmuséet,
Stockholm: Stockholm, en utopisk historia. >Until 14 Aug.
Stockholm 2030 is a research project created by
wilhelmson. It is a proposal to resolve the calculated housing requirement
until the year 2030 - some 6 million m2. The proposal suggests 500 54-storey
high apartment towers evenly spread out in the city of
structure by hayden nuttall, arup,
------------
Stockholm 2030 ----------------------
illustration: vasco trigueiros,
photo: jeppe wikström / pressens bild
> download image: hi res
--
Stockholm 2030 ----------------------
illustration: vasco trigueiros
> download image: hi
res
--
> ---> home
> Saab /1998-/ ----------------> home
=====================================
> download text: saab
Wilhelmson is responsible for Saab Automobiles' 3-d environments, such as
showrooms, exhibitions and launches. We are also involved in designing the
virtual showroom on their forthcoming homepage.
Prof.
client: saab automobile ab /
gm
structure saab city centre london by tim macfarlane, dewhurst macfarlane and partners, london structure saab motor
show frankfurt, by torsten ulfeld, ziz, stockholm
------------
saab city centre london /2002/ ------
photo: fredric benesch
more:http://www.erco.com/projects/retail/ saab_city_p_1184/en/en_saab_city_p_
intro_1.htm
> download image: hi res
--
saab city centre london /2002/ ------
photo: fredric benesch
> download image: hi res
--
saab city centre
photo: saab facility design guide
> download image: hi res
--
saab motor show frankfurt /2001/ ----
photo: werner hutmacher
> download image: hi res
--
saab //2004/ ---------------
photo: werner hutmacher
> download image: hi res
--
saab facility design guide /2003/----
cover: saab facility design guide
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
> hamnen /2004/
---------------> home
=====================================
> download text: hamnen
Hamnen consists of 200 housing units in Sundbyberg outside
Swedish law permits noise levels above 55 dB on no more than half of the
numbers of room units of every single apartment. Our desire for a spatially
transparent environment gave the proposed configuration. The layout creates a
flowing space in three directions. Along the river runs a prolonged promenade.
All apartments are sold without partitions. Sizes vary from 40 to
client: riksbyggen
structure by olle norrman, konkret, stockholm
------------
hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: peter thuvander
> download image: hi res
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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein
> download image: hi res
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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: Peter Thuvander
> download image: hi res
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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: oscar hafvenstein, eveliina säteri
> download image: hi res
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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: oscar hafvenstein, eveliina säteri
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
> eos /-2002/
-----------------> home
=====================================
> download text: eos
Eos is a 25-unit housing co-operative in Helsingborg in the south of
client: hsb nordvästra skåne
----------------
eos ---------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
> download image: hi res
--
eos ---------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
> download image: hi
res
--
eos ---------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
> download image: hi res
--
eos ---------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
> download image: hi
res
--
eos ---------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
> download image: hi res
--
> ---> home
> selected bibliography -------> home
=====================================
> download text: selected bibliography
--------
periodicals
--------
Abitare
no. 24/1999
dec 2003
---
AD
no. 9-10/1998
--
AIT
no. 3/2001
--
Arkitektur
no. 7/1991
no. 2/1992
no. 3/1992
no. 1/1996
no. 3/1999
no. 1/2001
no. 3/2001
no. 2/2002
no. 4/2004
--
Arkitekten
June 2002
--
Architectural Review
June 2004
--
Dagens Nyheter
no. 05/12 2000
no. 24/04/2001
no. 22/07/2001
no. 06/04/2003
no. 17/08/2004
no. 26/09/2004
no. 13/03/2005
no. 24/09/2005
no. 05/02/2006
no. 26/03/2006
no. 04/06/2006
no. 26/06/2006
no. 07/10/2006
no. 30/03/2007
--
Domus
no. 788/1996
--
Form
no. 6/1995
--
Frame
no. nov/dec 2001
--
Forum
no. 4/2000
no. 1/2001
no. 4/2005
--
Forum AID
no. 3/2006
--
Forum Special, best interiors of the year, nominee / 2001
--
Mama, Magazine for modern architecture
no. 2/1992
no. 17/1997
no. 24/1999
--
Progressive Architecture
no. 4/1993
--
Svenska Dagbladet
no. 15/06/1989
no. 01/12/2001
no. 05/10/2004
no. 12/11/2005
no. 23/03/2006
no. 25/03/2006
no. 11/05/2008
---------
books & catalogues & web
---------
Arkitektur I trä, Arkitektur Förlag AB (1992)
---
New Generation of the North/ exhibition catalogue of the Nordic Pavilion,
Venice Biennale (1996)
---
Architecture in 20 Jahrhundert: Sweden / exhibition
catalogue at the Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt, Germany (1998)
---
The Last House, Editorial Gustavo Gili, Spain (1999)
---
Archi_ve_s 02,
---
10 x 10/ ten critics choice of ten innovative architects, Phaidon,
GB (2000)
---
The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture, Phaidon, GB (2004)
---
Key Contemporary Buildings: Plans, Sections and Elevations, Laurence King Publishing LTD, GB (2008)
> ---> home
> selected cv -----------------> home
=====================================
> download text: selected cv
--------
anders wilhelmson -------------------
> download image: hi res
-----------------
1955
_Born October
------
1979
_Degree in architecture, Chalmers
Technical University, Gothenburg, Sweden
------
1979-81
_Wallinders arkitektkontor AB, Gothenburg, Sweden
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1981-83
_Lindroos arkitektkontor AB, Stockholm, Sweden
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1983-84
_Fellowship at the Swedish Institute, Rome, Italy
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1985-88
_Wingårdh & Wingårdh & Wilhelmson AB, Stockholm, Sweden
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1989-97
_Wilhelmson Arkitekter & Designers, Stockholm, Sweden
------
1992
_Capella Ciula, Best
Religious building award, AIA
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1995-96
_ SAR vice-president, National Association of Swedish Architects
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1997-
_ Wilhelmson Arkitekter AB, Stockholm, Sweden
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1996-
_Visiting critic, School of Architecture, Royal Technical University,
Stockholm, Sweden
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1996-2005
_Professor, Department of Architecture, Royal University of Fine Arts,
Stockholm, Sweden
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1996
_Representing Sweden at the Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition
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2000
_Wilhelmson exhibition, The School of Architecture, Venice, Italy
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2000
_Recipient of The Swedish Architecture & Design Award, Stockholm, Sweden
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2001, 2002
_Visiting Professor, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
------
2002
_Member of The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden
Core Design Grand Prix (2002)
------
2002-2004
_ The Snow Show, Stockholm, Sweden
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2004
_metamorph, 9. international architecture exhibition, la biennale di venezia
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2005-
_visiting professor, design critic,
------
2006
_cities. architecture and society, 10th
international architecture exhibition, la biennale di venezia
------
> ---> home
> selected projects -----------> home
=====================================
> download text: selected
projects
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NK Trend clothing store,
------
Marc´O Polo, interior design,
------
Bélem Cultural Centre Lisbon, Portugal (international competition by invitation, 1988)
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Showroom design program for Vitra / Vitra International,
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Ciula funery chapel, Canepina (Viterbo),
------
Villa Gustavsson,
Nominee Swedish Woodbuilding award, Permanent
collection Swedish
------
Televerket Radio headquarters and distribution centre,
-----
Transformation of the former stables of Farfa monastery into hostel for the nuns of St. Brigida,
------
Chapel for the nuns of St.Brigida,
------
Hamnparken exhibition space,
------
Temporary workshop for the restoration of the Nidaros cathedral.
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Neu-Allermöhe West school buildings and shopping centre,
------
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Europan 2,
residential housing, Strandängen, Jönköping
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E97S, Expo 97,
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Protective shelters for rock-carvings,
------
Museum of contemporary Art,
------
Europan 4,
residential housing,
------
Pool house,
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New graphic design concept for the petroleum supply
stations of Preem Petroleum (1997-)
Graphic Design: Johan Cnattingius Kingston
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Villa Åhman, Edsviken, Danderyd,
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Storage facility for agricultural machinery,
------
HSB residential housing, kv EOS Maria Stad,
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Residential housing, Saltsjöbaden,
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Rintorpsplatsen, residential building, Helsingborg;
------
Kvarnsjötorp, residential housing (competition by invitation, first prize, 2002-)
------
Villa Ullakko, Djursholm, Stockholm, Sweden (project,
2002-)
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New Office building for Preem Petroleum.
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Type Villa, HSB Nordvästra Skåne (construction 2004-)
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Architect school KTH (
------
Stockholm 2030, research project for the future of
------
Hamnen,
invited competition for residential area in Sundbyberg (2004)
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Maria Sofia, Residential area,
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Saab Automobile
------
Showroom design program for Saab Automobile (1988)
------
Architectural setting for the global launch of the new
Saab 9-5 automobile (1997)
------
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Member of Saab Creative Team (2001-)
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Saab Exhibition Systems (built 1997 - , second system
2001-, third system 2003-)
------
Saab Facility Design program
Global Retail Design program for Saab Dealers, implementation since 2001
------
Saab City Centers (
------
> ---> home
collaborators -----------------> home
=====================================
> download text: collaborators
--------
björn andersson
lenastina andersson
pia-lina andersson
fredric benesch
joacim bengtsson
susanna bremberg
richard bernström
john billberg
anna chavepayre
daniel dahlgren
david gillberg
olof grip
torbjörn gudmundsson
oscar hafvenstein
petter haufman
anders henningsson
werner hutmacher
masahiro ikeda
mitzutaka inagaki
marina karlman
peter kinnmark
fredrik larsson
ivo lejon
nina lorber
henrik lundén
malin lundström
hayden nuttall
tina nordenström
olle norrman
per odebäck
hiro-fumi ohno
anna pang
mikael rhodin
einar rodhe
elin rosenberg
owe stenman
ulf stenman
göran stålbom
peter sundin
takashi suzuki
bibbi svensson
eveliina säteri
danyal taylan
kerstin thorbech
peter thuvander
vasco trigueiros
torsten ulfeld
mårten ubbe
janica wiklander
camilla wirséen
joanna zawieja
sigrid zenger
> ---> home
web archive: ------------------> home
=====================================
> old version 2002
> ---> home
webdesign: --------------------> home
=====================================
> muungano
> ---> home
> THE ENIGMA OF DEPARTURE -----> home
=====================================
> download text: teod
THE ENIGMA OF DEPARTURE
the architecture of
By Roger Connah 1999
If lateral thinking chooses to use chaos it is chaos by direction, not chaos
through absence of direction. All the time the logical faculty is waiting to
elaborate and eventually judge and select what new ideas are generated. The
difference between lateral and vertical thinking is that with vertical thinking
logic is in control of the mind, whereas with lateral thinking logic is at the
service of the mind.
E. de Bono
In many of the stories associated with 'lateral thinking' once the solution is
revealed, it can appear so obvious as to be almost
trivial. Often it becomes difficult to understand why the conundrum appeared so
troublesome to solve. There is architectural method in this which allows us to
appreciate the spontaneity, the rigour and ultimately the running critical
logic that
There is nothing academic or quasi-mystical about a comprehensive theory
claiming that chaos helps us to understand the world. It is built up this way, it has certain characteristics that we can manifest in
architecture. In many ways it provides very rational effects.
There is a critical pragmatism in this, an intelligent appropriation of
architecture to the extent it resolves a brief with a solution worth retaining.
A project can have as much fullness at its departure as it succeeds in keeping
during its critical development into an architectural solution. Possibly
connected to the self-similarity of fractals, this approach is both departure
for an architectural experience and critique for the logic of architectural
form that results. As is recognised in 'Pragmatism', concepts are habits of
belief as much as they are rules of action. In this way John Dewey's notion of
enquiry would be paralleled by Wilhelmson's desire to
reduce the speculative excesses within architecture.
Two stories and projects will help us bracket Wilhelmson's working methodology and the solutions he is able to come up with. In the late
1980s he was presented with a brief for a Burial Chapel in
Painterly, this is not the complexity gained from a perspective viewing. Viewed
at some special moments there is, like the Northern lights, only a wash, never
a contrast. Harsh, unappealing, a contrasting light would only point up the
architectural form. Here as if de-visualing is an
intention, the richness in this non-decorative work is far away from the more
inflected minimalism and will to abstraction usually associated with such a
solution.
Controlled by requirements, the economy of resolution in no way hinders
richness. Beyond semiotic impulse and this will for the abstract, the
uninflected hierarchy of the solution appears obvious. With most situations, as
de Bono puts it, what starts as a temporary and provisional manner of looking
at them soon turns into the only possible way, especially if encouraged by success. In time the figure which was once arbitrarily
divided into 'T' units is seen to be no more than an arrangement of 'T' units. In Wilhelmson's enquiry this is what we might term the
'dimension of appropriateness' he wishes to bring to architecture's
contribution to the experienced world.
For me as an architect, it is a matter of finding an unromantic return to
nature. We must recreate our relationship to what is fundamental without as a
consequence running away into the forest. In this situation I feel that the
computer, chaos theory and modern mathematics can help us achieve realistic
architecture.
That eventual architectural solutions may appear 'logically obvious' suggests a
fresher if not altogether newer logic in relation to architectural departure
and the experience offered. Echoing the serious not truncated pragmatism of
Dewey, any 'truth' in these architectural resolutions is closer to Dewey's
proposal of 'warranted assertability'. Here cognition
is more dynamic. Knowing - chaos theory, modern mathematics or glass technology
- is a constructive activity and we see an architecture emerging from a
structured common sense, a continual elaboration and testing of appropriate
architectural resolutions. Aware of the history of innovation, aware of
material development, Wilhelmson can call upon technology to advance an
unlikely project. This is a directness that leaves aside a priori
conceptualising and critical scaffolding. A direct (not literal) architecture
'for what it is'; slatted timber walls can be modulated much as a fish might
have scales, regular from one direction, anamorphic from another as in the Mariastad Housing Project (1998-).
In retrospect such resultant directness and 'obviousness' never lessens the rigorous
departure in the thinking, rather it relieves the anxiety of deciphering
architecture as code. In many ways the architectural confidence in such
departure suggests that both the arbitrary and the predetermined source might
lead to predictable, repetitive but tested architectural form. This however is
inapplicable to Wilhelmson. Accidental symbolic weight might follow, but
projects have an inner logic, even an inner speech. When played out in the
pragmatic contoured conditions of the site, environment and building -
instruments for dealing with the experienced world through architecture - those
very conditions inform and shape the architecture. In this way 'sculpting' is a
metaphor of the cognitive approach and enquiry, not a visual device or metaphor
of malleability that ensures buildings turn out organic or morphogenetic. These
latter would be grander gestures than Wilhelmson feels necessary for
contemporary architecture. Nature is an organic unity that needs no coerced
fragmentation or implied discontinuity. Nor does it invite easily morphological
pre-determinants to question that unity.
In my office work we work entirely freely towards rational design, which I
claim is economical. According to this principle we can design interiors,
high-rise buildings, homes or units - it works for both big and small. The
experiments that we have carried out show that this is possible.
Uninterested in the alibis of deciphering architecture, any a posteriori rationalising of architectural intention, or
even the representation of problematized meaning and
a subsequent torturing-out into a deconstructed or eventful metaphorical
architecture are, to Wilhelmson. self-fulfilling processes akin to a vertical or convergent thinking. The generative method of
this approach then echoes and closes on the vertical logic of its own
departure. The apparent arbitrary departure of the thinking behind Wilhemson's architecture goes against such predeterminism. Neither negating the rigour brought to its
process, nor invalidating the necessary pragmatics of the final architectural
solution, the work can be seen to offer an uninflection, an architecture 'in the cut'. To de-limit an
architectural solution, to see only partial totalities, in no way restricts the
'completeness' or fullness of the architectural experience. Method here is not
restricted to a specific sphere but simply a reflective way we are invited to
approach architecture.
We could create environments that are completely uneven. It would affect our
lives. I think that is something basic. People live on the
Obstinacy and disenchantment with architecture and Modernism are replaced by an optimism. Get in late, get out early, tell it in the cut, as Mamet says. In the best cases the pragmatics behind this
thinking is strictly conditioned to respond to the initial enigma. As in the
recognised rigour within 'Pragmatism', within lateral thinking or even a
strategy of divergence, there is no loss of discipline in the refinement, nor
is there the fringe of compromise about this type of cognitive and tectonic
enquiry. Here too there is a professional engagement which sees the architect
opt for near-rational, certainly verifiable, architectural solutions in the
knowledge that work is not only drawable, it is buildable. In this way there is an ethical whiff of the
dissident in Wilhelmson's sound work, which critiques
the very stability of a profession that might opt not for such apparently
adventurous and 'impossible' architecture. Ideology and the professional are
less fragmented than we think, clarity waits nearby
ready to improve on an already familiar, wishfulfilled architecture. Given the chance!
The distance to nature is now so great that we are beginning to pretend it does
not exist. But I have always claimed that one must also regard the city as part
of nature. It always has weather so in that respect nature is always present.
A serious approach to a much undervalued pragmatism is due to relieve
architecture in the coming decade of an indulgent, cynical will that has often
produced from dazzling tropes, the spectacular at the expense of unintrusive, uninflected works. Certainly Wilhelmson does
not begin with an agenda where, in retrospect, a charmed and charming
collaboration provides the rationalising logic for any ultimate fragmentation
or morphogenetic dancing. And though such fractal work, self-similarity and
freer form may at times bring Wilhelmson close to this, he will veer from such
high-probability architecture by allowing the uninflected to inform not only
the departure of his work but all proceeding stages. As in lateral thinking,
thinking itself rebounds to test the very logical sequence imagined. Re-working
and re-thinking are fundamental to such constructive and purposive view of
architecture.
Nature creates in a very rational way. I do not need to build in right-angles
to create a windbreak or sunny area, I can build much more densely with sharper
angles or no angles at all...if there should be an excess somewhere, I cut it
away, and shape it freely.
Wilhelmson's net projects developed in consultation
with Ove Arup & Partners indicate the direction
of the malleable, contouring form, familiar from images of Italian farm workers
throwing nets on the ground to collect olives thereby imprinting the contour,
or gardeners throwing soft protective fabrics over crops thereby taking on the
contour of the 'roof' of the crops. Utilising this 'textility'
for a protective roof for rock carving in Tanum on
Sweden's west coast, Wilhelmson uses two differently deformable net layers, an
upper one for rain protection and a lower one with a dralon cover to let light through but shield out dangerous rays. Later in the Strandvägen Exhibition pavilion project the net developed
into a computerised system whereby the weather itself shapes the form of the
net. Familiar as the continuing dialectic between order and disorder may be,
there is nothing necessarily familiar in the solutions arrived at. However
predictable or even trivial departure might be for architectural energy, there
is also nothing trivial in the systematic way the function of thinking-through
eliminates unnecessary complexity in the pursuit of an identifiable, unhysterical, even justifiable architecture. Wilhelmson
also looks set to continue exploring both the strong psychological need for the
irregular and the tectonics that not only tames it - that is makes it
imaginable and buildable - but offers unpredictable, unintrusive richness.
We cut out these forms completely at random, without any preconceived aesthetic
concept. You get natural spaces, as in an old mountain village where there is a
homey feeling for what has been there before, but a feeling of strangeness for
that which has not.
The tectonically-elegant Farm Storage Barn in
It's not certain that everything is going to become simpler, but I believe we
must move more toward the complex - not as an aesthetic term but purely
pragmatically.
Having said that, Wilhelmson is not involved in any false use of complexity, or
the uncanny to ease the architectural solution, nor is the visual exuberance of
the work something predermined as in more derivative
work. Seeking neither a public symbolism nor an anxiously coded hermeneutic,
this offers the luxury and the demand for a finely tempered, structured
solution. Somewhere in the enigma of the departure and the rigour of the
process there is not a deformation at work as much as possible new discoveries.
Genuine creation often begins like this until it appears logically obvious and
seeks echo elsewhere. Such third effect in architecture applies uniquely to Wilhelmson's work, seeking not only the logical faculty
which propels the work, but at every moment, through models, a testing and
monitoring of the very spontaneity of architecture's promise. Inviting the
intermediary, the elaborated result is as uninflected as it is lucid. This is a
revelatory alertness and practice, not the seduction or magic of the
spectacular.
... this is part of mankind's need to strive to
achieve a balance between order and disorder. Somewhere we must find that
balance again, and today we can create this irregularity artificially.... The
question of mankind's balance is immensely basic to our architecture having
become what it is. In a world in which we are always outdoors, as in the past,
flat surfaces are not so important. It's not until we become civilised and sit
down that we need a horizontal plane.
The pragmatism implied in lateral thinking in some ways calls for a privilege
given the horizon. This is not the flatness of the horizon as much as it is its
openness. From the West coast of
I think if these buildings were built, people would experience them in a
natural way. They are provocative on paper, but natural in the real world if
you don't think too much. The problem with the buildings we have designed is
that they are considered practical to build which masks them a threat.
Our second story concludes our bracketing of Wilhelmson's work so far. In the 1990s Wilhelmson has been the Design and Exhibition
architect for Saab Automobile. Each monthly global exhibit demands the clarity
of a system, the innovation of material, the served and celebrated function and
the 'punctum' - of course - of something 'Swedish'. Inside
a minimally slanting lit glass floor, between the VIP and display area,
recently Wilhelmson placed a huge oblong of ice. The simplicity of the solution
actually hides the less than ordinary science needed to 'construct' such a
form. Ice this form and size is no ordinary ice, needs no ordinary science.
That's what's exciting. With modern computer
technology we can progress with these methods... up until then we mostly worked
with a copying machine and cut and pasted, sculpting a result.... a random and
goal-directed process.
Ditto architecture! A future systems not quite in the
way we have come to think of it in relation to architecture, Wilhelmson bears
out a comment from Edward de Bono, "even if the usefulness of play were
accepted, very few people would find themselves able to play." As with any
creative thinking, it is just as difficult to create a deliberate architecture
which must never appear to be deliberate. Chance and play in this case depend
for their success on the rigour that can be grafted onto architecture's
accident. Spontaneity does no service to a talented quest such as this. If as
de Bono continues, "it is difficult to set off in a direction towards
nowhere," it is equally difficult to rid oneself of the direction nowhere.
The paradox is sharp and indeed threatening to the high-probability and
familiarity of contemporary architecture. There is something avant garde and buildable at the same time in Wilhelmson's quest for an architectural logic, a balance between order and disorder. The
subsequent architectural reality brought to the works leaves a careful
complexity underlying what is in fact offered, a spatial and architectural
generosity. Irregularity here is not agonised, it is not representative of a
de-familiarised, dis-membered world. It is simpler
than that. It is re-familiarised as the unknown again takes on the qualities of
the known just as nature's dynamic repeats the unrepeatable. As a critical
model, a practique for actual architecture today this
is a parallelism to the specular and spectacular
models of architectural thinking - a parallelism, however, unlikely to remain
unrecognised for much longer.
Roger Connah c. July 1999
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