wihelmson_arkitekter

a small summer house with an adjacent boathouse/guesthouse for a family of five. the house is formed around a large living space with small closable bed cubicles at each side. the cubicles acts daytime as sitting/window niches.

client: kristian hansson

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villa hansson --------------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter

> ---> home

bdx kiruna /2012-/ -----------> home
=====================================

office building for mining logistics company BDX in Kiruna

located in an industrial area of Kiruna. the building is formed around two triangular courtyards with horizontal light shafts taking full advantage of the low sun in northern Sweden. very straight forward in material and execution.

the building is under construction but with divergent detail execution from what was originally planned and without consent of wilhelmson arkitekter.

client: Tyréns, BDX

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bdx kiruna --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /björn andersson

> download image 1: hi res
> download image 2: hi res

bdx kiruna --------------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter
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> ---> home

plus landskrona /2011-/ ------> home
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new cultural building next to the old theatre in Landskrona, limited competition

the new building functions as an extension of the current theatre by the addition of a black box. together with three new cinemas, these four spaces are cantilevered at different heights above ground and accessed from a grand atrium, forming an irregular, three dimensional golden cross. the atrium functions as the circulatory space between the different levels, and as a lobby that, together with the restaurant below, can accommodate different events and activities during a conference or exhibition setting. on top of the building, just above the surrounding tree canopies, there is an outdoor roof terrace providing a 360 degrees view over the park, the sea, and the city.

the project is put on hold.

client: Landskrona Stad

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plus landskrona -------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /björn andersson

> download image 1: hi res

> download image 2: hi res
--

plus landskrona -------------------
illustration: wilhelmson

/peter thuvander, björn andersson
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plus landskrona -------------------
illustration: wilhelmson

/peter thuvander, björn andersson
--

plus landskrona -------------------
model: wilhelmson /alexia staaf

> download image: hi res
--

> ---> home

röldal /2011-/ ---------------> home
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open competition for a visitor centre in relation to the pilgrimage church in Röldal, Norway

the visitor centre is broken down to a series of freestanding volumes, the largest contains the visitor centre proper, other buildings contain offices, burial chapel, storage and toilets. all buildings has equal heights but different footprints and are all made exclusively of reinforced concrete outside and inside. the great lobby of the visitor centre is formed as a large room-sized chimney.
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röldal --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /björn andersson

röldal --------------------
model: wilhelmson /alexia staaf

röldal --------------------
model: wilhelmson /alexia staaf
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röldal --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /björn andersson

> ---> home

sumeyra’s hus /2010-/ --------> home
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project for the Building Blocks exhibition at Färgfabriken, Stockholm

the future house for a young girl, Sumeyra, and her dreams about her coming home. formed around a large room with an upper floor made up of a hanging net. the bathroom is formed like a hollow sphere. The project was presented as a large model in scale 1:5, large enough to position your head within.

client: Färgfabriken, Medium, Arkitekturmuseet

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sumeyra’s hus --------------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter

> ---> home

kungshatt /2010-/ ------------> home
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urban development project for 20.000 residents on Kungshatt island, Ekerö

the project plans to connect to the new highway which will bypass the city of Stockholm north and northwest. the highway are mainly planned to be through tunnels and Kungshatt is proposed to connect through a large underground parking and bus terminal. proposed as a high density low rise urban area, totally devoid of car traffic.

client: Framtidsstaden Kungshatt

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kungshatt --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

> download image: hi res
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kungshatt --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

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kungshatt --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

> download image: hi res
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kungshatt --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

floating house /2009-/ -------> home
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a floating house originally planned for a location in the Luleå archipelago is now being devloped for lake Holmajärvi, Kiruna

a floating summerhouse made of massive dark tared wood, which is reachable only by small commuter boat. The house is formed by a linear organisation of indoor rooms and outdoor enclosed courtyards.

planned for summer 2014

client: Tuomo and Catti Huurinainen, Kiruna, Sweden

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floating house --------------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter
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> ---> home

kvarnholmen /2009-/ ----------> home
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residential buildings for limited competition

the site, a former grand scale mill, has a stunning position at the sea-approach to Stockholm. the residential towers echoes the old flour silos, and creates an simple but yet complex image.

client: Kvarnholmen utvecklings AB (KF Fastigheter, JM) and Nacka Kommun

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kvarnholmen --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson

/danyal taylan, björn Andersson

> download image: hi res
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kvarnholmen --------------------
model: wilhelmson /danyal taylan

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kvarnholmen --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /danyal taylan

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

BMC /2009-/ ------------------> home
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remodelling of BMC (Bio Medical Centre) Uppsala University, limited competition

the remodelling centred on a large new entrance lobby with adjoining new auditoriums, transforming the existing 60s structuralist building into a modern educational building. The large looby has a roof made of steel and bamboo.

client: Uppsala Universitet, Akademiska Hus

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bmc --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson arkitekter

> download image: hi res
--

> ---> home

pålsjö /2008-/ ---------------> home
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upper-end residential block in Helsingborg

the city of Helsingborg in the southern part of Sweden is beautifully located on the shore of the narrow strait Öresund which separates Sweden from Denmark.

the block consists of two equal but not identical, six stories buildings. The overall form is that of two small ziggurats creating long shallow terraces. all apartments are planned to be custom made, following certain general constrains. in total there are 14 apartments of which 9 are duplex. Most apartments have views in all directions.

the gilded window frames, made of casted aluminium, gives the building a sensual yet memorable appearance, which transgress the normal distinction between modern and traditional architecture. the diverted surface of the gilded frames catch and diffuse the light, and reflects it in the glossy enamelled wall panels of its neighbours.

from the inside the different windows frame views of the sea or towards the city or the wood. From the outside the reflection of the natural environment during daytime, slowly through overlaying, are transformed into framed interiors during evening and night.

the project was never executed.

client: HSB Nordvästra skåne, Helsingborg Sweden

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pålsjö --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson

/peter thuvander, danyal taylan

> download image 1: hi res
> download image 2: hi res
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pålsjö --------------------
illustration: wilhelmson

/peter thuvander, danyal taylan

> download image: hi res
--

> ---> home

anne frank & jag /2007-/ -----> home
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exhibition design for the Anne Frank & Jag exhibition at Forum för Levande Historia in, Stockholm, produced together with the Anne Frank Haus in Amsterdam.

client: Forum för Levande Historia
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anne frank & jag -----------------
photo: wilhelmson arkitekter
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> ---> home

uppenbar(a)t /2006-2007/ -----> home
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exhibition design for the Uppenbar(a)t exhibition at Kulturhuset Stockholm. The large 300sqm exhibition space was fully enclosed with walls that had been gilded from top to bottom with thin gold-leafs.

Uppenbar(a)t – Images of Christ in the Photographical Medium.

October 2006 – January 2007

client: Kulturhuset, Stockholm
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uppenbar(a)t ----------------------
photo: wilhelmson arkitekter
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uppenbar(a)t ----------------------
photo: wilhelmson arkitekter
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> ---> home

jonsson/evans /2006/ ---------> home
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exhibition design for the Sune Jonsson möter Walker Evans exhibition at Kulturhuset Stockholm.

Sune Jonsson möter Walker Evans

May 2006 – September 2006

curator: Hasse Persson, Borås Konstmuseum

client: Kulturhuset, Stockholm
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jonsson/evans ---------------------
photo: wilhelmson arkitekter
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> ---> home

slussen /2006/ ---------------> home
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wilhelmson plus proposal for the slussen area in Stockholm.

wilhelmson plus are Anders Wilhelmson, Björn Andersson, Peter Sundin, Kerstin Thorbech, Janica Wiklander, Peter Thuvander.

presented at Kulturhuset Stockholm 22/03/06

for further information please contact: ba@wilhelmson.se or
call +46 8 55 60 09 30
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slussen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson, peter sundin

> download image 1: hi res
> download image 2: hi res
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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
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> ---> home

new kiruna /2006-/ -----------> home
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in collaboration with ÅF-Infraplan AB

the arctic city of Kiruna has to be relocated due to the effect of predicted mining subsidence caused by the continual mining of the Kirunavaara ore body that stretches down under the existing city.

wilhelmson have been involved with the planning for the relocation of the city of Kiruna since 2005 as consultants for the mining company LKAB. the initial study for the relocation of the city of Kiruna resulted in a proposal that was presented to the public 01/03/06

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.

you can find more detailed information about the New Kiruna project by downloading the official report: Nya Kiruna – Nordvästra alternativet, Stadsutveckling 01/03/06.

> download: pdf
(Swedish version only)

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

for further information please contact: ba@wilhelmson.se or
call +46 8 55 60 09 30

client: LKAB
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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
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new kiruna --------------------
animation: wilhelmson

sample movie from VR model 08/12/2006

wilhelmson is currently working on an interactive real-time 3D visualization (VR model) of New Kiruna.
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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
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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
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> ---> home

reflection /2005-/ -----------> home
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the proposal Reflektion (Reflection) was awarded the first prize in an invited competition for a storage building located in the harbor of Helsingborg. with a length of 187 meters, the storage building for bio-fuels, is converted into a 5500sqm large mirror reflecting the movement of the sky.

client: Öresundskraft AB
structure: Francesco Gammarota, Dewhurst Macfarlane and Partners, London
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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
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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
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reflection --------------------
animation: peter thuvander, måns nyman

> download movie: reflection
--

> ---> home

esbo /2005/ ------------------> home
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competition proposal for 2000 housing units in Esbo, Finland.

The project addresses the problem of housing mixtures and the possibility of creating individual housing units within a uniform framework.

competition
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esbo ------------------------------
model: wilhelmson /elin rosenberg

> download image: hi res

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esbo ------------------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

> download image: hi res

esbo ------------------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

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esbo ------------------------------
illustration: wilhelmson /peter thuvander

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esbo ------------------------------
model: wilhelmson /elin rosenberg

> download image: hi res

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> ---> home

13K gallery /2005-/ ----------> home
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project for a new shoppingcenter located on Kullagatan in the old town of Helsingborg.

client: Fastighetsbolaget Kullagatan
graphics: Sweden, Stockholm
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13K gallery in helsingborg ----------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein

> download image: hi res
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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
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> ---> home

gångsätra /2005-/ ------------> home
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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, Stockholm. The proposal works in different scales and levels dealing with practical structural problems as well as a vision of what Gångsätra could become.

client: Local tenants' association Gångsätra
structure: Olle Norrman, Konkret, Stockholm
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gångsätra -----------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein

> download image: hi res
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gångsätra -----------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

alderholmen /2005-/ ----------> home
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invited competition for apartments/row housing in the harbor of Gävle. each apartment layout is flexible and can be altered to fulfill different needs. the plan turns to the inside and centers around a circular garden which permits the sun into the apartment all day long. just outside the front door is space for you car, yout boat or your Italian pottery. the exterior is a durable, useful and robust harbor environment, but foremost unsentimental and positive. 100 m2 for the prize of 80. 100 m2 for all needs. One bedroom 100 m2 , two bedrooms 100 m2 , three bedrooms 100 m2. one size fits all.

client: Gavlegårdarna
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alderholmen ---------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson

> download image: hi res
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alderholmen ---------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, pia-lina andersson

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

villa ww /-2004/ -------------> home
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anders wilhelmson’s own home is in a terraced row-house building from the sixties made out of sandwich concrete panels located in Saltsjö-duvnäs. the interior was entirely redesigned in 2004 and since then widely published due to its informal arrangement, most clearly demonstrated in its lack of a defined bathroom.

client: anders wilhelmson & camilla wirséen
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villa ww --------------------------
photo: patrik johansson
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villa ww --------------------------
photo: maria rosenlöf
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villa ww --------------------------
photo: maria rosenlöf
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villa ww --------------------------
photo: maria rosenlöf
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> ---> home

maria sofia /2004-/ ----------> home
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Maria Sofia is a 35 single-housing unit to be sold as a co-operative. based on the research project 8x8 by wilhelmson, that was presented at the Architectural museum in Stockholm in August 2004 presented on www.wilhelmson.se 041107.

each house occupies a square of 8 m2 , with an enclosed courtyard of three squares totalling 192 m2 . the single house consists of three storeys adaptable to a large range of ways of living.
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.
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maria sofia -------------------------
model: wilhelmson

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maria sofia -------------------------
model: wilhelmson

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maria sofia -------------------------
model: wilhelmson

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maria sofia -------------------------
illustration: oscar hafvenstein

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maria sofia -------------------------
illustration: peter thuvander

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> ---> home

hamnen /2004/ ----------------> home
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hamnen consists of 200 housing units in Sundbyberg outside Stockholm. the competition was launched in spring 2004. the site is bordered by a heavily-trafficked throughfare on one side and a quiet river on the other.
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 180 m2. the modular elevations allow for great flexibility, reinforced by a specially designed structural floor.

client: riksbyggen
structure by olle norrman, konkret, stockholm
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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: peter thuvander

> download image: hi res
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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: peter thuvander, oscar hafvenstein

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hamnen ------------------------------
illustration: Peter Thuvander

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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
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> ---> home

stockholm 2030 /2003-/ -------> home
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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 Stockholm. each tower has a very small footprint of only 22 meters which makes it possible to place the tower almost on any site.

exhibited at Stadsmuséet, Stockholm: Stockholm, en utopisk historia.

exhibited at Kulturhuset, Stockholm: Fiction Hotel

structure by hayden nuttall, arup, london
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Stockholm 2030 ----------------------
illustration: vasco trigueiros,
photo: jeppe wikström / pressens bild

> download image: hi res
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Stockholm 2030 ----------------------
illustration: vasco trigueiros

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> ---> home

the snow show /2002-/ --------> home
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project for a temporary ice pavilion designed for The Snow Show Lapland exhibition in collaboration with artist Kaija Kiuru.

exhibited at the Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America in the exhibition The Snow Show: New York, 2003

exhibited at UNESCO's Palazzo Zorzi in the exhibition The Snow Show: Venice, 2003 during the 50th International Art Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia: Dreams and Conflicts? The Viewer’s Dictatorship.

client: Lance Fung, curator
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the snow show --------------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter

> ---> home

KTH /2002-/ ------------------> home
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KTH School of Architecture, Stockholm, Sweden.

during 2002 wilhelmson was asked to conduct two separate studies for the KTH Architectural School (Royal Technical University). one of them demonstrates the possibilities of rebuilding and enlarging the existing building, the other focused on a building program and feasibility study for a new site to be defined in the KTH Campus area. the result of the commission was two proposal, one as an extension of the current building, the other a proposal for a new building in the KTH Campus area.

client: KTH
structure: Mohsen Zikri, Arup
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KTH (new building) ---------------
illustration: peter thuvander

> download image: hi res
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KTH (new building) ---------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter
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KTH (extension) ------------------
model: wilhelmson arkitekter

> ---> home

ringtorpsplatsen /2002-/ ------> home
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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.

exhibited in the 9th International Architecture Exhibition at the biennale di Venezia.

exhibited at Arkitekturmuséet, Stockholm.

client: hsb nordvästra skåne
structure by masahiro ikeda, mias, tokyo
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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander

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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: peter thuvander

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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
illustration: anna chavepayre

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ringtorpsplatsen -------------------- illustration: anna chavepayre

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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
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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
model: joacim bengtsson, owe stenman, ulf stenman
photo: ulf b jonsson

> download image: hi res
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ringtorpsplatsen --------------------
model: joacim bengtsson, owe stenman, ulf stenman
photo: ulf b jonsson

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

eos /-2002/ ------------------> home
=====================================
eos is a 25-unit housing co-operative in Helsingborg in the south of Sweden. designed as a meandering form in the dominantly flat landscape of Skåne, it creates an enclosed communal courtyard and a private outside giving onto an open park. In time the courtyard will be dominated by three large chestnut trees. the apartments are designed as two-storey open lofts with all installations located at the partioning walls between the different units. fully glazed elevations towards the park-like landscape contrast with dramatic skylights on the courtyard side. elevations clad in sinus corrugated rhein-zink change colurs according to the atmosphere from grey to blue.

client: hsb nordvästra skåne
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eos -------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen

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eos -------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen

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eos -------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen

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eos -------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen

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eos -------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen

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eos -------------------------------
photo: camilla wirséen

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

villa åhman /1997-2001/ -------> home
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villa åhman is a large extension to an old house in Edsviken, Danderyd, an affluent suburb of Stockholm. The house is a fully glazed building enclosed in a large openable wooden envelope. This cover both act as wind and sun protection, reducing the installations required for heating and cooling.

client: Göran & Lena Åhman
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villa åhman -----------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
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villa åhman -----------------------
photo: camilla wirséen
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> ---> home

Saab /1998-/ -----------------> home
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wilhelmson was responsible for Saab Automobiles' 3-d environments, such as showrooms, exhibitions and launches. we were also involved in designing the virtual showroom on their forthcoming homepage.
prof. anders wilhelmson was a member of the Saab creative team, where all cross-over questions regarding design are discussed.

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
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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
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saab city centre london /2002/ ------
photo: fredric benesch

> download image: hi res
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saab city centre london /2002/ ------
photo: saab facility design guide

> download image: hi res
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saab motor show frankfurt /2001/ ----
photo: werner hutmacher

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saab //2004/ ---------------
photo: werner hutmacher

> download image: hi res
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saab facility design guide /2003/----
cover: saab facility design guide

> download image: hi res
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> ---> home

capella ciula /1989-1991/ -----> home
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Ciula funery chapel, Canepina (Viterbo), Italy.

Capella Ciula is a private burial building, a small mausoleum, where the client asked for a nordic light inspired by the trip to northern Scandinavia during the mid-night sun. awarded best religious building 1992 by IFRAA interfaith Forum on Religion Art and Architecture (an organization connected to AIA American Institute of Architects). the light of the sky is collected and kept in the roof less space.

Capella Ciula, Best Religious Building Award, AIA, 1992

Capella Ciula, Stenpriset, Sveriges Stenindustriförbund, SSF, 1992

published in the book The Last House, Editorial Gustavo Gili, Spain (1999)

client: Ciula
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capella ciula ---------------------
photo: anders wilhelmson
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capella ciula ---------------------
photo: hélène binet
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> ---> home

> selected bibliography -------> home
=====================================

> download text: selected bibliography

--------
periodicals
--------

Abitare
no. 24/1999
dec 2003
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AD
no. 9-10/1998
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Aftonbladet
no. 30/05/2006
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AIT
no. 3/2001
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Aktuella Byggen
no. 4/2001

no. 3/2003
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Architectural Review
June 2004
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Arkitektur

no. 3/1982
no. 4/1982

no. 6/1982

no. 6/1988

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

no. 6/2004
no. 4/2005
no. 7/2006
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Arkitekten
May 2001

June 2002

June 2003

November 2004

February 2006

April 2006

February 2009
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Arkitekten DK
no. 7/2007
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Arkitekttidningen
no. 9/1982

no. 9/1991

no. 6/1992

no. 10/1995

April 2001

June 2002
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Architectural Review
June 2004
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Audi Magazine
no. 3/2002
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Byggekunst
no. 1/2007
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Dagens Industri Weekend
no. 38/2004
no. 32/2006
no. 11/2007
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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
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Domus
no. 788/1996
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Elle Interiör
no. 7/2005
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Elle Interiör, Kök & Bad
no. 1/2005
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ERCO Lichtbericht
September 2001
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Expressen
no. 23/03/2006
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Expressen, Leva & Bo
no. 1-2 September 2007
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Faith & Form
Winter 1992-1993
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Form
no. 6/1995
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Forum
no. 4/2000
no. 1/2001
no. 4/2005
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Forum AID
no. 3/2006
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Forum Special, best interiors of the year 2000

2001
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Frame
no. nov/dec 2001
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Föräldrar & Barn
no. 7/2007
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Glas
no. 1/2006
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GT
no. 12/06/2007
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Helsingborgs Dagblad
no. 14/10/2001

no. 15/09/2004

no. 08/04/2005

no. 11/05/2005

no. 08/11/2005
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Hungarian Architecture
no. 6/2003
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Hus & Hem
no. 1-2/1993
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Konstvärlden & Disajn
no. 2/2001
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Kulturtidskriften Hjärnstorm
no. 56-57/1996
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Mama, Magazine for modern architecture
no. 2/1992
no. 17/1997
no. 24/1999
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MARK
no. 23, 2009
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Metro
no. 13/10/2005

no. 23/03/2006

no. 24/01/2007

no. 24/04/2009
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M2
no. 2/1991
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Nordisk Interiör
no. 3/2006
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Plan
no. 3/2007
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Plaza
no. 1/2003
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Progressive Architecture
no. 4/1993
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Psykoanalytisk Tid/Skrift
no. 2009:28-29
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Residence
no. 1/2006
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Romhorisont
no. 10/1985

no. 24/1992
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Rum
no. 5/2000

no. 2/2003

no. 5/2006

no. 6/2006

no. 2/2011
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Scandinavian Home & Lifestyle (Japan)
2006
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Skiss
no. 3/1991
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Sköna Hem
no. 8/2005
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Sten
no. 4/1992
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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

Sydsvenskan
no. 14/05/2006

no. 02/04/2009

---------
books & catalogues & web
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Arkitektur I trä, Arkitektur Förlag AB (1992)
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New Generation of the North/ exhibition catalogue of the Nordic Pavilion, Venice Biennale (1996)
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Europan 4/ Constructing the Town upon the Town, Europan, France (1997)
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Architecture in 20 Jahrhundert: Sweden / exhibition catalogue at the Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt, Germany (1998)
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The Last House, Editorial Gustavo Gili, Spain (1999)
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Archi_ve_s 02, Anders Wilhelmson monograph, Electa, Italy (2000)
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10 x 10/ ten critics choice of ten innovative architects, Phaidon, GB (2000)
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The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture, Phaidon, GB (2004)
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SADY, The Swedish Architecture & Design Yearbook, Arvinius Förlag, Sweden (2004)
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Architecture in Sweden 2000-2005, Arkitektur Förlag AB, Sweden (2005)
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Arkitektens Hem, Bokförlaget Arena, Sweden (2007)
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Key Contemporary Buildings: Plans, Sections and Elevations, Laurence King Publishing LTD, GB (2008)

Greener than thou?/ Exhibition Catalogue commissioned by the Embassy of Sweden in London, London, GB (2008)

Product Design in the Sustainable Era, Taschen, Germany (2010)
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Love Earth – Design for Green Living, Victionary, Hong Kong (2011)
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Jetzt./Now. – Perceptions of Time and Contemporary Design, Marta Herford, Kerber, Germany (2011)
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Dezeen Book of Ideas, Spotlight Press, GB (2011)
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Theory Free Zone Festschrift, Helsinki (2012)
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Om femtio år med Arkitekturmuseet, Stockholm (2012)
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Palette No.3 – Gold & Silver – Metallic Graphics, Victionary, Hong Kong (2013)
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Краткое введение в шведскую архитектуру и дизайн (En kort introduktion till svensk arkitektur och design) Summit/Instant Press, Sweden (2013)

www.wilhelmson.se/2002

> ---> home

> selected cv -----------------> home
=====================================

> download text: selected cv
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anders wilhelmson -----------------

> download image: hi res
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1955
_Born October 3, in Bofors, Sweden
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1979
_Degree in architecture, Chalmers
Technical University, Gothenburg, Sweden
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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
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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
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2002
_Member of The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden
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2002
_Core Design Grand Prix
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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, School of Architecture, Royal Technical University, Stockholm, Sweden
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2006
_cities, architecture and society, 10th international architecture exhibition, la biennale di venezia
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2006-
_Peepoople AB, founder
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2008-
_Professor, School of Architecture, Royal Technical University, Stockholm, Sweden
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2009
_Ashoka Fellow
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2010
_Design S, Swedish Design Award
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2012
_Design S, Swedish Design Award
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> ---> home

> selected projects -----------> home
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> download text: selected projects
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NK Trend clothing store, Stockholm (1985)
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Marc´O Polo, interior design, Stockholm / London (1986)
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Bélem Cultural Centre Lisbon, Portugal (international competition by invitation, 1988)
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Showroom design program for Vitra / Vitra International, Basel , Switzerland (project, 1989)
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Ciula funery chapel, Canepina (Viterbo), Italy (project 1989, built 1991)
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Villa Gustavsson, Nacka , Stockholm (1989)
Nominee Swedish Woodbuilding award, Permanent collection Swedish Museum of Architecture
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Televerket Radio headquarters and distribution centre, Stockholm (1990)-
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Transformation of the former stables of Farfa monastery into hostel for the nuns of St. Brigida, Rieti, Italy (project 1990)
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Chapel for the nuns of St.Brigida, Farfa, Italy (project, 1990)
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Hamnparken exhibition space, Jönköping, Sweden (competition by invitation, 1991)
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Temporary workshop for the restoration of the Nidaros cathedral. Norway (competition, 1991)
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Neu-Allermöhe West school buildings and shopping centre, Hamburg Germany (competition by invitation, 1991)
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Parliament Building, Berlin, Germany (international competition by invitation, 1992)
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Europan 2, residential housing, Strandängen, Jönköping Sweden (competition, second prize, 1992)
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E97S, Expo 97, Stockholm, International Exhibition (cancelled),(projects, 1993)
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Protective shelters for rock-carvings, Tanum, Sweden (competition, 1994)
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Museum of contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland (international competition, runner-up, 1994)
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Europan 4, residential housing, Trollhättan, Sweden (competition, first prize, 1995)
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Pool house, Wij Mansion , Norrköping, Sweden (projects 1996-97)
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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, Stockholm (project 1997, completed 2001)
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Storage facility for agricultural machinery, Nordhorsfjord, Norway (project, 1997)
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HSB residential housing, kv EOS Maria Stad, Helsingborg , Sweden (project 1988; completed 2001)
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Residential housing, Saltsjöbaden, Stockholm, (project 1999)
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Rintorpsplatsen, residential building, Helsingborg; Sweden (project, 2002-)
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Kvarnsjötorp, residential housing (competition by invitation, first prize, 2002-)
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Villa Ullakko, Djursholm, Stockholm, Sweden (project, 2002-)
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New Office building for Preem Petroleum. Stockholm (project, 2002)
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Type Villa, HSB Nordvästra Skåne (project 2004-)
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Architect school KTH (Royal Technical University), new building, Stockholm, Sweden, New building at the KTH campus area (project 2003-)
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Stockholm 2030, research project for the future of Stockholm (2003-)
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Hamnen, invited competition for residential area in Sundbyberg (2004)
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Maria Sofia, Residential area, Helsingborg (construction 2005-)
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Saab Automobile AB
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Showroom design program for Saab Automobile (1988)
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Architectural setting for the global launch of the new Saab 9-5 automobile (1997)
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Saab Automobile Museum, Trollhättan, Sweden (preliminary project, 1997, project 2001)
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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-)
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Saab Facility Design program
Global Retail Design program for Saab Dealers, implementation since 2001
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Saab City Centres (Berlin, 2001, London, Hamburg and Munich, 2002)
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> ---> home

collaborators -----------------> home
=====================================

> download text: collaborators
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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

carl johan kimell
peter kinnmark
fredrik larsson
ivo lejon
nina lorber

ellen lothigius
henrik lundén
malin lundström
hayden nuttall
tina nordenström
olle norrman
per odebäck
hiro-fumi ohno
anna pang
mikael rhodin
einar rodhe
elin rosenberg

nils sandström
alexia staaf

owe stenman
ulf stenman

theo storesund
göran stålbom
sheng sun

peter sundin
takashi suzuki
bibbi svensson
eveliina säteri
danyal taylan
kerstin thorbech
peter thuvander
vasco trigueiros
torsten ulfeld
mårten ubbe
janica wiklander
anders wilhelmson
camilla wirséen
joanna zawieja
sigrid zenger

> ---> home

webdesign: --------------------> home
=====================================
> muungano

> ---> home

> THE ENIGMA OF DEPARTURE -----> home
=====================================

> download text: teod

THE ENIGMA OF DEPARTURE
the architecture of Anders Wilhelmson

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 Anders Wilhelmson brings to his work. The neatness of an architectural solution can make the apparent arbitrary nature of departure not only difficult to recall but sometimes impossible to analyse. Hindsight is a critical luxury for an architecture seen by the critic seeking coherence and consistency. Serious discovery, serious singularity within architecture, places the logic beyond architecture itself. To have the talent to identify one's own boundaries and then extend those boundaries needs the combination of a child-like wonder and an optimism for re-seeing. Liminal, in between self and other, Wilhelmson both re-applies architectural solutions and de-contextualises something we have all but abandoned out of familiarity.

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 Tuscany . The clients added a somewhat challenging, slightly bizarre subtext to the function of a multiple-use burial chamber: to 'effect' the memory of Northern lights! Perhaps only a lateral thinker could have come up with the solution; a travertine cube inside which bodies are laid out chequer-board pattern, with an unpassable interior made up descending concentric rings cut out of the stone. The resultant scooped interior breaks up the trajectory of light, hindering its passage, thereby also trapping the light. Such third effect in architecture, after symbol and function have been solved, can only be experienced when the sun has set and the interior of the chapel is plaintly lit, whilst its outside is in full shadow.

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 Old Town or in an old farmhouse in the country. There must be a strong psychological need of the irregular.

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 Norway or the controlled twisted massing of the German Parliament Competition offer clues to this enigma where discipline not only tightens the structure, but allows structure to appear invisible in the service of a 'natural' solution. Elegantly expanded, the result is an unagonised clarity, morphologically affiliated 'only' towards the organic exercise, but loaning much rigour from the knowledge and expertise of new materials and technology. Where the organic may follow it supports the structural solution, where the modernist echo receives its own force (as in Restaurangholmen 1999) the elegance of timber detailing or other material nuance then offsets any technological nostalgia for the mirrored surface seen in much fin de siècle architecture. Without understanding the sport and confidence brought to his architecture, and the 'youthful' fascination to enquire into and inform the architecture at all stages with a potential richness, it would be unlikely you could put two projects together like Restaurangholmen Housing outside Stockholm and Mariastad Housing in Helsingborg and consider it the work of the same architect.

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 Sweden , brought up facing the ever-changing. self-similar if you like, rhythm of the sea, light is not only a starting point for Wilhelmson from childhood onwards, it is the motor for a logic of openness itself. Compare the undulating rhythmic surfaces of Wilhelmson's projects with the punched and fractured agony of Deconstruction and the difference will become clear. Painterly, the light in the North slides, washes, wipes over the landscape never quite penetrating, never as brutal or as dagger-perfect as in the Mediterranean . Fleeting as it may be, like dance steps, the work to bring this to architecture needs no ordinary talent. To de-romanticise, to de-monumentalise, to de-contextualise or to de-cliché architecture; these are only awkward critical concepts if applied without care. Mockable they may be critically, but that alters little the awareness of what re-enchantment needs to be brought to the familiar if the complex openness of the sea and its horizon are brought into architectural departure.

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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