Deutsches Architekturmuseum

Thorbjörn Andersson

Sweden: 20th-Century Architecture is the latest volume of a critical series devoted to introducing the reader to European architecture country by country. This handsomely illustrated book details how a century's worth of social changes are reflected in the development of Swedish architecture. Featured are the various periods in which Swedish architecture and urban planning were at the forefront of European design. The volume also examines the current construction techniques employed in numerous modern buildings and the diverse looks they achieve. It explains Sweden's progressive role in the modern movement, with architecture that is functionalist and aesthetic and distinctly Nordic in character. It explains both the continuity and the contradictions between the classicism of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as its softened welfare-state variant of the 1940s, an era in which Sweden became a model for the rebuilding of many European countries. The time of the great programs in the 1960s, both in housing and in the building of public institutions, is analyzed in detail, as is the crisis in architectural quality caused by the structure of the building trade dating from that time. A new generation of architects, more internationally oriented and creatively open-minded, but also faithful to the Swedish tradition, is presented in the close of the chronological chapters. Sweden: 20th-Century Architecture includes an enormous number of projects, and the reader learns theoretically and visually about the top-quality architecture of this country.

Thorbjörn Andersson

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