Tag: gunnar-asplund | ArchDaily

Shaping Spaces: The History and Impact of Fireplaces in Architecture

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Fireplaces have profoundly shaped architectural design, influencing how spaces are organized, experienced, and perceived. More than merely functional elements, they represent symbols of power, community, comfort, and culture, tracing humanity's evolving relationship with the built environment. From the primitive hearths that characterized early human settlements to the sophisticated ecological designs of contemporary architecture, fireplaces have reflected broader cultural, social, and technological changes, serving as enduring focal points in the spatial narrative of architecture. Scholars have frequently explored the intimate relationship between architecture and fire. Luis Fernández-Galiano, in his seminal work "Fire and Memory: On Architecture and Energy" argues that architecture fundamentally mediates the relationship between humanity and energy. By understanding how these structures have shaped spaces, symbolized cultural values, and driven technological innovation, we gain deeper insight into architecture's complex interplay between form, function, and meaning.

Look Inside the Vatican Venice Biennale Chapels in New Video from Spirit of Space

Jack McManus — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Vatican City participated in the Venice Architecture Biennale for the first time this year, inviting the public to explore a sequence of unique chapels designed by renowned architects including Norman Foster and Eduardo Souto de Moura. Located in the woods that cover the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the chapels offer interpretations of Gunnar Asplund’s 1920 chapel at Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, a seminal example of modernist memorial architecture set in a similarly natural wooded context.

Spotlight: Gunnar Asplund

Evan Rawn — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 06:00:00 +0000

As a professor of architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology, and a designer often cited for his contributions to Nordic Classicism, Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund (22 September 1885 – 20 October 1940) was a notable theorist on the most important architectural challenges of his time, first exemplified by his lecture entitled “Our Architectonic Concept of Space.”

"Hallo Darkness!" Why Not All Buildings Need To Be Cheerful All Of The Time

Timothy Brittain-Catlin — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:00:00 +0000

"Contemporary buildings celebrate openness, light and free-flowing movement," says the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in the March 2017 issue of the Institute’s journal. This is what at my school we call an "announcement", rather than a statement of fact. Indeed, all architects and architecture students hear these words all the time. But are they true? Should they be?

'In Therapy' – the Nordic Contribution to the 2016 Venice Biennale

AAA — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 04:00:00 +0000

The Nordic nations—Finland, Norway and Sweden—have reached a pivotal point in their collective, and individual, architectural identities. The Grandfathers of the universal Nordic style—including the likes of Sverre Fehn, Peter Celsing, Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz, Alvar Aalto, and Eero Saarinen—provided a foundation upon which architects and designers since have both thrived on and been confined by. The Nordic Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale—directed by Alejandro Aravena—will be the moment to probe: to discuss, argue, debate and challenge what Nordic architecture really is and, perhaps more importantly, what it could be in years to come.

Caruso St John Appointed to Renovate Asplund's Stockholm Public Library

Rory Stott — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The City of Stockholm has named Caruso St John, working with Swedish practice Scheiwiller Svensson, as the architects for a renovation of Gunnar Asplund's 1928 Stockholm Public Library. The work will see alterations to the interior spaces of the main building and annex, as well as the three additional "bazaars" built to the west of the original building between 1930 and 1953, however there will be no alterations to the external appearance of the building.

AD Classics: Stockholm Public Library / Gunnar Asplund

Luke Fiederer — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:00:00 +0000

With its simple geometry and classical arrangement, Stockholm’s Public Library is a difficult building to characterize. Designed by noted Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund during the 1920s, the library is the physical manifestation of a transitionary period in both the rationale of its designer and the shifting values of European architecture. The ultimate result is a deceptively complex synthesis of styles presented in a visually straightforward package: the fading influence of Neoclassicism juxtaposed against the emergence of Rationalism.