Study Tour Part 1: Stockholm, Sweden

For my long study tour with DIS, I went to Sweden and Finland. I traveled with an architecture professor, a DIS intern, and a group of 21 architecture and urban design students. It was such a fun group of people and we got to see so many amazing buildings. We started by taking the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm and we saw some snow on the way! It was magical.

When we arrived in Stockholm, we went to the Culture House, which is a theater, library, cafe, gallery, event space, and whatever else you can imagine all wrapped up into one and set on the main plaza of the town. What a fun place for people watching.

Hammarby Sjöstad

 

We also got to visit Hammarby Sjöstad, a sustainable urban development along a canal. It was originally designed for Stockholm’s bid for the Olympics and it integrates sustainable infrastructure into the planning of the city. It focuses on the flows of energy, water, and waste.

 

Stockholm Public Library

The Stockholm Library was designed by Gunnar Asplund. The central reading room is a cylinder with three floors of bookshelves. It was an impressive place and well loved by the locals. The space between the central reading room and the surrounding square building creates unique little private reading spaces and offices. Originally, there were classrooms on the upper floors of the library for continuing education.

 

Woodland Cemetery

We finished up our tour of Stockholm with a sunset visit to Woodland Cemetery. Gunnar Asplund designed this along with Sigurd Lewerentz. The cemetery was built among the most beautiful pine forrest and it smelled like Christmas, something you wouldn’t expect from a cemetery. We toured three chapels on the grounds and as the sun set it got darker, and colder, and creepier. How fitting for Halloween-Eve.

If walls could dream… they’d dream of Gunnar Asplund.