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BEATE SYDHOFF: The brilliant library.
GÖRAN ALM: A hall for the nation's books.
On the library in the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
MAGDALENA GRAM:
Room for maps and pictures in the Royal Library, Stockholm.
BENGT NYSTRÖM: Library and museum.
Artur Hazelius' library at the Nordic museum.
ULLA ELIASSON: From academy projects to multi-activity buildings.
Library projects from Arkitekturmuseet's collection.
KARIN WINTER: A readable order. On the Stockholm Public Library.
FOLKE SANDGREN:
European national library buildings in a period of change.
MARGARETA BRUNDIN: The new location of the Riksdag Library.
A collaboration between architect and commissioner.
VIVECA AHLNER: Room for art and music in Malmö's Public Library.
ÅKE AXELSSON: Listening to the tradition.
On the restoration of the library of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
ARMAND BJÖRKMAN:
The joint library at Stenebyskolan. An architect's challenge.
EVA SUNDBERG: A meeting place for prints and books.
An integrated knowledge centre in Grafikens Hus.
BEATE SYDHOFF: The brilliant library.
The author describes a project produced in 1998 as a collaboration between Stockholm - Cultural Capital of Europe 1998
- and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The project took form as an exhibition, where twenty-five young architect
students each created a vision of "the library of the future". The exhibition had two starting-points: 1) the importance of culture
in a city's growth, in terms of city planning, and 2) the function of libraries as sources of information about history and our world,
in pedagogical terms. On an intellectual and artistic level, the exhibition expressed a critical view on the lack of innovative ideas
concerning the shaping and creation of libraries. Thus, a discussion was initiated, relating to the formation of libraries and the
need of change.
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GÖRAN ALM: A hall for the nation's books.
On the library in the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
This essay describes how the premises of the national Swedish library, the Royal Library, have developed within the walls of the
Royal Palace in Stockholm, from a beginning in the King's private library at the end of the sixteenth century to a cathedral of books
which opened in 1796.<Back to list of content
MAGDALENA GRAM:
Room for maps and pictures in the Royal Library, Stockholm.
The author describes and analyses how the special collections of maps and pictures in the Royal Library in Stockholm have been
treated through the centuries. As long as they were part of the collections in the Royal Palace they were probably considered as
prestigious symbols for the nation. In connection with the foundation of the Royal Museum in 1794 the prints and drawings were
handed over to the museum, and a tug-of-war concerning the future keeping of this material broke out. A new phase started with
the planning of a National Museum at the end of the 19th century. In 1866 an agreement was made between the National Museum
and the Royal Library which meant that the museum should collect prints with reference to their aesthetic value and the library do
the same with reference to their content. In 1878 the Royal Library moved to a new building, drawn by the architect G.A. Dahl.
In spite of the arguments for a special section of maps, prints and printed music put forth by the National Librarian G.E. Klemming
this was not created.
In 1916 the section 'Collection of Portraits and Maps' was introduced in the Library's Annual Report, and two years later a professional librarian was appointed head of the collections. Not until 1928 the collections of maps and pictures could finally be brought together in special rooms with special equipment and furniture. This change was made possible by the National Librarian Isaac Collijn, and it led to the building of two new wings, drawn by the architect Axel Anderberg. The new rooms for maps and pictures in the Eastern Wing were very much up-to-date for their time. From the point of view of space, however, they were insufficient from the beginning. Small extensions and improvements were made during the following decades, but not until the major rebuilding of the Library in the 1990s a radical change was brought about. Unfortunately this was not founded on a thorough analysis of actual work-flow, and the result was a half-measure with the collections stored rationally in clean and well climatized underground stacks, but with the staff placed in an open-plan office far away from the functions with which they work on a daily basis, that is the stacks, the new special reading room and the reproduction and photo service. <Back to list of content
BENGT NYSTRÖM:
Library and museum. Artur Hazelius' library at the Nordic museum.
In the summer of 1872, Artur Hazelius started his work to save artefact's and knowledge concerning the traditional Swedish folk culture.
His collection became the foundation of the Nordic Museum, which opened in the autumn of 1873 as the Scandinavian Ethnographic
Collections at Drottninggatan in Stockholm, and Skansen in 1891, the first open-air museum in the world. From the beginning,
the collections of different objects were completed with an accurate documentation. At the same time, Hazelius developed a
scientific library.
Simultaneously, Artur Hazelius started to work for a new building for his museum, not at least to press on the importance and value of the traditional Swedish culture. Hazelius made an interesting point when he built his new museum around objects and exhibitions, but also widened the idea to include functions such as library and archive, and gave them a prominent position in the museum building.
Hazelius registered and described the objects scientifically and placed them in a broader context of knowledge. Up to 1900, both the collections and the library grew rapidly, and the scientific work increased as well as publishing of articles and books in topics concerning the collections. He also made exchange agreements with museums and institutions of northern Europe within social history and ethnography. Hazelius' patriotic and pedagogical undertaking was manifested in the museum building of the Nordic Museum and in the open-air museum of Skansen.
The library of the Nordic Museum very early became a special library for Scandinavian ethnology. The library and the archive, together with the catalogues of the collections, early became an important 'faktarum', a bank of knowledge. The importance of this concept is pointed out by their symbolic place next to the monumental statue of King Gustav Vasa in the new museum building, which opened in 1907 at Djurgården in Stockholm. Both the design of the architectural frame and the way the library and the archive were placed emphasizes the important role of combined knowledge of objects, archive material and books.
It is interesting to think about how Hazelius' concept of knowledge would look today, when a small nation needs to safeguard its identity in a European context. Within the Nordic Museum there is a continuing discussion about how to form a 'marketplace of knowledge' as a physical and virtual meeting place, where one can look for information in archive, library and collections.
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ULLA ELIASSON: From academy projects to multi-activity buildings.
Library projects from Arkitekturmuseet's collections.
Among others, the Dicksonska folkbiblioteket (public library) in Gothenburg, which was financed by the Robert Dickson trust,
was in the forefront of Swedish library development. The library was founded already in 1861 and in 1897 it was given its own
building, the first public library in a Nordic country, designed by architect Hans Hedlund. Apart from the reading-room and a
newspaper-room, there was also a special room for women.
Architect Gunnar Asplund's Stadsbiblioteket (city library) in Stockholm, inaugurated in 1928, established Sweden as a
leading country in the field of architectural planning and design of the open public library. The most important differences between
Asplund's city library and the Dicksonska public library are in the layout of the libraries. The necessary open access-system of the
public library has in Asplund's city library removed the boundaries between book-storage accommodation, reading-rooms, and
lending department for the first time in Sweden.
The planning and design of the city library and its immediate surroundings developed over a long period of time. It was a question not only of the design of an individual building but of a larger unity, an environment from the smallest details to an urban or civic concept. This process of maturing tells us of a period of transition in architecture-from the more traditional Classicism of the first sketches to an increasing simplification, and, finally, the purification of the architectural form of the building to a cylinder on a square base.
The Stockholm University Library at Frescati was designed by architect Ralph Erskine and was built in 1980-82. The library
building has a simple, yet monumental character which has certain associations with light and mobile naval architecture. The entrance
side is characterized by projecting balconies, and at roof level there are large ventilation extracts like ships' funnels. The planning of
the rear side of the building is wholly adapted to the preservation of several oak-trees a hundred years old.
The interior has the character of a natural meeting-place designed for life and movement. Practical and usable, light and airy and accessible. The open access-system separates the library building at Frescati from the older university libraries. The immediate accessibility is reminiscent of the public library. <Back to list of content
KARIN WINTER: A readable order. On the Stockholm Public Library.
The Stockholm Public Library was built in 1924-27 and was opened to the public in 1928. The architect was Gunnar Asplund,
who had brought ideas to the building from a study trip to the United States in 1920. The library consists of a circular building
surrounded by narrow rows which together form a square. The architecture is characterized by monumentality, simplicity, and
classical elegance. All furniture is designed for its specific place and function, and all artistic decoration was conceived in close
collaboration with Asplund, who held a strong general grip on the shaping of the library.
With its thin layers and delicate materials, Asplund's building is a challenge for its users. Several unfortunate interferences in the building have been made during the past decades. New activities and different visitors' groups compete for space, and the measures made so far to solve the problems are lacking an architectural overall view. The author means that the library itself has to be brought forward with its fundamental ideas: classicism's principles on order, clarity, balance, and symmetry. <Back to list of content
FOLKE SANDGREN:
European national library buildings in a period of change.
During the last ten years of the 20th century, national library buildings in most European countries have been either enlarged and
modernized or replaced by new constructions. The buildings in London, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Paris and Stockholm are being
compared and scrutinized in this essay, leaving room for some personal viewpoints by the author, based on his own ocular inspection.
The comparison shows that not one library can be regarded as a totally successful building. The British Library, however, stands
out as the most functional and welcoming of the five, while the Bibliothèque Nationale is viewed by the author as a project lacking
both functionality and a will to see the public's needs.
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MARGARETA BRUNDIN: The new location of the Riksdag Library.
A collaboration between architect and commissioner.
In 1996, the Riksdag Library moved to new premises close to the Riksdag buildings. An old bank hall from 1876 was transformed
into a modern Parliamentary Library. The planning process started in 1992, and the staff of the library worked very closely with
the architects. The furniture was designed by Åke Axelsson, an architect especially famous for his chairs. The motto of the planning
of the new library was functionality and festivity. Other important considerations were environmental aspects.<Back to list of content
VIVECA AHLNER: Room for art and music in Malmö's Public Library.
After reconstruction and extension, Malmö's public library consists of three buildings. The older part, nowadays called the Castle,
has for a long time been insufficient. It was originally built as a museum and was later adapted into a library, in different ways and
at separate occasions. For at least thirty years there has been an acute need of a new library building. In 1997 the two new extended
buildings opened to the public and the Castle was closed for reconstruction. The department of Art & Music would later return to
the Castle.
The planning of the department had been a long and rather difficult process, and the implementation turned out to be equally so. An unexpected lack of space, due to the need of free passages mostly between stairs and in front of elevators, made the area difficult to furnish. The result was a crowded impression, although the furniture was tasteful and expensive, all in birch and leather. The oddest element in this project was that many components proved to be erroneous and delayed. Still, a year after the reopening in 1999, the department has not been fully equipped and deliveries have turned out to be wrong, in spite of the established qualifications of all those who were in charge. Maybe they were too many! Nevertheless the department has good possibilities of ending up as a rather pleasant place, when all furniture has arrived, the lightening is corrected, and the walls have been decorated.
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ÅKE AXELSSON: Listening to tradition.
On the restoration of the library of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1775 the Royal Academy of Fine Arts moved from the Royal Palace to the building in which it still resides. In the plan to rebuild
the house made by C.F. Adelcrantz in the 1780s a special room is designated for the library. But not until 1799 did the library
actually get a room of its own. In the rebuilding plan by Fredrik Blom in 1841 the library is placed in the Western wing, and up
until the renovation under Erik Lallerstedt in the 1890s it had to move several times. Finally, in 1897 the library could move into a
specially designed hall with two extra rooms and a place for storage.
When the author, a member of the Academy, in 1997 was asked to propose plans for change and enlargement of the library space he went back to the older drawings and discovered that the library shelving from the 1940s covered three windows which had been in the same position ever since the house was built by Tessin in the 1670s. Axelsson's proposal for restoration and rebuilding of the library was accepted by the Academy. As a first step the window panes covered by black paint were washed clean, a new set of shelves were installed, and several improvements in the interior decoration were made. In 2000 work was started on furnishing new rooms adjacent to the old library hall, and some valuable book collections which had been kept elsewhere, could be moved back to the library environment. The author envisions a future development in which the Academy Library fifty years from now has taken over the entire main floor of the building designed by Nicodemus Tessin. <Back to list of content
ARMAND BJÖRKMAN:
The joint library at Stenebyskolan. An architect's challenge.
If an old building has good basic qualities, it can be adapted and rebuilt for new functions, as has been the case with the library at
Stenebyskolan in Dals Långed. The library building, earlier containing apartments and shops, was rebuilt to house a public library
and a college university library, and was completed with a new additional part housing an art exhibition hall. Efforts were made to
adapt the building to the special needs these three activities have. Great consideration was also taken to craftsmanship, material,
and local artistic tradition.
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EVA SUNDBERG: A meeting place for prints and books.
An integrated knowledge centre in Grafikens Hus.
In May 1996 Grafikens Hus (an international centre for fine art printmaking) was inaugurated in part of the once royal barn close
to Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, about 70 km west of Stockholm. On 2,000 m2 Grafikens Hus today hosts exhibition halls,
workshops, collections of prints, a library, a shop and a café. Shortly after the opening it was clear that there was not enough
room for certain activities. With encouragement from the County Governor and with public financial support Grafikens Hus
started a project, UGH (an Extended Grafikens Hus), lasting from the autumn of 1998 to June 1999, to examine how the
remaining 5,000 m2 ideally could be used. People from relevant professions were asked to participate in groups reflecting the
present activities, plus a few more. The architects, who rebuilt the barn in 1996, also played an important role. The groups met
regularly, and three times all groups came together for discussions and presentations. A group of eight dedicated persons dealt
with the library, the archives and the print collection, soon called BAS (an acronym also meaning 'base' and 'basis'). BAS is an
important part of UGH, and should be present all over the house, e.g. with small reading nooks. The combined reading- and
print/studying room should be open to welcome scholars, general visitors, artists and children. The close relationship between books,
documents and prints should be reflected in the architecture, in the boundless attitude from the employees, and in a future
combined library and museum system. Thanks to all the dedicated persons involved, UGH reached very far in formulating the
visions, in compromising and unifying most of the wishes of the different groups, and in transforming these ideas into concrete
surfaces and attractive architectural solutions.<Back to list of content