Center and Periphery

At the periphery of Europe, in the center of Scandinavia's timber construction tradition: holiday homes by Swedish architect Mikael Bergquist

This book brings together five vacation homes in Sweden designed by Stockholm-based architect Mikael Bergquist. Realized over more than two decades, they are all located in the Swedish countryside and rooted in the Nordic tradition of timber construction and the simplicity and economy of Sweden's historic farm buildings. Bergquist's great attention to detail and careful choice of materials characterize these houses. They are united also by a close relationship to the surrounding landscape and nature, which is enhanced as an experience by the concepts of movement and the placement of passages between the outside and inside.

The houses are documented with photographs as well as plans and sections. In his supplementary essay, Bergquist writes about the special position of working as an architect on the periphery of Europe. He draws a picture of Swedish architecture that is marked by what he calls fruitful misunderstandings of current movements, and one in which the poverty of the rural population has been a major factor in the evolution of the design and construction of dwellings.

• Features five holiday homes in Sweden designed by Mikael Bergquist, one of the country's leading specialists in small-scale timber architecture
• Each house is documented with newly taken photographs as well as plans and sections
• Offers a comprehensive survey of contemporary small-scale timber construction in Sweden, which is little known outside the country
• Sustainable architecture and building with locally sourced materials are highly topical

Auteur

Mikael Bergquist is an architect and writer based in Stockholm, where he has been running his own studio since 1996. He is also a lecturer in the master's program at Stockholm's KHT Royal Institute of Technology.