Prominent 21st century architecture in Sweden

21st century cultural and civic buildings in Sweden offer both place-based and neo-modernist styles.

Tall white building in a criss-cross like pattern. It consists of white plates and clear windows. Around the building, there are trees planted.
Henning Larsen, concert and congress hall (2011), Uppsala. The split cubic form with a sculptural reflective metallic and glass façade is referred to locally as the 'Crystal'. Photo: Krysta Mae Dimick

White Arkitekter’s ‘Water Front’ congress and concert hall (2011); Tham & Videgård’s Malmö Modern Museum (2009) and Kalmar Museum of Art (2008); Henning Larsen’s ‘Uppsala Crystal’ congress and concert hall (2007); Gert Wingårdh’s Universeum Science Centre (2001) in Gothenburg; Schmidt Hammer Lassen’s ‘Malmö Live’ conference and concert hall (2015), and Kiruna town hall (2018) - all of these are exemplary recent Swedish civic and cultural works. 

Expressive, explorative works include: Tham & Videgård’s Tellus Nursery School (2010) and KTH School of Architecture (2015); Carmen Izquierdo’s Cathedral Forum (2011) in Lund; Jais Arkitekter’s Bohus 5 tower (2014) in Malmö; and, BIG’s 79 & Park housing (2018) in Stockholm. 

White Arkitekter, 'Water Front' congress and concert hall (2011), Stockholm. Framed by the gridded office and hotel block, this highly visible waterfront complex has a free-form billowing metal veil that animates and articulates the congress and concert hall. Photo: Holger Ellgaard (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Wingårdh Arkitektur’s thatched roofed Tåkern visitor centre (2012) in Glänås is a place-based work, whereas their Victoria Tower (2011) in Kista, the Ericsson headquarters (2010) and Spira theatre complex (2011) in Jönköping, and the Chalmers education building (2011) in Gothenburg are neo-modernist in execution. While White Arkitekter’s office building in Gamla Stan (2003) and Lund University Centre for Languages and Literature (2003) are neo-modernist, their Lindholm Science Park (2002-on) and art campus at the University of Umeå (2012) are more culturally referenced works.

Further reading: