The city and the urban space as a “forum” of collective living. The urban complex Stockholm Town Hall- Committee building of Ragnar Östberg (1909-1940)

Image credits: @ Drawings by Monterumisi

Abstract

At the turn of the 20th century travel towards the South has still embodied a crucial step in Nordic architects’ self-development, but, they were able to go beyond the common mode of contemplation spread by the previous Grand Tour’s approach. The paper examines a case-study apparently remote from the internationally celebrated modern urban-scale projects, which reveals the evident influence of the Swedish architect’s 3-year journey (1896-1899) along Europe. The interest focuses on the Stockholm Town hall built by Ragnar Östberg (1866-1945). The European tradition of the municipal building here becomes a catalyst for the new urban development scattered around the archipelago. The Town Hall has been a unique focus of critical interest, but this study investigates the entire project for the Eldkvarnen area, including the adjacent Committee building, which has neither been built nor examined until now. Nonetheless, the many proposals for these buildings highlight the Stockholm townscape and its unusual geographical structure. Östberg’s method still affords a valid example of theatrical design of the city, that consists spatial sequences composed of those travel memories in which collective space played such a large part.