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Senast publicerade

Balancing Monumentality and Everyday Life; The Modern Renovation of Stora Saluhallen
(2026) Li, Hao
This thesis focuses on Stora Saluhallen, an important historic heritage building in the city center of Gothenburg, and aims to explore how historically valuable buildings with strong everyday functional use can achieve a balance and mutually reinforcing relationship between everyday functionality and monumentality within a contemporary urban context. It should be noted that Stora Saluhallen underwent a renovation in 2012. Therefore, this study does not propose an implementable design intervention for the building itself, but instead uses it as a case study to present a broader approach to the adaptive reuse of similar spaces. The research also references on the renovation of many similar historical architectural spaces. Examples include Grand Palais and Musée d'Orsay in Paris. These buildings share common characteristics such as large and spacious vaulted structures and belong to a similar historical period. By examining these precedents, the study analyzes strategies for preserving and enhancing both the historical significance and the practical use value of Stora Saluhallen. Through field observation, architectural and spatial analysis, literature review, and contemporary case studies, the thesis systematically examines the market’s historical development, spatial organization, and patterns of use. On this basis, a theoretical framework and design foundation are established as a starting point for exploring methods to achieve the design objectives. The outcomes of the research include: Strategic recommendations for the modern renovation of historic market buildings; Comparative technical drawings and visualizations showing conditions before and after renovation;The production of design models and analytical diagrams. These outcomes aim to provide references for the sustainable use and cultural continuity of historic architecture within contemporary urban contexts.
Bathing in Architecture; An exploration of the public spa as an architectural typology supporting everyday well-being
(2026) Matsuhashi, Linda; Vennberg, Hanna
The experience of bathing is deeply intertwined with the expe rience of architecture; it is a meeting between body, space, and material. Once a collective ritual and later a private necessity, the history of bathing reflects shifts in how people have understood health, the body, and society itself. In contemporary Sweden, public swimming halls are a place for exercise and are largely available. Meanwhile, spas devoted to mental well-being have become exclusive destinations, detached from the everyday. This thesis explores the public spa as an architectural typology supporting everyday well-being. The design proposal is located by the river in Klippan, Gothenburg. Today, the site functions as a parking lot; but there are plans by the municipality to transform the area into a residential neighbourhood in the near future. The shared bath is integrated within the development plan to further enhance the site’s potential. Through the study of light, materiality, and spatial configuration, the project investigates how the built environment can affect the atmosphere in a public spa. Grounded in literature and informed by built reference projects, the research applies design-based methods including model making and sketching. The result is a public spa focusing on the experiences of the visitor. The journey from the outside to the inside and around the bath is composed of a series of spatial and light sequences, creating a rhythm of movement and stillness. A place where great care has been put into balancing the sense of seriousness with welcoming gestures - where the bathing ritual becomes a part of the everyday.
Echoes of the Sea
(2026) Liu, Zihan
As Peter Zumthor argues, when a building is loved, it acquires a kind of presence and becomes part of our emotional world. In contemporary society, spirituality is no longer confined to religion but often found in nature and in the quiet moments that allow us to reconnect with ourselves. This thesis explores the possibility of making architecture an intermedia between nature and human. This concept intends to break the functionalism framework and instead responds to the emotional and spiritual needs of users. The project proposes the design of a cold bathhouse on Öckerö Island, west of Gothenburg. Situated on a former recycling shoreline, the site offers dramatic rock landscapes, frame sea views, and exposure to natural forces such as wind, light, and tide. Through a site based approach, the design seeks to transform this harsh environment into a place of calmness, reflection, and sensory awareness. By exploring the relationship between body, material, and landscape, the thesis aims to create an architecture that offers a unique spatial experience rooted in the human encounter with nature and the elements.
A Transformation of the Orangery at Stora Sundby Slott; Submerged in Heritage
(2026) Lingmerth, Elias; Sandberg, Carl-William
This thesis explores how culturally protected environments can evolve to meet contemporary needs without compromising their historical integrity. Set within the cultural heritage site of Stora Sundby Slott, the project investigates the refurbish ment, adaptive reuse and extension of the 19th-century Orangery, transforming it from a seasonal café into a year-round venue for events and dining. The thesis is centered around the investigation of the palimpsest view, where ar chitecture is seen as a layered record of continual change, as described in Adap tive Reuse of the Built Heritage: Concepts and Cases of an Emerging Discipline (Plevoets & Van Cleempoel, 2019). The process is structured as a sequence, allowing theoretical ideas to be translated into spatial concepts and systematical ly tested. The concepts respond to three branches of palimpsest, being Imitatio, Inventio and Aemulatio. These concepts are evaluated based on a set of crite ria derived from the County Administrative Board’s Knowledge Base for Stora Sundby (Länsstyrelsen Södermanland, n.d.). The concept which answered best to the criteria was Aemulatio, which was further investigated and developed into the final design proposal. The proposal is partially submerged, allowing it to be integrated within the terrain rather than appearing as an isolated object. Strict lines from the Orangery extend into the addition, and the architectural elements are curated to direct attention toward the key qualities of the estate. The estate’s entrance has a prominent vi sual connection to the Castle, which is framed by the Orangery on one side and lake Hjälmaren on the other. With a low addition that is embedded into the terrain it avoids disturbing the first impression of the site. Inside the building, the expe rience shifts. The placement of the addition instead strengthens its connection to the estate by opening views toward the water and Castle from both the upper and lower levels. The project examines how materiality, construction and site-specific interven tions can contribute to the extended life, use and value of historic architecture. The result is a proposal that bridges heritage conservation and contemporary transformation, ensuring the continuity of Stora Sundby’s architectural and cultu ral narrative.
Room for Creativity; An Exploration of a new Timber Cultural Centre in central Gothenburg
(2026) Lindblom, Agnes
The thesis explores the design of a new cultural centre at Pusterviksplatsen in central Gothenburg, envisioned as an inclusive urban meeting place that promotes creativity, participation and cultural exchange. The proposal responds to the city’s ambition to strengthen its cultural infrastructure and integrate art and culture into urban development. The project proposal is a three-storey cultural centre with an exposed timber load-bearing construction and an open spatial organisation intended to encourage movement, encounters, and interaction throughout the building. The architectural expression consists of three inner cores made of cross laminated timber with rounded corners, contrasting the more strict and orthogonal facade. The programme includes a 420-seat multipurpose hall, a library, exhibition spaces, and creative studios for music, art, ceramics and other forms of creative practices, bringing together public events and everyday creative practice within the same building. How an expressive timber construction can inform architectural form, atmosphere and spaces to foster social interaction and engagement is explored in the thesis. A central theme is the use of contrasts both in form and material expression; between soft interior forms and the strict exterior expression, as well as between open and enclosed spaces. The theoretical framework draws on Peter Zumthor’s concept of atmospheres and contemporary research on engineered timber structures such as glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT), as well as Ernst Neufert’s principles for the design of multipurpose halls, particularly in relation to flexibility, acoustics, and spatial form. The methodology is based on research by design and combines literature review, case study analysis, and iterative prototyping to explore how materiality, light, and exposed construction shape spatial experience. Reference projects, including Sara Kulturhus, World of Volvo, Wisdome, and Nodi, serve as reference points for sustainable and expressive timber architecture. The thesis results in an architectural proposal that examines how a cultural centre can combine social and environmental sustainability with structural logic and architectural expression, while contributing with a new civic space in central Gothenburg.