PRESS RELEASE 2014.06.05
Today, the Fittja Pavilion opens in connection to the 14th Architecture Biennale in Venice. A cutout of a typical Swedish Million program apartment appears in a Venetian garden in the shape of an open-air wooden pavilion. The surrounding buildings are seen through the walls, and blend with the Swedish welfare architecture.
The Fittja Pavilion in Venice, produced by Botkyrka konsthall, asks questions about how the post-war modernistic architecture of Sweden can contribute to new forms of public space and urban development. Fourteen international architects and artists present works with connection to Fittja. The apartment pavilion is made y the architecture office Spridd, which works on developing new methods for renovation in Fittja.
-Our project in Venice can be seen as a small part of a larger effort to highlight the qualities and the potential that exists in Fittja says Klas Ruin, architect at Spridd. To solve the urgent need of technical upgrade of the Million Programme buildings at affordable cost is a major societal challenge. Previous renovations in these areas have focused a lot on a change of the visual appearance. Our pavilion focuses on the inside, and the great architectural qualities found in apartments from this period.
The pavilion in Venice is furnished with a long table, with drawings on all floorplans of the first building to be renovated printed on it. During the spring, the table was placed in the projects showroom in Fittja, allowing the residents of the house to make omments about their own apartment directly on the tabletop. The colorful stools are painted by children living in the house.
- Our work is very much about Shorten the distance between planning and implementation, says Klas. The dialogue process we have initiated is a way to anchor the project in the area and include the residents and others working in the area in the whole process.
- The debate on how architecture from this period should be developed goes on everywhere. There is no clear answer to the question, and not even a fixed problem, says Tor Lindstrand, architect and researcher. The Architecture Biennale in Venice is the single largest architectural event in the world. To place a suburb like Fittja in this prestigious context is a way to spot the area from a different direction. We want to contribute to broadening the concepts and interpretations of what a place Fittja can be - an area that in many ways is far more interesting than the inner city areas that are built today.