ArkDes is excited to announce the summer reopening of the museum, presenting a new programme of activities including a new entrance, a refreshed identity, and a renewed visitor experience. In June 2024, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design steps into a new chapter as a public space, an open platform, and a continuously evolving work-in-progress in the heart of Stockholm.
Designed by Stockholm-based architecture office Arrhov Frick, the museum’s new visitor experience has involved a comprehensive reshaping of the museum’s public spaces. Reusing elements of the museum’s former exhibitions and environments, the spaces enable new ways of experiencing architecture and design and provide a flexible structure for future adaptation. The museum’s new identity has been designed by internationally-renowned office A.M., including a renewal of our online presence alongside the museum’s graphic language.
On June 14, ArkDes inaugurates a programme of exhibitions and installations by nationally and internationally acclaimed practitioners. Five new environments inside and around the museum form the backbone of a new visitor experience, offering a vibrant series of displays that explore the past, present and future of architecture and design.
Portalen: Gloria Cabral
Portalen is the museum’s annual commission for a new temporary façade, located outdoors on Exercisplan. Each year an architect or designer imagines and constructs a new entrance to the museum. In 2024, Portalen is designed by the acclaimed Brazilian-Paraguayan architect Gloria Cabral.
Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births
The inaugural temporary exhibition invites you on a journey through the evolution of design that influences the arc of human reproduction, from conception, pregnancy and birth, to postpartum experiences. The exhibition is curated by Juliana Barton, Zoë Greggs, Michelle Miller Fischer, Gabriella Nelson, Amber Winick. This will be its first presentation in Europe.
Torget: Power of Places
Daniel Feldman, Sumayya Vally, María José Arjona, Anna Sokoloff (Team Layered)
Power of Places presents an 1:1 urban forest prototype for the development of the Nyhamnen district of Malmö. This practice-based research is the result of an international call organised by ArkDes in collaboration with the City of Malmö. The installation is the first in a series that presents the work ArkDes does with interdisciplinary teams, exploring approaches to creating inclusive and beautiful designed living environments.
ArkDes Collection
The new collection exhibition presents a rotating selection of more than 500 original works—including architects such as Gunnar Asplund, Ralph Erskine, Lena Larsson, Sigurd Lewerentz, and Hillevi Svedberg, among others—from one of the world’s largest archives of 20th Century architecture and design. Organised thematically, the exhibition follows the process of design, from the drawing board to the ways in which architecture and design take shape in our cities and influence society. This new display makes the collection more accessible than ever before in the museum—a living, collaborative, and evolving way of experiencing architectural history.
The exhibition includes deep dives into the collections of architects Léonie Geisendorf and Abelardo Gonzalez. It also presents an installation by Joar Nango in collaboration with Katarina Spik Skum, Ken Are Bongo, Anders Sunna, Antaris Rimpi, Mary Ailonieida Sombán Mari, Tobias Aputsiaq Prytz, and Arne Terje Sæther that was first presented as part of Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library in 2023 at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia.
Utsikten: MYCKET
Utsikten is a public outdoor space open all day, every day. Here, architects and designers create installations for children and young people. The inaugural project is by the Swedish art, architecture and design collective MYCKET.
More information about the upcoming programme is available on our website. Kieran Long leaves ArkDes in February 2024 to take up a new role as director of Amos Rex in Helsinki. Karin Nilsson has been appointed acting director. For media inquiries, feel free to contact Maria Östman: maria.ostman [at] arkdes.se.
*Image above: View of the work-in-progress currently underway at ArkDes designed by Arrhov Frick, 2024.
