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JANUVELIUS
The
Adam
Malm?
Konsthall
Caruso
I have
Malmo
seen
in the
three very different exhibitions
In each, the manner
inwhich the
Konsthall.
work was
installed and
show made
the experience
of the art powerful. Yet
this reciprocal
between
the physical
relationship
a
and
the
work
installed
within it
of
presence
gallery
flies in the face of current
design
the relationship
30
between
about
the
art
of contemporary
materials
orthodoxies
space. Many
recently
size
spaces of maximum
of
tectonic
detail.
Any
ambiguous
the installed work and the
this is an improvement on
gallery are avoided. Whilst
many gallery designs of the previous forty years (a
that were
by gallery-machines
period characterized
dematerialized
The
Hallen
within
amongst
already
existing
success
the Chinati
articu?
goes against
artists for working
galleries
lated preference
characterful,
a widely
of spaces
Foundation
an interest in art's
non-art
spaces.*
such as PS 1 in New
in Marfa,
Texas
York,
and the
is testimony to
interaction with varying scales of
in Schafmausen
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In a study carried
in advance
of the Bankside
the T?te
project,
100 contemporary
art
asked over
whether
practitioners
they pre?
in existing spaces or
ferred to work
art spaces.
A maj?
purpose-built
a
for
ority expressed
preference
working
in
existing,
adapted
buildings.
AA FILES 41
construction
space
the purpose-built
barracks
existing school,
complex or factory? How specific can an art space be
if it ismade for temporary exhibitions? The Malm?
con?
Konsthall
is one of the very few purpose-built
temporary art spaces to engage with these issues.
Klas Anshelm's design for theMalm? Konsthall
said to have
is
been
The
extremely
the flat, expansive space of the city, together with the
unremitting blankness of its horizontal-board-marked
concrete
facades
tive, perverse
are,
from
contemporary
formal decisions
perspec?
in the design of a
this offhand treat?
is probably exactly
the exterior reticence and
intended,
informality of the building has a significant effect on
one's experience of its interior.
One
between
large
and complex scale of the city. And yet, the points of
contact between interior and exterior
the entrance
- are so
a
out
to
and
the park
long window
looking
that the interior is none the less
thin and membranous
charged with an informality and lack of decorum that
is a direct result of the abrupt manner
of the
enclosure of the building.
purposefulness
meandering
line
generalized,
large-scale shed would not necessarily
facilitate the installation of small- and medium-sized
SWEDISHMUSEUM
OF ARCHITECTURE
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3i
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32
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work. As
room-like
produce
not
is
divided
the space
by walls.
The firstof these ceilings is a neutral grid of small roof
ensure that
lights. The grid is sufficiently fine to
rather than providing a visual connection to the sky,
spatial
overlapping
attributes even when
the hundreds
fields and
of domes
undermine
the substance
of
volume
almost
street outside.
designs.
aa files 41
33
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generous
of
factory
floor.
The
matte,
un?
open-ended
of
the art
space.
gallery interior.White-painted
plywood sheets, fragile
and thin, have been stressed into a slightly concave
shape to form the interior of the lights. The stressing
of the surface gives a consistent shape to the hundreds
light.
As is the case inmany other temporary exhibition
galleries, thewall linings atMalrno have a provisional
and used quality
timber boards that have obviously
been repeatedly overpainted, cracked joints at times
such
separating and coming out of plane. While
details are distracting and might seem to be defects in
other buildings, here they are consistent with the
negating
character
of
place.
There
is very little about the Malm?
Konsthall
or factory.
that is literally like a garage, warehouse
Structure is completely hidden, servicing elements are
a representation, or pastiche,
has made
Instead, Anshelm
of an industrial
a space of an
for
equivalent character,
production, a place
can
that
be robustly engaged with and altered.
space.
a place
AA FILES 41
34
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Olle Svedberg
In 1970 Sigurd Lewerentz moved next door to Klas
Anshelm. At the older architect's request Anshelm
(1914-80) designed a small atelier in Lewerentz's
with windows
shared this
of fewwords and
did he display
retiring habits. Only
occasionally
visible eccentricities such as driving around in a huge
1930s Horch
financial
cabriolet
also, of his
(a demonstration,
success).
moved
he established
more
or
less
the
same
formula.
But
he
also
Malm?
Konsthall
older art
the only
of
capable
holding large
located some way
exhibitions was an old museum
from the town centre. The city's cultural reputation
venue
inMalm?
was poor
that was
in comparison
to Stockholm, G?teborg
and
even
the nearby
quently, during
need for a new art gallery that would
status as Sweden's
keeping with Malm?'s
be more
in
third largest
250,000 people).
city (inhabited by approximately
The costs, size and site of the Malm?
project were
the new building would be erected
pre-determined
thewestern
response
to these
was
conditions
low,
the park
entrance - a
south and
to catch
intended to have
Inside,
an open, white
AA FILES 41
35
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own
wing radicals. But Anshelm always regarded his
as
to
in
be
discussed
something
left-wing sympathies
a political
private, he never intended the gallery to be
an
was
arena
his workshop
concept
merely
architect's response to artistic problems of the day.
an architect, Anshelm also
as he called
non-figurative sculptures, 'artefacts'
them.Whilst designing theMalm? Konsthall, he was
In addition
made
to being
at
'New
ornamental
Empiricism'
mixed
surfaces,
and
its pitched
and
colours
roofs,
materials.
This
effects attracted
reorganize
both
transforming
the
interior
and
the
exterior,
de Stijl-like
and vertical window strips.
composition of horizontal
The large windows and stepless entrance made
access
the Lund
Art Gallery
was
lit by
large
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36
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earlier
lanterns borrowed
from one of Anshelm's
at
Landskrona built for
the industrial halls
projects
the Landsverk
lanterns was
Yet
exhibition
in 1972.
Anshelm
'concrete'
very second
square. He would
square or whatever
then add
another
square,
a half
the plan
enormous
Arkitekters Riksf?rbund's
At Malm?
in some
room. The
other
remainder would
have
to be lit
way.
'refreshing'
barriers of any kind, it imposes no style, whether old
or new, foreign or national. The building has no
regional character and not even the slightest con?
nection
disordered
and
to
its surroundings,
yet it fits into its
location perfectly, thanks to its easy appeal
harmonious
AA FILES 41
proportions.
37
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Sune Nordgren
is a building constructed of
Konsthall
it is a concrete box with a wooden
The Malm?
basic materials
art works
performances,
multi?
installations,
a
whilst maintaining
more
a
to
art.
traditional
As
result,
capacity
display
the Konsthall
that is very
provides an atmosphere
welcoming and unfettered by pretensions to prestige.
media
and
interactive works
both
obvious
and
intel?
obstacles,
physical
lectual, to the engagement with challenging works of
Many
contemporary
art
are
easily
overcome
because
of
the
staff towork
photographs
easily recognize
Konsthall:
the proportions of the
repeated (though on a much bigger
also find the same very high ceiling
facing windows. Anshelm expressed
studio or workshop
atmosphere
its enlargement, has retained a human
to create
that,
scale.
despite
To everyone working in this 'arts factory' and to all
those who visit it, this immediately establishes a direct
to the artwork.
connection
The Malm?
Konsthall
was
both a controversial
I arrived as
and a popular place from the start.When
its third director (in early 1990) this simple building
was
in immediate
more
than well
need
used
restaurant
roof was
had made
the ceiling greasy, the
and
the
leaking
simple glass lantern panels
the
made
whole
space
greenhouse
on
sunny
place
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the building
activities,
among
from
were
which
profitable bookshop
Since the realization
increasingly
a
intrusive
a
restaurant,
growing
Ultimately,
extensive
renovation
was
a real
success,
aspects
adding
the
much
given
concern
of fundamental
to its architect.
Itwas
we
not to change
agreed
immediately
on
means
the
exterior.
that each of the
(This
anything
who
visit
the
Konsthall
250,000 people
every year
centre,
a conscious decision
have made
was
however,
in
desperate
to go there.) The
need
of
restoration.
roof
We
double
Anshelm's
one
become
of his most
we
characteristic
signatures.
retained Anshelm's
fantastic solu?
Naturally,
tion to problems of space
the ability to open up
large parts of the floor and expose the basement. The
an opportunity
to
architect himself never missed
this aspect of his design. When
he was
emphasize
invited to exhibit at the Konsthall,
his vertical
Pendulum
connected
to the now
wooden
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