Globalization and the advancement of technology have made the world smaller. Boundaries that define nations and nationalities have blurred and the resulting sense of displacement has undermined assumptions of identity and conversely made the search for identity more urgent. This thesis investigates the dialogue between the contemporary arts and architecture through the lens of the Filipino culture as a way to recapture and bring to the surface the contemporary identity of Filipinos and the Philippines. It proposes an understanding of history, geography and culture as a complex floating archipelago out of which our identity as individuals and nations emerge. It suggests that the events of history and the characteristics of geography are the grounds out of which art, myths and legends continue to be formed and sustain their relevance. Today, these compelling narratives emerge through the works of contemporary artists. They help us view and understand our flaws, struggles, triumphs, and future as a society in a way that speaks of our culture and time. Architecture, as a container and stage for culture must be sensitive to this artistic contemporaneity if it is to be indexical to our time. The Philippines, as a culture of hybrid and regional identities, has long struggled to make sense of the Contemporary in a largely Traditional society. The thesis proposes a new Centre for Contemporary Arts in Manila to bring the diverse artistic activities of the country into focus. It intervenes at interface between the Traditional and the Contemporary, which bridges the gap between the two, thus heralding a Cultural Renaissance and help generate a sense of contemporary nationalism.

This thesis examines the political discussion between local politicians, on the city of Örebro’s plans to build a new cultural centre, Kulturkvarteret. This investigation explores the politicians’ conceptions of the values and functions of culture – looking at how they express goals of cultural policy and which concepts of culture are used. The study also investigates if decisions on culture are seen, by the politicians, as pertaining to other political areas in addition to cultural policy. The method used is a text analysis approach where a model by Johannisson (2006) provides an analytical framework. Johannisson’s example summarises three different discourses used by agents of the cultural policy reconstruction process in Gothenburg during the 1990s: the quality discourse, the welfare discourse and the alliance discourse. This study shows that the welfare discourse and the alliance discourse are the most prominent in the political discussion in Örebro. The politicians primarily employ the anthropological concept of culture, whilst using the goals of cultural policy that fall both under the welfare discourse and under the alliance discourse. The conclusion of this thesis is that the local politicians appear to ascribe culture both an economic and a social value and that culture policy is seen as an aspect of other political areas in addition to cultural policy.

The subject of the thesis is the elaboration of the study of the socio-cultural center with townhall. The seleced location is in the northern part of the district Brno Kohoutovice. The thesis examines the location and suitable volume and conceptual solution for the best utilization of the potential of the site. In the design of the townhall, is the main task to restore confidence in public institutions, so that the notion of townhall in people's consciousness again featured the public building serving the people and the townhall was rightfully called a landmark and the heart of the town. For socio-cultural center is the main task a high variability and maximum utilization of the object. Work includes the complete design part including floor plans of all floors, the views, the facade and structural sections with selected details.

Diploma project aims at establishing a clear urban coception of the city part "Ponava". Priority is maintence of sport function based on historical tradition and "genius loci". Project specifically solves the proposal for a multipurpose sport hall.

The study presents a new church for Novy Liskovec in Brno. The site is situated in the middle of housing estate close to public transport, on a rocky southern slope. The proposed building is used for local citizens and the christian community. For the project to be beneficial to all people concerned, I suggest layout features on culture, recreation, services and church. The open building design creates a natural social center. The church acts as a social center - multi-functional building. The basic inspirational impulse for the general shape and formal concept of the house is the existing passage through the plot, the need for social meetingpoint and the relationship to the surrounding landscape. Abstracted belt runs continuously through the construction; gradually defines and separates the social, secular and sacred space. To the visitor the house reveals a play of light, shadows and glimpses of the horizon. The project is divided into three parts: connected community center and church which are accompanied by multi-functional car park with shops and playground. The described objects create two building complexes that stand opposite to each other on the western and eastern edge of the plot. Among them, these create a town-square motif, leaving free space - the rock. The architectural concept of the church as a meandering path is expressed in the material solution of the construction. Path - the band that wraps the space has a different outer and inner material surface. The wrapped ribbon motif embracing and defining the space comes alive and changes with the movement of man in the enclosed space. Construction works as a series of leaflets - images that tell the story. The main axis of the object is oriented in the north-south direction thus offering views of open countryside and horizon, binds the building to the landscape. The structural design of the church is designed from concrete walls and steel trussers. The main load-bearing structures are embedded with self standing boxes from wooden KLH boards (laminated solid wood) as additional space separators.

In 2018, the roof of the old dancing pavilion in Dala-Floda collapsed due to a heavy snowfall. Situated in the folk park Strandbacken, the pavilion was an important node in the local community. It was of course used for dances, but also other kinds of events such as parties, concerts and movie nights. But as of 2018, the more than 60 year old pavilion has been passed on to history. Plans for a new pavilion are on their way and in this thesis project I have used this park to investigate places for gatherings in rural Sweden. Folk Parks (approximately ‘community parks’) are open air centres for leisure and gatherings still functioning within many rural communities around the country. The folk park will work as a point of departure for this thesis project. Questions through this project have been how the parks like this one worked in the past, how the situation is now and what can the parks become in the future. The findings of the research phase have synthesized to become an architectural proposal that takes the historical and cultural values of the site into account and still works as a modern space for meetings and events.

Väg 225 skär genom landskapet strax söder om Ösmo, Nynäshamn kommun. Det resulterar i att hela naturområdet kring sjöarna Västra och Östra Styran blir svårtillgängligt. Jag har velat utnyttja det svårtillgängliga genom att planera för en plats som vänder sig mot sig själv, och bort från omgivningen, för att skapa en eskapism. En engelsk park utgör den första verklighetsflykten och leder besökaren fram till huset för folket, parkens slott. Mötet med byggnaden blir den andra flykten, där portalen leder från parken in till innergården. Precis som parken, vänder sig huset mot sig självt, bort från parken. Brytpunkten mellan parken och huset utgörs av den östra portalen och förstärks av ett skifte i fasadmaterial. På utsidan är fasaden i kolmårdsmarmor och röd ölandssten, och på insidan i sandsten. Den tredje och sista flykten är aktiviteterna som utförs i huset: musicerande, dansande, framträdande och kulturåskådning. Byggnaden huserar en filial till kulturskolans musikverksamhet, nya lokaler till Ösmos dansskola, offentliga mötesrum och en stor teater i scenstorlekskategori blå enligt Riksteaterns krav. / Road 225 cuts through the landscape just south of Ösmo, Nynäshamn. As a consequence the nature area around the two lakes Västra and Östra Styran become difficult to access. My aim has been to embrace the situation. Instead of trying to connect Ösmo with the nature area, I wanted to reinforce the isolated location, to create a space of escapism. The visitor first escapes into the English garden which leads to the house of the people, the garden’s castle. The second escape unfolds when entering the east portal, which is emphasised by a change in façade material, from green Kolmårdsmarmor and red Ölandssten to white sandstone. The third escape is constituted by the activities performed in the building: dancing, playing music, performing and engaging in culture. In terms of facilities, the building accommodates new premises for the Dance Studio of Ösmo, a subsidiary to the municipal Music School, public co-working spaces and a theatre with blue classification according to the requirements of Riksteatern.

Introduction. The purpose is to discuss values, expressed in the architecture and planning documents of four recent cultural centres in Sweden, and how these values influence the public libraries. Method. The method is a case study using content analysis of documents from all four cities and empirical findings from observations in Askersund and Värnamo. Analysis. The theoretical perspectives are based on the theories of fields and doxa by Pierre Bourdieu and the theory of space by David Harvey. Results. From around the year 2000 cultural centres were built increasingly with the aim to support creativity and place branding. Twenty years later that trend has been strengthened and cultural centres are being built as architectural portraits of cities, supporting tourism, innovation and economic growth. Town squares are symbols for meetings, markets and democracy. The names and physical appearance of Sjöängen, Gummifabriken, Sara kulturhus and Karls Krona represent local history and the architects have also expressed values about sustainability and functional estetics. The public libraries seem to benefit from being located within these new cultural centres as regards to lending statistics and programmes for the public. The mission for democracy, the principle of free entry and the intrinsic value of literature, however, must be preserved in today´s amusement park like style of cultural centres. This is a two year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The project of Cultural hub for Jaroslavice village is based on the rich history of this small borderline area. It is aiming on improving the current state of the region by connecting it into the cultural net and coordinating creative project within the area. It focuses on attracting foreing artists and connecting them with local community as well as coworking with art schools. It provides workshops and courses for local people and targets children and young people for developing their relationship to culture and creativity, The most attractive part of the project is the „Laboratory of Light“. It is composed from 8 different light situations for artist to train their skills.

Transformation of a building from 1980's in a small town. Cultural centre in Koprivnice, urban masterplan of city centre.