This diploma project aims to explore the importance of details and small gestures in architecture.  Whether its a technical detail, a choice of material or a lighting fixture, these seemingly small gestures all influence how we experience a room. It is my belief that these little details, can make a big difference to how we experience our everyday life and that they communicate care and thoughtfulness. What difference does a minor change in material, division of space or a door handle do to the experience of a room as a whole; which are those small gestures that show care and thoughtfulness?  The project has explored details and small gestures in three categories: Division of space, Materiality & Elements, partially though case studies of renowned buildings from architects such as Alvar Aalto, Josef Frank and Sigurd Lewerentz, as well as though the proposal of a redesign of the courthouse of Katrineholm, into a Municipal Archive. The redesign tested small gestures in relationship the room as a whole, to each other and to its surroundings.  “We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street” - Alvar Aalto / Detta examensarbete ämnar utforska vikten av detaljer och små gester inom arkitekturen. Oavsett om det handlar om en teknisk detalj, ett val av material eller en lampa, har de små gesterna inom arkitekturen inflytande på hur vi upplever rum. Det är min övertygelse att de små detaljerna gör en stor skillnad på hur vi upplever vår vardag och att de uttrycker en omtanke för vår omgivning. Vilka detaljer gör mest skillnad för upplevelsen av ett rum och vilka är då dessa små gester som uttycker omtanke och värdighet? Projektet har undersökt detaljer i tre kategorier: Division of space, Materiality och Elements (Rumsindelning, Materialitet & Objekt), dels genom studier av kända byggnader från arkitekterna Alvar Aalto, Josef Frank och sigurd Lewerentz, och dels genom att rita ett förslag på en ombyggnad av Tingshuset i Katrineholm till kommunarkiv. Ombyggnaden har testat olika små gester, som till exempel bord, stenläggningar och dörrhandtag, deras förhållande till varandra och byggnaden som helhet.  “We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street” - Alvar Aalto

De traditionella begravningsplatserna kräver stora ytor. Urbanisering och befolkningsökning gör att detta utrymme inte längre finns att tillgå i tätbebyggda områden. Detta projekt tar sin utgångspunkt i denna problematik och de konsekvenser den fått för de begravningspraktiker som är etablerade i vårat samhälle. Projektets avsikt är att pröva en långsiktig lösning i form av en alternativ begravningspraktik med stadens förutsättningar som utgångspunkt. Detta innebär att jag föreslår ett nytt gravskick, en ny ritual samt visar hur dessa kan gestaltas.  Projektarbetet inleddes med skrivandet av en uppsats där jag undersökte begravningsritualen och den plats där den utövas. Jag utvecklade en modell för att beskriva kopplingen mellan ritualens handlingar och platsens betingelser. Modellen tog sin utgångspunkt i antropologen Arnold van Genneps teorier om begravningsritualer. Modellen användes för att analysera Sigurd Lewerentz förslag till ett kombinerat krematorium och begravningsplats i Helsingborg. Därefter tog en designprocess vid som innebar att jag formgav ett arkitektoniskt lösningsförslag. Under denna process använde jag den modell som utvecklades i uppsatsen som ett redskap för att pröva och motivera mina val.  Resultatet av projektet kan beskrivas som ett förslag på en modifierad minneslund placerad i centrala Stockholm. Av intresse för fortsatt undersökning är dels de problemområden jag identifierat i mötet mellan begravningsplatsen och den urbana kontexten, dels den metod jag använt för att omsätta den teoretiska modellen till fysisk gestaltning. / Traditional cemeteries requires large areas. Urbanization and increased population means that this space is no longer available in urban contexts. This project has its starting point in the aforementioned problem and the consequences it has had for existing burial customs.  The purpose of the project is to examine a long-term solution in the form of an alternative burial practice based on the conditions of the contemporary city. This means that I propose a new burial custom, a new ritual and show how these might staged architectonically.  The project began with the writing of an essay in which I examined the relationship between the burial ritual and its associated space. In order to do this, I developed a model which describes the connection between the ritual act and spatial circumstances. This model is based on the anthropologist Arnold van Genneps theories concerning rituals of passage. It was used to analyze Sigurd Lewerentz proposal for a combined crematorium and cemetery in Helsingborg. I then used the conclusions drawn from the analysis as the basis for a design process which resulted in the architectonic solution proposal. The model was a central tool for verifying and motivating my choices during the design processes.  The result can be described as a modified memorial park placed in central Stockholm. Of interest for further investigation is the problem areas which I have identified in the meeting between the cemetery and the urban context as well as the method I used to translate the theoretical model to physical form.

A need for new churches arose in Sweden during the 1950’s when modern suburbs for the growing urban population were developed around the Swedish cities. Four architects, Peter Celsing, Sigurd Lewerentz, Hans Borgström and Bengt Lindroos, who were known for their profane modernist architecture, were commissioned to design three churches in Stockholm's new districts: S:t Tomas kyrka in Vällingby, St. Markuskyrkan in Björkhagen and Söderledskyrkan in Farsta and all were inaugurated in 1960.  The purpose of the essay is to investigate how the sacral textiles of the three modernist churches look like in the year of inauguration and how they related to their respective contexts in the form of the modernist church rooms 1960. The investigation is done with the help of the questions: How do the sacral textiles look like in the modernist neighborhood church? Why do they look the way they do? What has influenced their appearance and design? The questions are answered with the support of the theories Material Culture and the performativity theory, and the investigation is carried out using Material Culture as a method and the textile science documentation method. In order to be able to determine what modernity was in the contemporaneity of the sacral textiles, whimsical terms have been operationalized, which are taken from the contemporary literature that speaks about what the modern can be or not be. This is a theoretical starting point from which the investigation into modernity starts.  The result of the investigation shows that the sacral textiles in their newly manufactured parts was influenced by the modernist church context. It appears in the essay that the influencing factors were several and they appeared in the context of the church ́s liturgy, the architect ́s visions and the designers’ artistic signature in expression. These gave effect in different ways to the appearance and design of the sacred textiles.