Strängnäs City Hall is situated at a square down by the waterfront. It sits in a place right where old small scale buildings meet a block of stone buildings. The building contains public functions as lobby, restaurant, external meeting rooms, lecture hall and roof terrace as well as office space for the municipality. / PLATSEN Tomten för Strängnäs stadshall ligger på en plats med många kvalitéer, belägen vid Västervikstorget med utblick mot hamnen och invid småskalig kulturbebyggelse från 1600-1800talet. Det är en populär plats särskilt på sommaren med gäster i hamnen och försäljning i bodarna. Det är platsens kvalitéer men också dess svårigheter som jag använt för att forma byggnaden. Mot tomtens norra sida ligger de äldre trähusen på en höjd som sträcker sig ut i viken, på den södra sidan dikt an mot tomten ligger ett oavslutat kvarter i stenstadens skala. I nordväst sträcker sig Västervikstorget fram till kajkanten. Jag har i min gestaltning velat arbeta med mötet mellan omgivningens två olika skalor och omvandla det som idag är en baksida av stadskvarteret till en framsida och fond mot torget. GESTALTNING Stadshallen är formad som två spegelvända volymer med förskjutningar i sidled och höjdledd för att möta platsens förutsättningar. I stadskvarteret möter tomten en tung tegelbyggnad som innehåller bland annat en bank, mot söder och mot torget har jag placerat en högre och mer framskjuten volym som spelar med kvarterets skala och skapar en tydlig fond mot torget. Mot norr och småskaliga bebyggelsen placeras en lägre volym som är tillbakadragen från torget. Den norra sidan har även en balkong på första våningen som också fungerar som skärmtak för stadshallens entré. Förskjutningarna tar upp höjdskillnaden mellan den norra och södra sidan och accentuerar torgets riktning.

Strängnäs är en stad med rötter långt tillbaka i historien, och som har ett vackert och blandat stadslandskap. Uppgiften i mitt kandidatprojekt har varit att utforma ett förslag på medborgarhus, beläget på en tomtyta bredvid ett bankhus i kanten till Västervikstorget. Närheten till vattnet, rörelsen på de offentliga ytorna och småskalighetens relation till det mer storskaliga, är teman som har varit viktiga i utformandet av förslaget. Ambitionen med mitt förslag är att skapa en plats som både ger Strängnäs nya offentliga rum och funktionella ytor, men som även binder ihop den närmsta miljön och inbjuder till rörelse. Genom att arbeta med de siktlinjer och offentliga förbindelser som byggnadens tomrum skapar, väcker projektet frågor om hur vår mänskliga nyfikenhet och förväntan kan användas som arkitektoniskt grepp. Förslagets gestaltning tar också upp frågor om hur det intima kan möta det offentliga, hur öppenhet kan förenas med slutenhet. / Strängnäs is a city dating a long way back in Swedish history, and which has a beautiful and varying cityscape. The task in my Bachelor project was to design a proposal for a civic hall, located in a central area of Strängnäs next to the plaza "Västervikstorget". Three important factors that have been important in the design process is the closeness to the water, the movement across the public space and the relationship between the intimate and more large-scale local architecture. The ambition of my proposed civic hall is to create a building that while providing new public space and social functions in Strängnäs, also binds together its close surroundings and initiates movement. By working with the different lines of sight and public pathways that emerge in the space between the bodies of the building, the project raises questions about how human curiosity and the sense of anticipation can be utilised in (public) architecture. The project also gives rise to discussion about how spatial intimacy can be combined with public architecture, the latter traditionally being more exposed. How can the contrasts between an open and a closed design get closer to each other?

Archival sources and historical methods have so far been underutilized in the research on past indoor climates in historic buildings. Before we can build a base of empirical knowledge, we need to discuss and develop the methodology. How would one go about researching the climate history of a building over the course of 50, 100 or 200 years? The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of archival sources when attempting to reconstruct the climate history of an historic building. Knowledge of the long term indoor climate of a church may support strategic decisions for a more sustainable use of resources. In order to show the feasibility of this, the paper will examine the maintenance and restoration of two medieval stone churches: Levide church on Gotland and Strängnäs cathedral. Levide is a small rural parish in which the church has never had central heating or mechanical ventilation. Using documents spanning a time period of more than 200 years it becomes evident that the church has always been a very humid environment with mould and rot appearing time and again. Already in the beginning of the 19th century, the diocese urged the parish to obtain a heated vestry in order to increase the thermal comfort of the priest and the school children, and to preserve the liturgical objects. This and other statements show that the diocese, but not necessarily the parishes themselves, showed an interest in indoor climate in the 19th century. A stove and chimney were installed in the beginning of the 20th century. Findings show long term problems with keeping parish records, the mass robe and other liturgical objects in this humid climate. Water leakages, the buffering capacity of the thick walls and traditions in managing the church, such as airing in spring and summer, have been strainful to the building itself. Although the level of thermal comfort has improved, it is doubtful whether intermittent electrical heating, introduced in the 1950s, has had positive impact on the conservation of the building. Strängnäs is a cathedral and a burial church for some of the members of the royal Vasa family. The church is thus both a historically important monument and a sanctuary. In contrast with the small parish church the cathedral was in almost daily use, and also visited by tourists. When Guerneys ovens were introduced in Sweden by Bolinders in the 1870th, as many as six where installed to heat the church. In the same period a larger restoration of the church was planned. The planned restoration was however delayed. When the restoration were about to be executed some 25 years later, the new techniques for heating had been established and the old ovens were deemed obsolete for several reasons. An interesting debate on what techniques, steam, hot air or a water based system took place. The discussions concerned the convenience of the installations, maintenance and economy of the different systems, the comfort of the churchgoers, the esthetical effects and archaeological matters. / Kulturarvet och komforten: frågan om lämpligt inomhusklimat i kulturbyggnader under 1900-talet

Cirka 8 mil väster om Stockholm ligger Strängnäs. En mindre stad som har sina rötter i den svenska medeltiden. Då staden under många år inte haft någon egentlig publik samlingsbyggnad så blev idén med att uppföra en stadshall nere vid hamnområdet en positiv och spännande utmaning. De essentiella faktorerna som kom att specifikt ligga till grund för utformandet av "Strengnes stadshall" är därför följande: - Att utmana norrläget genom att låta ljuset/solen nå byggkropparnas "väsentliga" delar, samt omgivningen med boenden som idag har fullt exponerat söder- och västläge. Därför anpassas byggnadens höjd och takvinklar till solens bana. - Att skapa en fysiskt "lätt" och följsam struktur som samtidigt dockar minimalt mot den söderliggande tegelbyggnaden vilket samtidigt skapar en takgårdsplats som öppnar sig mot hamnområdet i väst och kvällssol. - Att arbeta efter en estetisk formel med en exteriör materialitet som allierar sig med den "lilla" staden och det torgliknande hamnområdet. Byggnaden består därav av två sammanlänkade byggkroppar med två huvudsakliga funktioner där begrepp som "nytta och nöje" samspelar i de olika rumsligheterna. Med hänsyn till fastighetens exponering mot bland annat den stora öppna torgytan åt väster har beaktande därför tagits i såväl det invändiga som det utvändiga rummet, både i termer av visuell och funktionell upplevelse. / About 50 miles west of Stockholm is Strängnäs located. A small town that has its roots in the Swedish Middle Ages. Since the city for many years did not have any actual public collection building, the idea of ​​creating a city hall down by the harbor area became a positive and exciting challenge. The essential factors that came to specifically form the basis for designing the "Strengnes City Hall" are therefore the following: - To challenge the northern position by letting the light / sun reach the "essential" parts of the building bodies, as well as the surroundings with accommodation that today has fully exposed sunlight from south and west. Therefore, the height of the building and ceiling angles are adapted to the sun's path. - Creating a physically "light" and compliant structure that at the same time docks minimally against the south-facing brick building, which at the same time creates a courtyard on the roof that opens to the harbor area in the west and evening sun. - Working according to an aesthetic formula with an exterior materiality that alloys itself with the "small" town and the square-like harbor area. The building therefore consists of two interconnected building bodies with two main functions where concepts such as "utility and pleasure" interact in the different spatialities. With regard to the property's exposure to the large open square area to the west, consideration has therefore been taken in both the interior as well as the exterior room, both in terms of visual and functional experience.

This thesis examines the use of various osseous raw materials in craft activities in the Mälaren region during the Middle Ages. Places studied are: Birka, Sigtuna, Nyköping, Strängnäs and Uppsala. The aim is to capture both chronological and spatial changes in the use of osseous raw materials. Species and materials used reflect regional as well as international networks and how they change during time. The spatial distribution of waste from craft activities, its materiality and temporality mirror activities in different social contexts.  Quantitative and qualitative changes in the handling and exploitation of raw materials reflect varying and changing views of its value and how craft and exchange is affected by both a social and economic agency. In Birka, osseous waste material associated with craft was collected by Hjalmar Stolpe in the 1870s. An examination of the assemblage shows that imported material comprises a significant part of the collection. About a third of the waste consists of imported antler of red deer and reindeer. Red deer is particularly abundant (21%), signifying the importance of southern trading networks. The presence of whalebone can also be linked to south-western trading routes. The waste material collected during excavations in Sigtuna and representing the period c. 980-1300 has a different composition, reflecting different networks and perhaps different means of trade and production. As in Birka, elk antler constitutes the main bulk of the raw material used. Red deer antler is extremely limited, forming less than 1% of the material, appearing continuously though in small amounts from c. 1020-1300.  Reindeer antler is distinctly present in the oldest phase, c. 980-1000. This occurrence might represent a relic of the northern network manifested at Birka. An isotopic study indicates an origin in a forested biotope. After this initial phase the use of reindeer antler becomes as rare as that of red deer until the second half of the 12th century, indicating that the antler craft operated on a minor scale without any demand for long-distance trade in raw materials. A change occurs in the last quarter of the 12th century when large quantities of reindeer antler appear once more. Isotope signatures indicate an origin in more mountainous regions. This coincides with the introduction of another traded raw material of an arctic origin: walrus tusk. The craft had become more marked oriented. This is manifested in larger deposits of debris, a wider range of materials used, including bones from various domestic animals, but also the handling and exploitation of the material changes indicating a different view of production, trade and the value of raw materials than previous. This shift coincides with the introduction of minted silver. Western influences are evident both in the material culture and in the faunal assemblage. It is likely that a majority of the reindeer antler as well as the walrus tusk present in these later phases have a Norwegian origin. In the late 1100s and early 1200s craft in osseous material occur in other towns that emerge in the region but it seems to appear in new social contexts. Small assemblages of antler debris have been found in Uppsala, but the activities they represent lack the spatial continuity that exist in contemporary environments in Sigtuna and Strängnäs, indicating short lived occasional activities in a loosely regulated urban environment. Craft activities dependent purely on bone from domestic animals appear in the 1200s in Nyköping, Uppsala and Strängnäs. They represent craft activities in a new social context outside the private sphere of the local elite and instead subordinated other craft activities where domestic animals have been exploited on a large scale beyond the domestic household. Antler craft represents a social practise in the realms of the local elite with a continuity stretching back to the Iron Age. Monetization and an increasingly feudal society redefine social relations and practise. This can be seen in the occurrence of craft in new contexts in the late 1100s and 1200s, reflecting heterogeneity in social and economic functions in and between the towns in the region.

Grundförutsättningarna för projektet var uppgiften att skapa ett mindre hotell i småstaden Mariefred som skulle relatera till staden på ett meningsfullt sätt. För att hantera hotelltypologins motstridiga behov av å ena sidan publika, livfulla ytor å andra sidan privata, lugna rum tog projektet inspiration av de rogivande träden på den i övrigt livfulla tomten som angavs i uppgiften. Hotellets olika rum, rumsgrupper och planlösning har därmed inspirerats av en trädanalogi. I projektet har även flödande rumssamband undersökts för att hantera verksamhetens stora behov av kommunikationsytor. I byggnaden har dessa försökts minimerats och planlösningen präglas istället av funktionsspecifika rumsgrupperingar ordnade efter förmodade flöden av gäster, personal och övrig logistik. Utrymme för flexibilitet i planlösning var även en del av processen med följden av stor variation av sammankopplade hotellrum eller möjlighet till extraprogram i bottenplan. En betydande utmaningen i processen var att låta trädanalogin vara en inspiration för meningsfull arkitektur utan att landa i det alltför pretentiösa. En annan stor utmaning var att få de flödande, flexibla rumssambanden till en funktionell planlösning och fortfarande ha möjlighet att utveckla projektet arkitektoniskt i övrigt. / The basis of the project was the assignment of creating a small hotel in the town of Mariefred that would relate to the town in a meaningful way. To handle the conflicting needs of the hotel typology consisting of - on the one hand public, vibrant parts and on the other hand private, quiet hotel rooms - the project took inspiration from the trees in the assigned site which gave peace to a relatively lively place. The hotel’s various rooms, group of rooms and the plan has thus been inspired by a tree analogy.  The project also has examined a plan characterised of rooms and functions connected in a flow with minimised space solely dedicated for circulation. Groups of rooms with specific functions is organised according to presumed flows of guests, staff and other logistics. Flexibility in the plan was also part of the process with the result of a big variety of interconnected hotel rooms and the possibility of temporary additional programs on the ground floor.  A significant challenge in the process was to let the tree analogy stay as an inspiration for meaningful architecture without being pretentious. Another big challenge was to get the flowing, flexible room relationships to a functional floor plan and still be able to develop the project architecturally otherwise.