This study of Grevegården Church, Tynnered, Gothenburg, Sweden, shows how Swedish architect Rolf Bergh's characteristic motifs are applied even in what is his last completed building. Through comparisons with works constructed at different times in Bergh's long, unbroken career of designing church buildings (from the late 1940s up until 1992), the study finds that the architect's theoretical base very much shapes the built space. This study also shows how a relatively common process for a new church building in Sweden happened at the end of the 20th century - from the competition proposal, via the project design to the finished building. In this process we find a dynamic between architect and client, but also between architect and, for example, procurement rules. Rolf Bergh belongs to a modernist tradition in which the architect plays a major role in the process - as in Grevegården Church, where he has designed everything from the exterior to the light fittings. Rolf Bergh has often been seen primarily as a religious architect, with the implication that function took precedence over aesthetic values. This study argues instead that Bergh was essentially a modernist architect, while maintaining high aesthetic quality, albeit probably more versed than many of his contemporaries in liturgical matters. In this specific building Bergh, in line with the times, incorporates and blends postmodernist motifs with modernist ones. The cultural-historical values of Grevegården church are counteracted by the relative ordinariness of the building and the fact that the building does not yet meet the age criterion for general conservation value. In the current discourse, there is a tendency to positively re-evaluate the architecture of the late 1980s and early 1990s. With an understanding based on this tendency, Grevegården church can very well assert itself on its aesthetic quality. The study concludes by discussing the ongoing debate about how potentially redundant church spaces should be managed and valued in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-502450 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Seander, Petter |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Konstvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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