Architecture and ecology as Agents and Symbols of Community Transformation

Other conference contribution, 2016

Abstract Architecture and ecology as Agents and Symbols of Community Transformation Professor Lars O Nylander, Chalmers department of Architecture, Sweden 1998 PhD work The Home as Architecture were presented. 2002 the thesis was rewrited and published by Wileys, London, in the book Architecture of the Home. 2002 In 2005, seven years after the dissertation, there were an opportunity to use the concepts and the theories developed in the thesis The Home as Architecture. Mikael Bengtsson, ceo of the non-profit housing corporation Viskaforshem planned to build new apartments in VIskafors city centre. The ambition was to develop Viskafors from a society with low status and with migration to an attractive place. As part of this ambition was new and attractive dwellings. The mission to draw new dwellings covered the hypothesis that the seven concept I developed in the thesis also were of the utmost importance to create an attractive housing. Combined with using ecological material and passivehouse technic. Axiality, enclosure, and circulation have given the homes a rich variety of experiences, with features such as room enfilades, circular loop circulation loops, contrasts between brightly lit, open spaces and more enclosed, intimate ones. The careful choice of materials and careful detailing has resulted in high-quality homes. Wood floors, stone windowsills, wood paneling etc, important to establishing the identity and status of the Pumpkällehagen homes. The first houses were completed in 2009, and in 2011 Pumpkällehagen was inaugurated ceremoniously by minister Maud Olofsson. With all of the attention it has received, Pumpkällehagen is becoming a symbol of the new London. The new homes are a lift for the community. Their high quality is helping to enhance the status of the neighborhood. This paper will discusse the role of the architecture in the design process and also the relation between architecture research and architecture design practice.