In conjunction with Gothenburg’s 400th anniversary, The Röhsska Museum is presenting speculative conceptualisations for public space in the Swedish city. Titled Architecture Projects: Brunnsparken, the exhibition explores imaginative visions for one of Gothenburg’s most talked-about spaces – known as Brunnsparken – by eight teams of architects and designers.
The teams were asked to present their “utopian visions” through the traditional means of a plan drawing, a model, a manifesto and inspirational objects.
Offering a material manifestation that recalls something we all long for after the pandemic – the public party – the proposal by Sweden-based architects Bornstein Lyckefors is described as a “party memorial”.
The Brunnsparken ‘party memorial’ in Sweden by Bornstein Lyckefors Arkitekter
“Parties are substantially transient,” explains the Bornstein Lyckefors team, noting that the architectural manifestation of parties typically takes the form of gazebos, temporary marquees and decorated glades: “physical forms that will not last forever.”
The same can be said of the artefacts associated with a party: glitter withers, smoke machines get switched off and plastic party hats are destined for a short-lived existence.
The form of the proposed Brunnsparken monument stems from an experiment by the architects in which a cast was taken of tent structures that shared a single common tarp.
Intended to be cast in concrete, “the imagined monument houses party halls, secret rooms and an archive of party ephemera to encapsulate the perishable nature of parties,” the architects say.
Larger halls are arranged along an axis running between the stone steps of the Lejontrappan building and the 18th-century Palace House. Above the halls sits the archive, and the spaces between them shapes the monument’s hidden rooms.
Trams, motor vehicles and pedestrians would then pass underneath the imposing structure while access to the monument would also be provided by boats arriving from the canal.
Joining Bornstein Lyckefors, the seven other participating exhibitors in the Architecture Projects: Brunnsparken showcase are Erik Järkil Arkitektur, Fabel Arkitektur, Mareld Landskapsarkitekter, Studio Johan Linton, Hedlund/Ekenstam, Unit Arkitektur and Per Nadén Arkitektur.
The exhibition continues until September 26.
The imagined monument houses party halls, secret rooms and an archive of party ephemera to encapsulate the perishable nature of parties.
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