Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the modernist Swedish architect who played an important role in the post-war urban planning of Stockholm and was a major forerunner of Swedish functionalism?
He was born in Stockholm in October 1889 and attended the Royal Institute of Technology and the Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 1910 to 1915. He developed an early interest in housing and planning, and was one of the founding members of CIAM in 1928, and in the modernist housing section of the Stockholm International Exhibition, the birth of Swedish functionalism.
During that time, he collaborated with the designing of the Stockholm Town Hall.
His architectural designs were initially inspired by Neo-Classicism but the work of Le Corbusier and the new ideas coming out of the Bahaus converted him to modernism.
In 1930, he planned several buildings for the Stockholm Exhibition and designed an interior, for which he also created a stringent functional desk with a slanting gallery on one side for filing papers.
In 1931, he co-authored with five other architects the book-length manifesto Accept, a direct promotion of modernism as a set of cultural values.
His association with Swedish reformer Alva Myrdal resulted in a design for a 57-unit communal living Collective House in the center of Stockholm in 1935.
The building offered communal amenities like childcare facilities and shared kitchen and meeting spaces, all at least partly inspired by the Narkomfin Building in Moscow. He lived in the Collective House for 30 years, serving as an unofficial handyman to make sure that the building still worked, and to demonstrate his commitment to the values of social housing.
In 1932, he worked on the Halsingborg Concert Hall, for which he designed functional stackable seating. In 1939, he was the architect of the Swedish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair, attaining international recognition for the work.
In 1945, he was appointed to the Building Committee of the United Nations and was a member of the Art and Building Committee for UNESCO in Paris.
Towards the end of his career, he turned his attention to city planning, and was the head of the Stockholm Planning Office from 1944 to 1954.
In 1949, he was awarded the Howland Memorial Prize and in 1962, was awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of Architects. He passed away on Feb. 24, 1972.
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Last week’s question: Who was the French chef who became the youngest in France to earn two Michelin stars at the age of 28 and who later became known for freeing French cuisine in the US from orthodoxy and influenced a generation of chefs and food lovers?
Answer: Jean-Louis Palladin
Winner: Rosalinda A. Reyes of QC
Text your answer to 0927-9148817 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call Roma Cortes or Apple Caballes at 634-1951, 634-1952. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
