Anders Bergström, KTH School of Architecture

THE AIM OF THE PROJECT

This project aims towards a detailed study of the Stockholm Public Library building, ranging from the early discourse to reception and later changes. The project will be published as a monograph, while the results will also be implemented through articles and conference papers.

The original plan has been carried out according to the application with only minor changes. According to the plan, a journey to the USA was crucial for reconstructing the early stages of the library project. However, the architect's photographic diary, found in the Swedish Museum of Architecture, together with the printed report of the committee, eliminated the need of this journey.

The revised plan given in the earlier report of August 29, 2009, presumes that a draft of the monograph will be completed in 2012. This is still the plan, all the relevant archives have been researched, and only minor details remains unsolved. The project leader may also complete the manuscript within actual position.

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS OF THE PROJECT

Since the project has been carried out in three parts, corresponding to the three main chapters of the forthcoming monograph, these parts seem to be a natural starting point for the results. The first part deals with the idea of public libraries and how this idea was implemented through the early reports and proposals for the Stockholm Public Library. A crucial result is that the American influence on this process was of vital importance. This influence was present at different levels: Ideological, social and symbolical as well as practical, formal and organisational.

Thus, the design of the architect was based on a synthesis of existing ideas rather than personal invention. A result of the second part, which deals with the actual design and construction of the building, is that the commissioner and the library experts have been neglected in earlier accounts, while the importance of the architect have been exaggerated. The minute care of every detail might be hard to understand, taking into account the economic realities of the project, and it is important to note that Stockholm Public Library was mostly directed towards the rising middle class. It seems a paradox, but the spirit of democracy, invoked by the library, is created through the exclusive character of the building, often criticised in contemporary debates.

The third part gives an account of the completed building, focusing on contemporary reception as well as later historiography. It also deals with later changes within the building. Ever since the library was completed in 1928, its reception has changed. The library was soon overshadowed by the Stockholm Exhibition 1930, and it was not until the late 1970s that the building was finally introduced into the international canon of modern architecture. More recently, 2006-07, the library was reappraised in a competition for its enlargement. However, the plan was heavily criticised, both nationally and internationally, and the project was finally abandoned. Given better knowledge of the library's international status, this reaction would have been foreseeable. Furthermore, a better knowledge of the early history of the building process would have indicated that the original design was not to be enlarged. The expansion was planned to take place through new branches in other parts of the city.

NEW QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE PROJECT

As a starting point, the American influence on the process towards Stockholm Public Library raises the question if not American influence on Swedish architecture has been generally neglected. Similar journeys to the USA that took place in connection with the library project are documented in contemporary projects, regarding industrial plants, commercial buildings and public administration. A research project focused on this issue would contribute to new interpretations of Swedish architecture during the inter war period.

Secondly, the fact that the role of the commissioners and the expert librarians has been overshadowed by the role of the architect leads to the question if such an unbalanced relation between architect and commissioner is a common feature of earlier historical accounts. In the case of social housing, these matters have certainly been acknowledged, but in the case of public buildings the role of the commissioner is not obvious. Research projects, concentrating on the relation between the role of the commissioner and the role of the architect would contribute both to new interpretations and to more operative knowledge on the actual mechanisms of such a relation.

Finally, it is crucial to highlight the importance of the reception and later changes, especially in the case of public buildings. The fact that Stockholm Public Library holds a strong position in the canon of modern architecture is not just a result of inner qualities of the building, it is also the result of a media image consciously and unconsciously brought forward by critics and historians. This raises questions regarding other buildings and their reception. In earlier historiography these issues have not been given priority, and research projects directed towards the reception and later changes of important buildings would be of great interest, not the least in relation to preservation strategies.

THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS OF THE PROJECT

The forthcoming monograph is planned to be the most important publication of the project, and editorial contacts have already been established. However, while waiting for its completion, there are reasons to acknowledge those parts of the project that have already been published, roughly representing the first and the third chapters of the monograph. The more detailed material of the second chapter, dealing with the actual construction of the building, has consciously been omitted from early presentations.

The first publication of the project, "Stockholm Public Library. Designing a Path to Knowledge", was given as a paper and published as an abstract in proceedings of the international conference "Erik Gunnar Asplund. Le radici della modernità", Università IUAV, Venice, June 18, 2009. It presents material from the early stages of the process towards the final building, concentrating on the period 1920-24. The results are focused on the American influence and the relation between the architect and the expert librarians.

The second publication of the project, "The Modern Monument. Stockholm Public Library and its Historical reception" (in Swedish with an English summary), is published as an article in the Swedish scientific journal Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift, vol. 62, 2011 (in press). It presents material focused on the reception of the building through the period 1923-2007. Finally, in an analysis of the recent competition for an enlargement of the library, the possibilities of a more operative historiography are discussed.

OTHER KINDS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT RESULTS

Parts of the project results have been presented at an international conference 2009, which has already been pointed out. The part results have also been presented at national conferences, symposiums and seminars, as well as in more popular articles, listed in the bibliography.

The implementation of the idea of public libraries in Stockholm together with the early reports on the library were presented at a national network conference, supported by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and organised by the Department of Art History, Stockholm University, October 18-19 2011. The actual paper was given in English and planned for future international publication. A more general background to Swedish architectural culture at the beginning of the 20th century was presented at the national conference "Konst och nation", organised by Vitterhetsakademien together with the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, November 6-7 2008. The actual paper was given in Swedish and is still in press in the conference report.

The project has also been presented at a symposium and at a special seminar at KTH School of Architecture, Stockholm, December 16, 2011, and April 21, 2009. Other kinds of implementation include a review of Catharina Ingemark Milos's thesis on architectural criticism (2010). Stockholm Public Library serves here as a case study, and the review is published in the Swedish scientific journal Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift, vol. 61, 2011.

Finally, in personal discussion with other scholars, the results of the project have been implemented and further developed. Among Swedish scholars, Victor Edman, Eva Eriksson, Mia Geijer, Stina Hagelqvist, Cathrine Mellander, Johan Mårtelius and Johan Örn have contributed in different ways. From an international point of view, frequent contacts with Professor Nicholas Adams, Vassar College, New York, have been of vital importance. He has also contributed with knowledge about as well as contacts with the American situation, playing a crucial part in the process towards the Stockholm Public Library.