{"id":3033,"date":"2018-11-05T08:47:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T07:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/?page_id=3033"},"modified":"2018-11-27T08:39:58","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T07:39:58","slug":"the-sigtuna-foundations-architecture","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/about-us\/the-sigtuna-foundations-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sigtuna Foundation\u2019s Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Manfred Bj\u00f6rkquist’s idea of the Sigtuna Foundation was ready to be implemented as the seat for the youth church movement designing the dream was given to John \u00c5kerlund. For the buildings, Manfred Bj\u00f6rkquist wanted something simple and robust, a combination of Italian monastery and Swedish castle. He envisioned an environment where thoughts and ideas could be shared, and human value could be safeguarded. In the winter of 1915, John \u00c5kerlund began drafting Bj\u00f6rkquist\u2019s ideas, a project that continued for decades and resulted in a very distinctive environment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Manfred Bj\u00f6rkquist\u2019s first contact with John \u00c5kerlund was via S\u00f6r\u00e4ngen Folk High School in Sm\u00e5land, which was one of \u00c5kerlund’s earliest projects. There they found that they shared common interests in Swedish tradition, folk high schools and national culture. Through their joint work, the Sigtuna Foundation manifested into a beautiful example of \u00c5kerlund\u2019s architectural style.<\/p>\n

Manfred Bj\u00f6rkquist envisioned the Sigtuna Foundation as a castle, a home, a school and a sanctuary. It should be secluded for silence and tranquility, yet not distant from the outside world. He wanted a castle to protect mankind and defend spiritual value, a home to create a residence for students, teachers and guests, a school for youth to be educated and prepared for life\u2019s challenges and a sanctuary for peace of mind for the soul.<\/p>\n

He also talked about the idea of \u200b\u200ban evangelical monastery, and John \u00c5kerlund took inspiration from the Cistercian architecture. The monastic inspiration cannot be missed when you walk around the Sigtuna Foundation. Its thick walls and hilltop location are reminiscent of medieval castles. But there is also inspiration from the English Arts & Craft movement, with fine craftmanship and materials, both in its interior and exterior. Since the construction started and continued through WWI this impacted decisions. One had to think economically, and several times during the drafting process, \u00c5kerlund returned to the drawing board to ensure more cost-effective solutions. This showed to be a positive influence on the building\u2019s architecture. They used stone rubble from the blasting site, coarse granite in pillars, basic bricks and stucco facades and clay tiles to all roofs. As \u00c5kerlund writes for the Sigtuna Foundation’s 25th anniversary:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The irregularly and non-rectangular placement of the building walls was motivated by the effort to best enhance the natural terrain. This also added value to the visual perspective of the buildings. The Swedish way of building is often inspired by the beautiful and richly decorated works of the world, but when creating the Swedish version, with harsher conditions here, we skip the extravagant adornments while keeping the beauty of proportions, perspectives and textures.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For first-time visitors, buildings seem to have a long history on the site. One of John \u00c5kerlund’s strengths as an architect was the ability to use the site’s properties and make buildings and nature collaborate as a whole. When Bj\u00f6rkquist and \u00c5kerlund visited the hill for the first time in Sigtuna, a cold winter day 1915 when the snow was deep, \u00c5kerlund became very aware of the nature of the place. He continues in the anniversary text:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The beautiful forest hill in the western edge of Sigtuna, intended as the first building site, gave a well-needed heat-warming exercise because during the climb one could suddenly disappear to the armpits in a snow-filled crevice, and it was quite difficult to get up. The terrain’s liveliness, however, became something well-admired. “<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The adaptations to the terrain have given the Sigtuna Foundation its distinctive character, with winding staircases and a lack of straight angles. Here, John \u00c5kerlund later compared the foundation with life itself – there are no straight angles in life, sometimes you are lost in life. The first parts of the Sigtuna Foundation were opened in the autumn of 1917 in connection with the 400th anniversary of Reformation. For a century, the Foundation has continued to grow. Here are some highlights (John \u00c5kerlund architect, unless otherwise stated):<\/p>\n

1916 Construction of the Sigtuna Foundation commences
\n1917 Main building, Rose garden
\n1918 Chapel and guest house
\n1924 Swedish Folk High School with \u201cStora salen\u201d (today the administration building)
\n1930 Headmaster residence (the oldest part of the current \u201cRefugium\u201d (Refuge)
\n1935 Library and expansion of the chapel
\n1977 Director\u2019s residence is converted to \u201cRefugium\u201d (Refuge). \u201cKryptan\u201d (Crypt) architect Rolf Bergh<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Architect John \u00c5kerlund<\/h3>\n

John \u00c5kerlund was an educated electrical engineer and a self-taught architect. \"\"In 1909, he started his own architect agency in his apartment in Stockholm and was active until his death in 1961. His small agency worked with 800 projects during his lifetime. In 1912 he was commissioned to draw the Folk High School S\u00f6r\u00e4ngen in N\u00e4ssj\u00f6. This became \u00c5kerlund’s first major independent project. The work was based on traditional materials and shapes, with very conscious adaptation to the surroundings.<\/p>\n

In Sigtuna, John \u00c5kerlund became the great architect of schools. He drafted the Sigtuna Foundation, Sigtuna School, the Sigtuna Foundation\u2019s School of Humanities and Layman\u2019s School. He also became a renowned architect for the Swedish Tourist Association with many facilities in the Swedish mountains. He was involved in the Society for Local Heritage and School Board, and designed schools, churches, workers’ homes and private homes.<\/p>\n

A distinctive feature of John \u00c5kerlund’s architecture is his ability to adapt form and function with the landscape and its interaction with nature. He had traveled around the country and studied local and regional building styles and learned about traditional adaptations to the environment and landscape. He used the traditional Swedish style of construction as his main source of inspiration when creating his own style of functional architecture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Manfred Bj\u00f6rkquist’s idea of the Sigtuna Foundation was ready to be implemented as the seat for the youth church movement designing the dream was given to John \u00c5kerlund. For the buildings, Manfred Bj\u00f6rkquist wanted something simple and robust, a combination of Italian monastery and Swedish castle. He envisioned an environment where thoughts and ideas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":388,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"sidor":[75],"class_list":["post-3033","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","sidor-om-oss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3033"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3033\/revisions\/3358"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"sidor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sigtunastiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sidor?post=3033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}