Södra Länken

Södra Länken (The Southern Link) is a road system that connects sections of Stockholm’s closest southern suburbs. The road system is approximately 6 km long, 4.5 km of which are in tunnels. The ambition of The Swedish Road Administration (Vägverket) was to make Södra Länken the first known example of a large tunnel project that prioritised the need for light, orientation and aesthetics.

Three architectural offices were asked to submit sketches/plans for the interior design of the tunnels. One requirement was that each project group include someone with artistic competence. Art should be essential to the work from the beginning and not be added later as decoration. Gösta Wessel was part of the team from White Architects, who produced the proposal that would constitute the basis for the design of the tunnels. The objective was summarized as: Light – Overview and Variation. It dealt with light and large scale themes.

In a later stage, four artists were given the assignment of artistically giving form to a number of tunnel exit halls. Gösta Wessel designed two such halls. In one, there are two arches constructed of cast concrete blocks and covered with mosaic from shattered yellow glazed ceramic tiles. On the other stands, a twisted-column covered in the same manner. These forms give the large caves their own identity and atmosphere, understood both head-ons and from the corner of the eye when quickly passed by. The experience of light is fundamental.

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Astra Zeneca

Form of Life is a moving sculpture in front of the office building of Astra Zeneca in Södertälje, Sweden. The shape is clean and straightforward. It is slowly rotating and depicts an organic movement reminiscent of a dancing human being. It acts as a landmark when approaching the industrial area. The sculpture was made out of polyester reinforced with glass fibre. Lomar Architects, Stockholm designed the building

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Eriksdalsbadet

Eriksdalsbadet is Stockholm’s largest public bath with a section called the ”adventure bath”. Different patterns were created out of floor tiles in bright colours. Spotlights with a range of different coloured lights were mounted on pillars around the pool, making the colours stronger. On two pillars there are spotlights with red and green filters. These are programmed to change colour randomly. The red-green-yellow-black pattern changes in different coloured lights. In green light dark horizontal lines appear and in red light dark vertical lines appear.

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Karolinska Institutet

From Order to Chaos. This was a further development of the floor pattern used at Södra Station. The pattern consists of five shapes, of which one is a square. The pattern can make both a symmetrically organised form and a form that never repeats itself.

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Seville Expo ’92

Ceiling and a floor for The Swedish Pavillion at the World Exhibition in Seville. The theme was ’the inspiration of light’. The project explored the interaction between coloured light and surface colours. The ceiling was painted in a pattern that consisted of the physical basic colours redgreenblue as well as black and white. Circle bows of cyan and yellow cut the pattern. The circle bows have their centre point about 60 meters outside the building. The ceiling could be lit with a spotlight and dichromatic filters in redgreenblue with the same spectral curves as the painted colours.

With red light, all the green coloured become black. In green light, all the red surfaces become black, in blue light the yellow bow becomes like a black shadow etc. By changing the coloured lighting totally different patterns appeared.

I created 20 different images, programmed into a computer, that repeated in a six-minute sequence from nightfall until morning throughout the six months of the exhibition.

The building is now situated in Grythyttan and houses The Restaurant Academy.

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Mariakyrkan

The altarpiece, The Bower of Virgin Mary — the New Paradise is placed in Mariakyrkan, Fyllinge. In collaboration with Kajsa Mattas.

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