Post-war Swedish modernism

During and after the Second World War, Functionalism softens. Swedish architects want homes that feel safe and human, not merely rational: brick and timber instead of white render, pitched roofs, variety and care for courtyards and green spaces. Abroad it is called "Swedish Modern", and the British Architectural Review speaks of "the New Empiricism".

It starts with a wake-up call. In 1938 Lubbe Nordström travels the country and portrays "Filthy Sweden" – cramped, damp and unhygienic homes. After the war the municipalities take responsibility. Public housing companies are founded across the country, state loans make it possible, and in 1947 the municipalities gain a planning monopoly.

At the same time criticism grows of the straight rows of 1930s slab blocks. Too cold, too monotonous. Buildings get steeper gable roofs with red clay tiles and smaller windows to keep the heat in during the cold war winters. Façades are rendered in coarse dash render in muted colours – ochre, grey, green and red – often with a smooth, pale frame around the windows. Preferably a colour of its own for each stairwell. In 1942 the National Housing Board recommends a balcony for every new flat, and the star-shaped block – three wings around one stairwell, with light from three sides – becomes a Swedish invention.

Sven Backström and Leif Reinius become the great housing architects of the day, with the star-shaped blocks of Gröndal (1946–1951) and Rosta in Örebro (1948–1952). Sven Markelius helps plan Vällingby and Farsta on the edges of Stockholm – suburbs built around the metro, with town centres, workplaces and homes, after the British new-town ideals.

The fifties believe in the future. Markelius launches the ABC town – Arbete, Bostad, Centrum: work, home, centre – and Vällingby centre opens in 1954. Around the metro stations the districts grow, tallest in the middle and lower towards the edges: a tall point block as an accent by the square, three-storey slab blocks around green courtyards and houses furthest out. At first the scale is small. Rock outcrops and tall pines are left standing in the courtyards. By the end of the decade industry takes over – tower cranes, factory-made elements and point blocks of eight to eleven storeys in scraped, pale grey render with mica that shimmers in the sun.

Functionalism. The Functionalism of the 1930s is white, angular and flat-roofed. Post-war modernism is warmer and more traditional in its materials.