Center and Periphery: Five Houses by Mikael Bergquist

This book brings together five vacation homes in Sweden designed by Stockholm-based architect Mikael Bergquist. Realised over more than two decades, they are all located in the Swedish countryside and rooted in the Nordic tradition of timber construction and the simplicity and economy of Sweden’s historic farm buildings. Bergquist’s great attention to detail and careful choice of materials characterise these houses. They are united also by a close relationship to the surrounding landscape and nature, which is enhanced as an experience by the concepts of movement and the placement of passages between the outside and inside. The houses are documented with photographs as well as plans and sections. In his supplementary essay, Bergquist writes about the special position of working as an architect on the periphery of Europe. He draws a picture of Swedish architecture that is marked by what he calls “fruitful misunderstandings” of current movements, and one in which the poverty of the rural population has been a major factor in the evolution of the design and construction of dwellings.