Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Death and Life

“This gorgeous doorstop of a book … Seductive and serious — for the most discerning coffee tables.” — Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times. Sigurd Lewerentz (1885–1975) is one of the most highly revered – and also one of the most heavily mythologised – protagonists of modern European architecture. Arguably Sweden’s most distinguished modernist, he is more influential to other architects internationally today than he has been during his lifetime. Countless architecture lovers from around the world visit his still existent buildings. Stockholm’s woodland cemetery Skogskyrkogården, his most significant contribution to landscape design, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This authoritative new monograph on Sigurd Lewerentz is based on extensive research undertaken at ArkDes, Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design, where his archive and personal library are being kept. It features a wealth of drawings and sketches, designs for furniture and interiors, model photographs etc. from his estate, most of which published here for the first time, as well as with newly taken photographs of his realised buildings. Essays by leading experts explore Lewerentz’s life and work, his legacy and lasting significance from today’s perspective. This vast, beautifully designed book offers the most comprehensive survey to date of Lewerentz’s entire achievements in all fields of his manifold work.