Covert Spaces

We've seen a few buildings by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) in the past week, and the more I see, the more I wonder why I didn't know much about him before. Asplund's work is thoroughly intriguing. He pays equal attention to the dramatic heart-racing moments, such as the grand rotunda of the Public Library, and to the quieter, subtle moments, like the stair that follows the curve of the courtroom of the Lister County Courthouse. Asplund uses big, open expanses to excite the user by exaggerating one's sense of scale. This inspires awe in the dwarfed person who cannot help but feel reverence for the space, it's designer and owner. Everyone likes a big, grand space they can lose themselves in, but I find pleasure in the irregular spaces created by combining the large forms in which the dramatic rooms are housed.

Even spaces that cannot or are not meant to be occupied receive attention. The main stair of the Karlshamn Secondary School winds around an open shaft. A series of arches puncture the shaft to let light from the windows on the exterior wall send light where it would not go otherwise. The arches also provide views to other floors and other parts of the stair. By voiding the "center" of the stairwell, Asplund reveals more about the structure, which is pretty much entirely made of vaults. Also, you get a sense of interior wall thickness that you ordinarily would only get from a window.

One of the most important things I've learned so far is how to be critical of an architect's decisions to reveal or conceal the structure of his (oh let's be honest, we're not going to be seeing any female architects on this trip) building. Structure in architecture is like a routine performed by a magician. The better the magician, the better the routine, and the best magicians aren't the ones who don't reveal their secret, but who actually let you see how they perform the trick - if you're clever enough to catch it.

Let's get one thing straight: it isn't enough to simply show the structure in a building. And most people don't know what they're looking at, through no fault of their own. But a smartly articulated structural system can be appreciated by just about anybody. Part of an architect's responsibility is to understand and respond to the fact that the majority of the people using their building are not architects. I purposefully use the word "respond" because the architect has the choice to ignore or incorporate the public. When someone says about your building, "How did they do that?" you know you're on the right track. It's important to keep people intrigued and questioning and coming back for more.