Thirty years of architecture - architect Gert Wingårdh

In goede staat verkerend, dik (!), Engelstalig boek Thirty years of architecture through four decades - Gert Wingårdh. 565 blz. Uitgave The Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden. 2008. Inhoudsopgave, zie foto's. Omslag licht beschadigd, zie foto. Porto kosten koper (pakketzegel).

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Gert Wingårdh (born 1951) is a Swedish architect whose company, Wingårdh arkitektkontor, maintains an international practice.

Gert Wingårdh started as a Postmodernist in the 1980s, as one of the architects who broke away from the strong Functionalist (International style) norm that held sway over Scandinavia longer than in other countries.

He is known to pick up new trends in architecture quickly and interpret them with a personal expressive language which integrates the surrounding landscapes into the projects: "His buildings do not stubbornly adhere to one style but are a response to the task in hand and the surrounding environmental conditions. Sweden’s rich tradition of building with wood and a strong ecological awareness is combined with high tech expertise".

Wingårdh has himself described his architecture as ”high organic”, combining high tech with organic architecture. He also has been described as a ”maximalist” rather than a ”minimalist”, his buildings being ”a kind of modern baroque”.He has shown influences from and kinship with such different architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, Hans Scharoun, Carlo Scarpa, Frank Gehry and Peter Zumthor. Another paradoxical description states that his buildings are both ”playful” and ”strict”.

A feature of Wingårdh's is to surprise the visitors of the buildings, keeping the entrance of a building low and then ”heighten the sense of space and drama when entering the main rooms”. He also has a good knowledge of details as well as an understanding of intricate building structures which requires good knowledge of sociological processes and human behaviour.

In 2007 Wingårdh architects celebrated thirty years as a company. In order to commemorate this event an exhibition was produced in cooperation with the Röhsska Museum in Göteborg. Accompanying the exhibition was a massive catalogue: Gert Wingårdh thirty years of architecture through four decades, and an essays collection called crucial words.

The exhibition was based on several height adjustable tables allowing for full access, with graphical presentations on them, and physical scale models of each presented building.

Through 2008 to 2010 the exhibition travelled through seven different cities in both Sweden and Finland drawing a crowd of approximately 120.000 Visitors.