Truly public space rather than technically public space: making ‘platforms for outdoor gathering’
Utomhusverket 2021 by Studio Ossidiana for ArkDes; a conference centre for the birds, ‘al masha’, and the beauty, dignity and utility of shared things in everyday life
ArkDes are quietly building one of the Sweden’s more interesting spaces out of one of Sweden’s least interesting spaces
Sitting outside one of Stockholm’s primary cultural complexes, the space known as Exercisplan has previous lives that would have been defined by display, ritual and ceremony. It was once a parade ground, when the island of Skeppsholmen was largely allocated to military use. But now it is an entirely blank space, an unlovely, unloved square of asphalt, essentially as if car park, yet awkwardly acting as the entrance to the Swedish National Centre for Architecture and Design (ArkDes) and one of the country’s preeminent galleries (Moderna Museet).
The vagaries of public administration mean that, as far as anyone can tell, it is destined to be left empty, presumably waiting for the fire engines that will hopefully never come, vacant just in case, deliberately…
