Through Erik Wikerstål, formerly Wikerstål Architects, Tengbom, as a sub-consultant to Wingårdhs, has carried out restoration, renovation, and updating of the Swedish National Museum of Art. On October 13, 2018, the doors were reopened to the public, and it is in every way a lighter museum that is met by the visitors.

It took five years with much respect, finesse, and expertise to dismantle the Swedish National Museum of Art and then reassemble it in an updated, modern, and accessible version. For 150 years, the museum has been rebuilt time and time again based on various prevailing ideals. They have built windows, lowered ceilings, and changed the floor plan. Now, on behalf of the National Property Board of Sweden, Tengbom, in collaboration with Wingårdhs, metaphorically opened the museum’s eyes, let in the light and re-established contact with the city and world outside.

“We approached the mission as restoring Friedrich August Stüler’s vision for the building to the original, but adapted it to today’s ideal for museum activities in combination with the needs and expectations of a public building,” explains Erik Wikerstål, responsible architect from Tengbom.

Above all, the work has entailed a major technical renovation focusing on personal safety, fire safety, climate, and accessibility. The result is a museum that is better for the visitor, better for the art, and better for the staff who work there.

All the light in the courtyards 

The team raised the courtyard floor to accommodate new ventilation equipment placed in Blasieholmensberg. They then lowered the church hall floor to its original level, creating an accessible entrance on the same plane. To improve accessibility, they also converted eight windows around the courtyards into doorways.

The southern courtyard has received an expressive addition in the form of a lift tower. It is designed to be a large sound-absorbing box with the function of an altar cabinet where the screens and technology for seminars are hidden behind two large doors.

“The only new form we have introduced is essentially a wickerwork structure on the lift tower,” Erik says. “We also added a small concrete service building at the back of the museum.”

Both courtyards now open up to the museum’s interior and the sky. New glass roof domes let in daylight and improve the acoustics. Sound travels up into the ceiling, where small glass pyramids on the walls help distribute it. Stained acoustic plaster absorbs the sound, preventing it from bouncing back.

In 2013, Wingårdhs and Wikerstål Architects won the contract for the National Museum on behalf of the National Property Board of Sweden. Wikerstål Architects became part of Tengbom in 2017. The project has already received several award nominations, including Stenpriset 2018, Betongpriset (extension), and Construction of the Year.

Perhaps you yourself have sat at this classic location and gazed out over one of Stockholm’s most beautiful views. Or at least heard of the popular outdoor TV show Allsång på Skansen?

The Solliden stage (Sollidenscenen) was designed by Nils Einar Eriksson in 1938. It was at that time technically and acoustically of a very high quality. The audience sat facing the view and listened to acoustic music that was amplified through the spiral form of the stage.

But today’s concert situations and stagecraft, especially for TV broadcasts, place new demands on the stage environment. To meet these needs, we designed a completely new stage. We also developed related ancillary buildings in cooperation with the Stockholm Beauty Council and Skansen’s own curators.

The team carefully restored the original stage, Snäckan (“The Shell”), preserving its cultural value and keeping it at the centre. They designed the new stage around it, raising and deepening the stage floor while extending the roof to cover the entire stage. Built with thin ship-building plate on a steel structure, the roof enhances both function and form. The new annexes feature façades of untreated oak, which will naturally age over time to match the adjacent Öland Windmill.

Photographer: Tove Falk Olsson

Photographer: Tove Falk Olsson

Photographer: Tove Falk Olsson

New and better audience space

We redesigned the fairground to offer more and better space for the audience. Seats now stand centrally in front of the stage, framed by wooden benches made from Skansen’s own oaks. To improve accessibility, dedicated spaces for wheelchair users were added at an elevated spot near the mills. More spaces are also available beside selected rows at Sollidenplan. Removing the front row at the stage opened up the view towards Stockholm’s entrance, creating a more inviting experience.

The Solliden Stage and its new stage and fairground debuted in 2013 during Skansen’s National Day of Sweden celebration on June 6th. The following weekend, a dedication concert featured Radio Sweden’s Symphony Orchestra, Tommy Körberg, and Amanda Sedgwick.

Several Skansen projects by Tengbom

• Ironmonger’s building: The ironmonger’s building in the town quarter was completed in keeping with Skansen’s ambitions as a copy of an existing building from the 1880s in Hudiksvall.
• The Skansen Shop: In 2010-2011, we renovated The Skansen Shop, previously the Alhambra restaurant, in order to create more appropriate premises for office, storage and accommodation rooms.
• Lill-Skansen: We participated in a parallel engagement for a new Lill-Skansen children’s zoo.
• New buildings for wild boar and European bison: We designed a new building in 2007 for two wild boar families and a building for European bison.
• Dressing-room building: Design of a new dressing-room building at the Galejan dance pavilion is under way in 2016.

The architect Axel Anderberg designed the Royal Opera, Sweden’s national stage for opera and ballet, which opened in 1898. It stands on the same site as Stockholm’s first large opera building from 1782. Anderberg drew much of his inspiration from the Paris Opera. He gave the new opera house a Neo-Renaissance exterior, while designing the staircase, foyer, and salon in a Neo-Baroque style.

Photo: Sten Jansin

Photo: Sten Jansin

Photo: Sten Jansin

Photo: Sten Jansin

Photo: Sten Jansin

From stage technology to Golden Foyer

Today, the Royal Opera is a national monument. The opera house includes a complex mixture of advanced technology and working areas. Richly decorated, representative environments such as the Golden Foyer with its shimmering stucco, brocades and chandeliers. The twelve floors house a thousand rooms and many different activities – from stage technology in the basement via workshops, rehearsal rooms and dance studios, restaurants, dressing rooms, and all the way up to the costume designer’s colourful studio just above the roof of the salon.

Expertise and continuity

To be the in-house architect for something so amazing as an historic opera house is a great responsibility. In our role as renovation architects, we have to be experts on the building, its history, values and requirements. Our task included architectural, artistic, antiquarian, and technical oversight. We also ensured compliance with all regulatory requirements. Additionally, we made sure that every plan and action aligned with both management’s vision and the business requirements.

To take care of the opera house in the best possible way, long term plans need to be established both for maintenance and restoration. One of our most important tasks was to constantly walk the fine line between today’s requirements and the antiquarian requirements as well as qualities of the national monument.

A masterpiece of coordination

To be the in-house architect for the Royal Opera is in many ways a communicative masterpiece from a coordination stand point. The task requires constant communication with clients, managers, tenants, authorities, specialists, various consultants, contractors and craftsmen. There were many of us who worked intensively on the project – an amazing experience we will never forget.