THE SHOP GALLERY AT THE STUREGALLERIAN IN STOCKHOLM, 1988-89

The planing of the Sturegallerian consisted in the inlaying of two shop galleries with shops, bars and restaurants, into an existing block.

The responsibility for the Sturegallerian projects was subdivided among a large number of consultants. I worked for the Alf Öreberg Arkitektkontor AB and with the competent and amiable architect SAR Alf Öreberg, as an employed architect for the first six month, and as the independent studio and under-consultant Octavian Ciupitu Arkitektbyrå HB (est. together with Marc Ciupitu, my eldest son, as an associate and fellow-designer) afterwards. I participated and designed the shop gallery from the Stureplan towards the Humlegårdsgatan with the Octagonal Hall and the Square Hall at the shop gallery's level.

My architectural design intended to co-operate and interact with the older architecture in a creation which could best be described as a reassemblage. The shape of the new designed architecture is free from any claim, either to like the existing one or to follow a given modern trend. My option is always for a well thought-out time-less architecture, distinguished by sensuality, festivity and decorativity.

Precious materials and finishes such as marble, limestone, granite and stucco have been used with discernment; the technical solutions employed are contemporary.
The gallery has been composed as a short story in time and space in the shape of a path of initiation ("la marche"): from the light outside, come in at the announcing doors, through obscure vestibules, to the octagonal light-court, again through an obscure passage to an artificially illuminated hall, and again through an obscure passage to the large square light-court, as a climax, with a lot of pleasant experiences on the way.

The surface of the floor in limestone is decorated with borders in granite and marble.
The first time I designed and worked with stone-borders at a large flooring work was in 1971 at the reconstruction of the Alley of the Seats , between the Gate of the Kiss and the Table of Silence, made by Constantin Brâncuși in Târgu Jiu, Romania (1937-38): the replacement of the path surface, from Brâncuși's initial surface of crushed white marble, to borders of white marble from Ruschita on a grey concrete surface.

Sturegallerian is a great success with the public. The International Galleria Association proclaimed Sturegallerian the Galleria of the Year 1990. Fredric Bedoire presented Sturegallerian in an article in the Swedish magazine arkitektur no. 6/1989 like this:

"Different coloured polished stone floors - marble, granite, limestone etc. - with geometric pattern have become a feature which in some way characterises the expensive Swedish architecture of the late 1980's. Our time's glittering semi-public interiors now stand side by side with Italian renaissance rooms and with the banking halls from around the beginning of this century."

Leo Gullbring interviewed Kenneth Frampton about Sturegallerian in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (March 19, 1990). Kenneth Frampton sounds less enthusiastic:

"This is more like a theatrical backdrop then architecture... It is a dreamland of sorts which seeks to evoke a past rich in tradition, to compensate for the crudeness of realty... We have lost confidence in architecture and are replacing it with theatrical settings... The Sturegallerian would undoubtedly appeal to Prince Charles."

Drawings:
1. Ground floor plan.
2. Section A-A.
3. Section B-B.

Photographs of the shop gallery:

1. View of the octagonal hall
2. View of the shop gallery.
3. View of the Square Hall.

Litt.:

• arkitektur the swedish review of architecture, 6/1989, pp. 14-18, 24, 59-60;
  
• ABITARE (Italy), no. 287/1990, pp. 114-115;
  
• CURIERUL ROMÂNESC (RUMÄNSKA KURIREN) (Sweden), nr. 175-177, pp. 1, 14-15;
  
• Silvia Constantinescu: EXIL - Oameni si idei, Skogås 1995, pp. 241-248.

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