I'm Greger Stetz, an architect based in Malmö, Sweden.
Here, I share updates on our projects and explore various ideas related to architecture, city planning, and their intersections with science and other disciplines.
Feel free to ask any questions and selected questions I will answer here!
So, we are now in full speed with our architectural practice. During the summer, I had the opportunity to participate in an architectural competition in Spain, which allowed me to observe breathtaking architectural examples.
Travels to different environments often spark general reflections and specifics about the profession. The meticulously planned orthogonal layout of Barcelona, disrupted by the unexpected presence of diagonal alleys and squares sized to a human scale, led me to an important realization that architecture is not always about particular objects. It is about the relation of spaces and volumes. Negative spaces are full of possibilities. These negative spaces teem with boundless potential.
Equally paramount is the notion of scale, an element intrinsically tied to human perception. Varying scales and spatial relationships evoke distinct impressions and emotions within the observer. This emphasizes the significance of studying architectural examples in their tangible reality, rather than confined to the two-dimensional realm of a screen.
Another of my insights is that architecture is not solely a product of the imagination of the designers, but is deeply embedded in local available resources, both material and cultural. If stone is the most available material, it is natural to build with it, but also local traditions and crafts affect the final results. So, it is a collaboration between creative imagination and local resources and tradition. Desing is also interplay with the climate. What is desirable in one country (like sunlight in Sweden) is something to be protected from (in Spain).
But the climate not only affects the way we build. It also affects the way we think and live. In a warmer environment, it is natural to slow down and reflect. Having a full to-do list and packed agenda is certainly exciting, but sometimes it is necessary to slow down. As I saw being said in an advertisement for tonic water brought to the table in an outdoor restaurant, 'When time disappears.'
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