Summer’s here at last, and our faces, like magnets, turn sunwards. Little wonder, after a long, dark winter, that we try to spend as much time as we can – all of it, preferably – out of doors. So what better resort than a pavement café where we can order coffee or a meal, get on with our work, hold meetings or simply socialise? This summer, as a tribute to the pavement café, the Swedish Museum of Architecture is presenting five of them, from Stockholm.
The material comes from the Holger Blom Collection, which has been put in order as part of the Access Project.
Holger Blom was Stockholm’s “City Gardener”, i.e. head of the Stockholm Parks Department, between 1938 and 1971. Like his predecessor, Osvald Almqvist, he was an architect by profession. This may seem odd, but the city fathers wanted someone who could take a more strategic approach to parks issues, relating them to the city’s needs instead of focusing on the purely horticultural aspects.
His tenure coincided with a brilliant period in Swedish landscape architecture. Stockholm became internationally known for its parks and the activities went by the name of “the Stockholm school”. The regional landscape set the tone of things and was recreated, resulting in a more relaxed style of park design. Blom formulated his visions in a parks programme:
- Parks open up the city
The park must be an active component of urban development, forming networks through the city, and not just an isolated green oasis.
- The park makes room for outdoor recreation
The park must be a place for movement and exercise, for both young and old. The staffed play park developed during this period.
- The park is a meeting point
The park must be a public space for festivals, concerts and religious and political manifestation. During this period the City of Stockholm established “the Park Theatre”, which still gives summertime performances in Stockholm parks.
- The park preserves nature and nurture
Holger Blom collaborated with many artists, with the result that sculpture became a recurrent feature of Stockholm parks. Particularly deserving of mention is his partnership with Egon Möller-Nielsen, who created several play sculptures for children, such as Tuffsen in Humlegården and The Egg in the Tessin Park.
