SAFE PLACE OR CONTROLLABLE SPACE? After analysing the building it becomes evident that Södertou fortress would not have survived a military attack of any kind. Whether or not Carl Göran thought so himself we will never know. If we suppose that he did he could probably be dismissed as a mad man. This was however not the impression we got when visiting the site. It breathed eccentricism rather than madness. What is this eccentrism a result of? Maybe it’s not actual safety (exemplified earlier by Panopticon) that Carl Göran aimed for while constructing the fortress, maybe it was the sense of safety and control that he was after. In todays society, fear is largely driven by change. Globalization, specialization and geographic mobility are some factors which make people conceive the world as more unstable than ever. In a global world of politics and business the power is harder to recognise which “make people feel like ever smaller and insignificant cogs in a giant machine whose workings are incomprehensible”.5 Lacking a sense of control over our world has made the fear of the unknown grow, and has spawned the formation of controllable spaces such as gated communities. These, by walls and fences, bordered communities are according to studies not safer than traditional neighbourhoods. The dwellers feeling of safety is however significantly higher.12 This might also be the case with Södertou. Rather than a safe place that would serve as physical protection, it seems like Carl-Göran created a controllable space for himself. It was his way of channeling his fears, instead of doing nothing he did something. Bernard Leupen and Harald Mooij are discussing the matter of dwelling and protection in their book “Housing Design, A manual”. They state that dwellings function as divisions towards the outside world and creates a controllable space on the inside.13 “As we spend more time in it, this inner world becomes larger; we attach greater importance to it; the dwelling becomes not just a shelter but a place of residence. [...] The protective envelope becomes a point of departure towards the freedoms of the world outside. The ease with which the interaction between the private world inside and the desired elements outside can be achieved determines to a large extent the occupants’ enjoyment of their home and their potential for self-actualization.”14
Carl-Göran Persson showing the second floor of Södertou fortress. Copyright: Bengt Rosenhall11
11
Bengt Rosenhall, Södertou fortress, February 1970. Copyrighted Material used by permission of the author.
12
E J. Blakely, M G. Snyder, Separate Places: Crime and Security in Gated Communities, Urban Land Institute, 1998, http://www.popcenter.org/problems/burglary_home/PDFs/Blakely&Snyder_1998.pdf, (accessed 2 October 2014).
13
B. Leupen, H. Mooij, Housing Design: A Manual, Delft, NAi Publishers, 2011, p. 19.
14
Ibid., p. 19.