Plan with the new chapels in red.
THE CHURCH HAS ADAPTED THE SPACE, BY INSERTING TWO NEW CHAPELS, AS THE WAY PEOPLE INTERACT CHANGES text Malin Zimm photo Peder Lindbom
T
he newly planted beech trees around Gustaf Vasa Church reach toward the spring sun. When the old elms that flanked the church, forming a striking backdrop to Odenplan, suffered Dutch elm disease and had to be cut down, it coincided with the planning of much-needed ‘rooms within a room’ inside the church. The Easter weekend saw the inauguration of two new chapels built inside the church, with their arched CLT structure creating a bridge between contemporary building techniques and the neo-baroque style of the church.
The chapels are measured with the utmost precision to meet the pillars of the church building.
Gustaf Vasa Church was completed in 1906, designed by Agi Lindegren as a neo-baroque cruciform church with a 60-metre-high dome. The church nave is one of the largest in Stockholm, seating over a thousand people, with pews in three of the four transepts. The church is one of the few spaces in the urban environment that is not
governed by commercial concerns and fulfils an important function as a meeting place both for festivals and in everyday life. One of its most vital functions is to facilitate interactions between people inside the church, and it is only natural that the historical setting will face changing spatial demands. In this symmetrical and open church space, the need arose to carve out two spaces so that activities of a more social nature could take place at the same time as services and masses. AIX Arkitekter have been working on Gustaf Vasa Church for some time, most recently with the extensive renovation completed in 2017. Mona Lantzourakis, architect at AIX, explains the new needs: »To allow people to stay and drink coffee and socialise after a service, a soundproof room within a room is needed so that other church activities can continue in the main space. The children’s area previously occupied a corner of the main hall, and the sound » issue 2, 2023 » trä! » 35