Albin Stark

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Albin Stark

John Albin Svensson-Stark (born August 14, 1885 in Hudiksvall , † August 28, 1960 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish architect .

life and work

Training and early work

Albin Stark grew up in a family with a Baptist character as the son of a businessman and a housekeeper. At the age of seven he started working in a sawmill . From 1898 he attended high school in his hometown of Hudiksvall. During the summer holidays he traveled a lot in Hälsingland and deepened his knowledge of the timber industry, which would later be of great use to him in his profession. After graduating from high school, he moved to Stockholm, where he did an internship in an architecture office in 1907. In 1908 he enrolled to study architecture at the Royal Technical University , which he graduated in 1912. Between 1915 and 1917 he completed his training with postgraduate studies at the Royal Art College , which focused on the history of architecture and restoration .

As early as 1909, at the beginning of his studies, Albin Stark opened his first office together with a fellow student three years older than him. Success came quickly. In the Stockholm district of Östermalm , in Erik Dahlbergs Allé 5, 7 and 9, a six-storey complex was created with apartments of different sizes, each with a bathroom with daylight, which was still a special feature of multi-storey apartment buildings at the time. Because his father belonged to the Baptist community in Hudiksvall, he got in touch with the Salvation Army in Stockholm, which earned him several commissions. Among other things, he designed the house at Sankt Eriksgatan 30 with numerous meeting rooms, which is still owned by the Free Church today. The orange-colored building attracted widespread attention in 1917 due to its size and the unconventional combination of different bay styles .

In 1920 Stark separated from his partner on the best of terms and was in charge of his office in the following years. However, he hired a draftsman and entered into a long-term cooperation with the architect Fredrik Lidvall , who had worked successfully in Saint Petersburg for a while . The two of them realized a number of projects in the Swedish capital, mainly orienting themselves on the then common neoclassical style.

Trip to China and Japan

Around 1922, Stark met the Austrian businessman Walter Möbius, who lived in Shanghai . The two men agreed to run a modern brick factory together . For this purpose, Stark traveled to China , where the plans came to nothing. Instead, he opened an office in Shanghai under the name Tongyi Yanghang, which quickly gained recognition. Among other things, the construction of the horse racing track in Tianjin and the associated buildings were based on his designs . Shortly thereafter, Stark was honored with the honorable task of presenting an architectural solution for moving the Chinese Parliament to the ceremonial halls of the Forbidden City in Beijing . In February 1923, he began making survey drawings of the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Tai He Dian). Three months later he presented his concept which, among other things, envisaged leaving the external shape of the hall untouched despite all internal changes. Due to political unrest, his proposal could not be implemented; However, through his surveying work he had gained valuable insights into Chinese architecture .

The Chinateatern in Stockholm-Norrmalm, completed in 1928

During his stay in China, Albin Stark was commissioned by the Swedish Consulate General in Shanghai to write a report on the great Kantō earthquake that hit the Japanese main island of Honshū on September 1, 1923 . Stark was supposed to explain which building materials - and especially which types of wood - were suitable for the reconstruction of the country. Stark traveled to Japan for seven weeks and then sent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm a structural and, last but not least, economic study that assessed Swedish export opportunities.

At the beginning of 1924 Stark returned to Sweden after spending almost two years in Asia. His knowledge of Far Eastern architecture already benefited him from 1926 when he was commissioned to plan a combined cinema and theater building in the center of Stockholm, which opened its doors in autumn 1928 under the name Chinateatern . One of the special features of the building, which is located directly at Berzelii Park in the Norrmalm district , is that the audience hall, thanks to a dome solution, has no supporting pillars, so that a good view is guaranteed from every seat.

The facade design of the Chinateatern has an idiosyncratic composition in that the mostly smooth front is interrupted by two Ionic columns that frame several windows and a red lettering China . The interiors were decorated with Chinese décor and a range of high-quality inlay work . The latter came from the artist Ewald Dahlskog , with whom Stark worked for several decades.

Rehabilitation of Stockholm's old town

Ground floor plan of the Cepheus district in Stockholm's old town (as it was in the 1930s before renovation)

On other trips Albin Stark had undertaken - including to Italy, England and Germany - he was confronted with the phenomenon of slums and their possible elimination. In Sweden, too, where certain parts of Stockholm's medieval old town were viewed as problematic from a sanitary point of view, discussions about improving living conditions in neighborhoods of this kind began. The main problem in Stockholm was that there were hardly any exact plans of the old town (Gamla stan). , with its network of narrow streets and a labyrinthine intermingling of many small courtyard and annex buildings .

In order to remedy this situation, Stark was commissioned to make survey drawings, which later formed the basis for renovation concepts. Stark was engaged in this work between 1932 and 1939. For the so-called Cepheus quarter, he suggested demolishing 13 courtyard buildings in order to bring more sunlight into the houses on the street. All remaining houses were equipped with central heating , modern kitchens and bathrooms. Instead of the old rear building, a single coherent inner courtyard was created, which was given the dimensions (and function) of a park . Later the demolition of the courtyard houses, whose age and cultural historical value were not sufficiently clear, was regretted.

functionalism

In the 1930s the workforce at Albin Starks had grown to 15 employees; this made his architectural office one of the largest in Stockholm. He led what was in the industry initially controversial, the work-free Saturday and asked pre employees and afternoon tea breaks too firmly agreed common that the working environment should improve. It was not allowed to smoke at the drawing tables, as ashes and embers were a danger to sketches and plans. So that the young architects, whom Stark trained himself, could find out about new trends abroad, he subscribed to several international specialist magazines.

The station building of Stockholm Ostbahnhof , with the entrance to the ticket hall
Counter hall of the Ostbahnhof, with the handling on the 1st floor and the dome ceiling decorated by Ewald Dahlskog

The Stockholm exhibition in 1930 brought about a breakthrough for modernism and functionalism in Sweden . Albin Stark, who himself had contributed to the housing department of the show, also moved more and more away from his neoclassical roots and opened up to a new, expedient formal language. A clear expression of this development is the Stockholm Ostbahnhof (Stockholms östra) in Stockholm-Östermalm, which was built in 1931 and , as a terminal station, forms the starting point for several narrow-gauge railway lines on the Roslagsbanan to the north-eastern suburbs.

From the circular counter hall on the ground floor of the station building, which is linked to Stark's roof dome construction of the Central Theater, a restaurant is visible, which is located on the first floor of the building and can be reached via a narrow staircase. Ewald Dahlskog has decorated the ceilings of both floors with paintings, which have been preserved as well as the original furnishings of the restaurant. Otherwise, the complex, which is now a listed building , consists of apartments, offices and shops. The administration of Roslagsbanan, now AB Roslagståg, is also located in the building .

From around 1930 Albin Stark also frequently worked on new, contemporary models for rental apartments that met people's increased space requirements. In order not to let the rental costs explode at the same time, he concentrated on a radical economization of the available space, making use of all areas, so that even a 29 square meter residential unit could accommodate all functions at an affordable rental price. The so-called YK-Haus at Furusundsgatan 9 has gone down in architectural history as a prime example of the modern residential construction of the time .

Commissioned by the Working Women's Club (Yrkeskvinnors Klubb / YK) in 1939, the house was designed for academically trained couples with children. Since it was assumed that both parents were working, there was a smaller apartment on each floor of the collective house for cleaning staff who were responsible for keeping the apartments on the respective floor clean. Later, according to the plans of the planners, the apartments could be taken over by grown-up children who were still in training. The house also had a gym , a collective baby changing room and a larger room with access to the terrace and courtyard, where children were looked after. A central kitchen and a restaurant should make cooking in your own kitchen superfluous; The meals could be transported to the corresponding floor via a specially designed elevator. The house, which follows functionalist principles in every detail, was built according to plans by Albin Stark and his young colleague Hillevi Svedberg .

In the early and mid-1940s, Albin Stark worked intermittently with the well-known Finnish architect Alvar Aalto . However, only a few of their joint projects were able to be implemented, above all a housing estate designed as part of the urban development of Nynäshamn , which consists of individual high-rise buildings and several three-story, elongated buildings.

Private

Albin Stark was married to the ballet dancer Ebba Björkman from 1914 . The marriage resulted in three sons: Erik (born 1915), Hans (born 1916) and Per-Olof (born 1919). After a heart attack that Stark suffered in September 1945, his son Erik Stark, who was also trained as an architect, ran the company. His own office dealt with the further renovation of Stockholm's old town in the 1970s.

Works (selection)

The YK house in September 2010
  • Storey house, Stockholm, Erik Dahlbergs Allé 5, 7 and 9 (1912–1915)
  • House for the Salvation Army, Stockholm, Sankt Eriksgatan 30 (1911–1917)
  • Salvation Army War School, Stockholm, Skeppargatan 82 (1914–1915), today Hotel Karlaplan
  • Residential house, Stockholm, Tysta gaten 4 (1918–1922)
  • Shellhaus (office building and petrol station), Stockholm, Birger Jarlsgatan 64 (1925–1927)
  • Chinateatern, Stockholm, Näckrosgatan 3 (1926–1928)
  • Östra station (Ostbahnhof), Stockholm, Valhallavägen 75–77 (1931–1932)
  • Cepheus Quarter (urban redevelopment), Stockholm, Gamla stan (1932–1939)
  • YK-Haus (collective house), Stockholm, Furusundsgatan 9 (1939), together with Hillevi Svedberg
  • Kino Anglais, Stockholm, Biblioteksgatan 26 (1942–1945), meanwhile converted into an office complex
  • Urban development Nynäshamn (1943–1948), together with Alvar Aalto, completed by Erik Stark
  • Hagabrohus, six high-rise buildings in Örebro (1945–1947)

Individual evidence

  1. Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark and Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 11-14
  2. Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark and Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 15-23
  3. Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark and Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 23-29
  4. See Si Han, En svensk pionjär i Kina . In: Arkitektur , 101, 2001, no. 8, pp. 64-66
  5. ^ Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark och Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 36–44
  6. Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark och Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 78–84
  7. Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark och Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, p. 62
  8. Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark och Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 63–64
  9. ^ Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark och Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 90–96
  10. ^ Ann Lindegren Westerman, Arkitekterna Albin Stark and Erik Stark , Stockholm 2010, pp. 102-107
  11. ^ Eva Rudberg, Alvar Aalto i Sverige , Stockholm 2005

literature

  • Ann Lindegren Westerman: Arkitekterna Albin Stark och Erik Stark. Stockholm i förvandling 1909–2009 . Arkitektur förlag, Stockholm 2010, ISBN 978-91-86050-77-1 . (Swedish; online as a PDF file at Stockholms Byggnadsförening )
  • Redesigning the Hall of Supreme Harmony . In: A Beijing That Isn't (Part I) , China Heritage Quarterly, No. 14, June 2008, ISSN  1833-8461 . (English; online at the China Heritage Project of the Australian National University )
  • Si Han: En svensk pionjär i Kina . In: Arkitektur , 101, 2001, no. 8, pp. 64-66.

Web links

Commons : Albin Stark  - collection of images, videos and audio files