Welcome to the Embassy of Sweden in Berlin.
»Each autonomous, and yet together.« At the inauguration of the Nordic Embassies in autumn 1999 Queen Margrethe II of Denmark formulated this motto for the future cooperation of the five Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
The Embassy of Sweden in Berlin is situated in a large common area that also houses the other Nordic countries’ embassies. A band of copper unites the area within a soft, billowing curve.
Wingårdh’s building has three different façades. The façade facing the copper band has a glass side ensuring a clear view into the building. Looking towards the common area are two natural stone façades, one of black shiny Brännhult diabase and the other of white Norrvange limestone. Here different techniques have been used. The white stone is mounted like a large flat sheet behind the window whilst the black one is mounted in horizontal bands between the rows of windows, with the stones overlapping each other in front of the windows. A Richard Serra-in-spired limestone arc leads the visitor into the building, past the open conference room and towards the large room at the end. In this room, you see an intricate visual game of shapes. There are references here to baroque architecture. The spiral stairway is reminiscent of ba-roque’s twisted columns. The embassy is characterised by a number of different motifs. One of these is the constant new experiences of-fered to the user by following the arc in and then moving about inside the building. Another motif is the openness of the building.
The large conference room on the entrance level is a symbol for ideas about the transparency of Swedish democracy. The work on the materials and details can be considered a third motif: the large room’s visual elegance in the precision of the light birch and natural stone façades.
