The Architecture of Erik Gunnar Asplund

Erik Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940) occupies a central position in the development of Scandinavian architecture in the twentieth century, having exercised an important influence on, among others, his younger colleague and friend, Alvar Aalto. This is the first detailed study of Asplund's work available for a wide professional audience. It traces and analyzes his architectural concerns and themes, illustrating these with over 200 halftones and line drawings. Both the text and illustrations show Asplund's work as it evolved from the vernacular-classical motifs of the Woodland Chapel toward the more rigorous classicism of the Stockholm Public Library and his much admired buildings for the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, which marked the emergence of the International Style and functionalism in Scandinavia.

Asplund, however, was one of the first architects to rebel against functionalism by reintegrating classical, vernacular, and archaic sources. The book establishes him in an alternate modernist tra-dition, one that contrasts with the work of Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Le corin Wrede notes, "his ability to distill and to combine formal and psychological essences from different architectures makes Asplund’s work especially fascinating today.” An admirer of Strindberg, Asplund used ambiguous and highly intuitive symbolism in his buildings, which, by evoking moods, memories, and associations, closely paralleled developments at the time in

This study provides a fresh understanding of Asplund's classical and modernist work. It discusses his use of mannerist motifs, his feeling for land-scape, and his unique symbolism. It is recommended for courses in the theory and history of modern architecture, and in twentieth-century art history, and to architects, designers, and interested readers who want to know more about Asplund and developments in Scandinavian architecture,