Obra de Sigurd Lewerentz (1885-1975)

Abstract

This Master's thesis is a personal interpretation of the work Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz (1885-1975). Sigurd lived in the same modern Swedish epoch as Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940). Although not so widespread as Asplung was, for the last decades, the international awareness of the work of Lewerents is growing. The recent (2014) reedition of the first monography of Lewerenz, by Janne Ahlin 1985, is a clear signal of such worldwide interest. The objective behind is to unveil Lewerentz's academic track, explore his professional work and provide a personal reasoning for the language Lewerentz has mastered. The early years in Sweden, Germany and Italy have proven decisive for shaping his future architectural language. The exceptional social and cultural transformations occurring in the Swedish society and in architecture during the first half of the XX century contributed strongly to the options he took in his work. My choice for developing a thesis on Lewerentz is based on my personal acquaintance and revealing discovery of his architectural work, during a year spent in Sweden, from 2012 to 2013. This work attempts a pragmatic interpretation of Lewerentz's architectonic language, analyzed along the timeline of his career, between 1911 and 1975. The method proposed analyzes initially two master pieces, one from the early days - The Resurrection Chapel (1919-25) - and one from the final of his career - Saint Peter's Church (1959-64). In a second step the work moves in to explore a set of Lewerentz's projects built in between. This work explores and reflects about the reasons behind the language detours that can be detected in his work, but seldom analyzed in the many bibliographic sources. The work behind was based on the observation of drawings and photographs, including Lewerentz's personal archive, and in site visits to the majority of his works. This is a contribution to a reflection of what reasons may have motivated Lewerentz to explore different lexis and use different approaches in his architectural along his life.