Nicola Flora

Woodland Cemetery (aka Skogskyrkogården) in Stockholm is the most well-known project by Sweden's Sigurd Lewerentz (carried out with Gunnar Asplund starting in 1915), but a quick glance at the 150+ projects listed in the table of contents to this sizable monograph indicates this was one of many cemeteries or crematoriums that he designed. To somebody in the 21st century this may seem like typecasting or specialization, but as Colin St. John Wilson describes it in his introductory essay to this book originally published in 2002 by Electa (reprinted by Pall Mall and Phaidon this year): "Lewerentz did not flinch at the tragic sense...he fused the simple elements of construction into metaphors of brooding mystery." That mystery comes across in the many photos included in this book, but it is the architect's drawings that really come to the fore, making this a historical appreciation rather than a visual (eye candy) one. Nevertheless, this book is a must-have for anybody with an interest in an architect who deserves much more appreciation and attention.… (mehr)