Architecture by Peter Celsing

A time capsule of Swedish architect Peter Celsing’s work in the mid-1990s.

Peter Celsing (1920–74) belongs to the small group of Swedish modernist architects, including luminaries such as Gunnar Asplund (1885–1940) and Sigurd Lewerentz (1885–1975), who have rightly attracted attention beyond the country's borders. How Celsing approached and carried out his commissions testifies to a great understanding of architecture as an applied art, where function and economy are important parameters. At the same time, during a major shift in the construction industry from more small-scale and artisanal to large-scale and prefabricated, Celsing managed the feat of running his projects with artistic integrity.

John Håkansson's black and white photographs, taken in the mid-1990s, capture the essence of Celsing’s buildings. In many cases, the images are now a valuable document of that era, since some of the buildings have changed, and not always in a favorable way. In this beautiful volume, supplemented by insightful texts contributed by architect Staffan Henriksson and artist Maria Lantz, Håkansson's skillful photography forms a loving and sensitive portrait of Celsing's architecture.