From Breakdown to Suspension: – Architecture as Witness
9 October
13.00 – 16.30
Student presentations and public forum discussion on the deepening crisis surrounding slum landlords, renovation bills and systematic neglect in Stockholm.
Language: English
Free admission, no pre-registration required
You can join any part of the program
How can architecture confront the limits of today’s urban governance?
Students from the master studio Architectures of Governance at KTH School of Architecture present their work at Färgfabriken, examining Stockholm’s deepening housing crisis marked by slumlord practices, renoviction, and systemic neglect. Their projects investigate what happens when ownership fails and properties fall into decay, exposing the fragility of governance and the gaps between law, policy, and lived reality. Rather than offering repair alone, the studio positions architecture as testimony—documenting breakdowns while opening space for imagining new forms of stewardship and civic responsibility.
To address the extent of the crisis, the studio has mapped a series of documented and emerging cases across the Stockholm area, many of which are subject to tenant-led lawsuits and court proceedings. These studies highlight how forced administration has become a last resort to safeguard residents and the urban environment. Investigations trace the collapse of governance and spatial responsibility, moving from regulatory frameworks to the physical condition of buildings. Treated as witnesses, these cases are examined through mapping, modelling, and interviews.
Using the investigative and representational tools of the architect—diagrams, surveys, drawings, models, and photographs—students have assembled their findings into critical “reports” designed to operate within the logic of the system itself. Through these reports and design proposals, the studio explores architecture’s potential to act both as a witness to urban breakdown and as a means of envisioning recovery, stewardship, and new forms of collective responsibility.
For whom?
This presentation will be of interest to architects, planners, policymakers, researchers, artists, activists, community groups, and all those concerned with the future of housing, governance, and the built environment.
Program
13.00–13.15 Introduction
13.15–14.45 Student presentations (Master’s students, KTH Architecture)
14.45–15.05 Break and exhibition viewing
15.05–16.30 Public forum discussion with invited participants (TBA), students, tutors and public
About Architectures of Governance
Architectures of Governance is a new master level studio at KTH School of Architecture investigating how law, policy, and design intersect in shaping the city.
Tutors:
Janek Ozmin, PhD KTH School of Architecture
Eva Arnqvist, Artist, KTH School of Architecture
Bojan Boric, PhD KTH School of Architecture
Partners
