Classic rooms have been revitalised

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The main building of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has been redesigned internally. The beautiful rooms have been revitalised, with clearer functions and identity, featuring textiles and furniture in harmony with bold colour schemes.

Reception area with reception desk in blue. Brick-colored walls with a blue fabric behind the counter and cabinets in blue. A chair to the right and a door in a glazed part to the next room.

Facts about the project

  • Client

    The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

  • Place

    Stockholm, Sweden

  • Status:

    Completed

  • Photographer:

    Måns Berg, Emma Shevtzoff

Lounge room in older style with ocher colored walls and ceiling and wooden details in white. At the far end two large windows and in front a sofa, table and two armchairs. To the right, a coffee station in ocher and in the foreground a round bar table with a larger plant in the middle and a number of bar stools.
Ocher colored wall with a longer wall-mounted table with three barstools in front. Older door frame on the left in white.

A new lease of life for the beautiful main building of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is responsible for selecting the Nobel Prize laureates in physics and in chemistry and the laureates in economic sciences. Situated in Stockholm, construction of the Academy began in 1912 under the direction of celebrated Swedish architect Axel Anderberg. However, due to the First World War,  priorities changed, resulting in a simplified interior and it has taken more than 100 years for the original level of ambition to be realised. Sweco Architects has upgraded the interior of the main building. The beautiful rooms have been given new life, with decor that complements the atmospheric colour setting. Today, the building is a modern meeting space and workplace.

Decor connected to its history

Original furniture and carpentry have been restored and based on archive photos, special new furniture has been designed. Loose rugs woven especially for the project suit the existing furniture. The aim has been for the interior to carry its history with pride and ease, without losing touch with the present. Sweco Architects has also developed a new chair, in collaboration with Gemla that reflects one designed by the original architect of the building more than a century ago.

Wide-ranging light installations

In the extension dating from the 1970s, the new Beijer Hall has taken shape, a completely redesigned scientific forum with advanced sound, acoustics, and light installations. Some of the wide range of light installations required only subtle additions, to emphasise colours, materials, and spatiality in the cultural-historical environment, a stark contrast to the distinctly modern technical solutions found in the Beijer Hall. The historical and modern rooms in the building have completely different prerequisites for lighting installations, while serving similar functions and activities. However, the aim has always been for the different lighting environments to feel related in character.

Sustainability and continuity central concepts

Materials such as wool, leather, wood, stone, and brass were chosen during the planning process to withstand wear and tear, and become more beautiful over time. The light impression is the result of the choice of fixtures, with recessed, hidden, and glare-free lighting. The lighting is intended to highlight the rooms, the people, the materials, and the furniture. The project group wanted to achieve a circular effect, so careful lighting enhances the status of the materials in the room, while the exclusive materials enrich the light environment. The principles for the lighting design have been an integrated part of the project group’s work, from the first sketches all the way to final adjustments. The lighting in each room can be controlled from a user-friendly audio-visual panel.

  • Auditorium with modern chairs in beige. Larger led screen shows in front, a smaller stage and a smaller leed scrren one on the short side. Interior in light wood. A large number of light sources in the ceiling that resemble golden rods.
  • A larger glazed window area in the background showing a nice inner garden. To the right, a brick wall, stone floor and larger seating furnitures without a back in front of the windows. A number of smaller lights in white and glass in the ceiling.
  • An older wooden conference table with four modern chairs on wheels. In the background an older, larger window with white details. On the sides of it curtains in green. In the left corner, older paintings and an older cabinet in darker wood with glass details.
  • Two armchairs and a small table in the middle and a floor lamp in front of a fabric in off-white. To the right a window with a green plant.
  • Close up on the light sources that resemble golden rods in the ceiling of the auditorium
  • Coffee station in ocher in front of a wall painted in the same color.
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Winner of the Swedish Lighting Award 2022 and LIT Lighting Awards 2022

The Academy’s lighting was awarded the Swedish Lighting Award 2022, in the category of interior. The building  also won a prize at the international LIT Lighting Awards 2022, in the category of Interior Architectural Illumination.

Read more about Sweco’s offer within lighting design.

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