A New Design for Röhsska

In the new design for the Röhsska Museum shop and entrance area, materials and colors are used to bring the institution closer to its audience, lending the visitor a helping hand in navigating the history-laden spaces of the century-old institution. Visual cues help invoke curiosity in the design of the building and facilitates an understanding of its natural spatial sequence, while industrial felt dampens reverberation, allowing for a more complex and inclusive soundscape.

The Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft opened in 1916 as Sweden’s sole museum dedicated to both design and handicraft. After an invited competition, Marge Architects were chosen to re-design the Museum Shop, the reception desk and the seating furniture in anticipation of the Museum’s re-opening in 2019. The original interior of the Museum is a unique combination of delicate wrought iron details combined with rustic patterns and materials. The tiled, wooden ceiling of the entrance room contrasts with the painted and sectionally wave-shaped ceiling of the Architecture Hall. Here, the two Babylonian glazed brick reliefs in blue, green and ochra, dated to 600-500 BC, are particularly eye-catching.

The new interior design relates to Röhsskas aesthetically rich heritage, yet introduces a contemporary design language that complements, highlights and subtly contrasts with that of the original architecture. A diamond shape - extensively found in the geometrical pattern of the entrance room ceiling - is used as the basic module for store furniture and benches. These can be combined in different ways: stand-alone, two and two, in irregular or symmetrical formations. For full flexibility, the different units freely dock to each other: bench with worktop, etc.

The colors used are all derived from the glazed brick frieze in the Architecture Hall. The added materials – stained wood, cork, zink, industrial felt - are few but tactile. The color blue guides the visitor from the entrance further into the Architecture Hall. Materials and furniture work together to create a coherent interior that binds new to old yet allows the added to subtly contrast with the original in texture and expression.