The intersection of Östermalmsgatan, Uggleviksgatan and Rådmansgatan is a place with a long history. At the end of the 19th century, a women’s prison was located here – a red medieval-inspired building that housed 115 cells and yards shaped like pieces of cake. After three decades, the National Archives took over to store archival documents on the premises.

During the 20th century, the demand for architects increased dramatically. In the late 1960s, it was therefore decided to construct a new building for the School of Architecture in Stockholm, which had previously been part of the campus of the Royal Institute of Technology. The contract was awarded to Gunnar Henriksson, head of KTH’s architectural office. The red castle was demolished to make way for something completely different.

To ensure that the building did not appear more exclusive than the other institutions, there were tight financial constraints. Henriksson also had the idea of allowing students to shape their own environment, and therefore wanted to keep the design as simple as possible. The result was the A-house – a 12,500 sqm building influenced by the stylistic ideals of neo-Brutalism: to let materiality, function and technology take precedence over color, form and decoration. The exterior design was shaped by the uses of the interior. The building housed drawing rooms, auditoriums, studios, laboratories and workshops. The building belonged to the School of Architecture until 2015.

At first glance, its distinctive architecture may seem unforgiving of its surroundings. In fact, the building is carefully designed out of respect for the surrounding environment: the volume of the building bodies reflects the adjacent buildings and the façade is clad in concrete instead of brick so as not to compete with the Engelbrekt Church.

The A house, now known as Ark, is considered one of the few fully-fledged brutalist buildings in Sweden. The original idea of letting the building’s users shape it is still very much alive, and has become an important principle for all A house destinations.