Byggnadskultur och nationsbygge Arkitekt Einar Rudskog och skapandet av en åländsk byggnadsstil

Abstract

This thesis deals with the Swedish architect Einar Rudskog and his task to create an architectural style significant for the Åland islands. Based on his studies in the local vernacular building tradition he de-signed several type drawings for schools and dwelling houses. This was a part of the strive to identify and express the features of the inherent culture and heritage on Åland, based on the ideas of the national romanticism. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the work of Rudskog, his interpretation of a local architecture and to place his work into the political and cultural context of the 1920s. In the collection of data for this examination literature and archive studies have been crucial. This study relies heavily on historical written sources, where newspaper articles and literature have provided a substantial amount of valuable information. Historical images and technical drawings have also been of great value to map the architects work and his methods. The consequences of Einar Rudskog´s work on Åland is still to this day visible. Several school and dwelling houses, carrying his signature, are spread across the island. Rudskog also created the plans for the open air museum Jan Karlsgården. These buildings, together with his published texts, had, and still have, an impact on how people perceive the typical features of the Åland building tradition. Despite this, this study shows that Rudskog strived to manifest, and perhaps even enhance, the strong bonds to the Swedish heritage. Although he claimed that his drawings represented a locally grounded and representa-tive architecture, this study questions that assertion. Based on the results of this research, it can be concluded that Einar Rudskog´s interpretation of a local architecture relied equally on local features as the ambition to strengthen the connection between the cultural heritage of Åland and Sweden.