“The inverted monument”, 2022
Temporary summer exhibition for Stockholm Konst. In collaboration with Uglycute and architecture students from KTH
Part of the Building lab series with KTH master studios exploring full scale construction. Students not mentioned by name due to Swedish regulations.
Part of the Building lab series with KTH master studios exploring full scale construction. Students not mentioned by name due to Swedish regulations. Spring 2025
Tibro Station Lab is a series of small architectural interventions aiming to transform an abandoned station warehouse in central Tibro into a potential new public building. The interventions are designed and built by students from the KTH School of Architecture, Master studio Fabulous Future Factory, founde and directed by Karin Matz and Anders Berensson in collaboration with the KTH Master studio DKV.
The world urgently needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to avoid a global warming catastrophe. Today, one third of all emissions stem from the building industry. Using what already exists is essential to prevent the unnecessary consumption of resources and to lower emissions from construction. Another key factor—both for reducing emissions and strengthening social sustainability—is to produce architecture locally. Throughout the spring, we will practice both.
The studio engages with the existing site and building, maintaining, reusing, and adapting materials while developing its method directly on site. The ambition is to establish a hands-on, locally rooted approach shaped by practical experience and the specific conditions of Tibro’s historic center. The project is carried out in collaboration with Tibro Municipality, focusing on the old station warehouse and its surroundings.
The studio works with adaptive reuse and inventive upcycling of buildings, components, and materials that have been, or will be, dismantled in Stockholm. These elements are transformed at DKV67 into new architectural parts and then integrated into the station warehouse or its surroundings in Tibro. The work serves as both prototypes and permanent structures for future interventions and the continued architectural development of the station warehouse.
Fabulous Future Factory founded by Karin Matz & Anders Berensson in collaboration with Fabege, Spring 2026.
Part of the Building lab series with KTH master studios exploring full scale construction. Students not mentioned by name due to Swedish regulations.
Tenant adaptations are some of the most common construction projects in the industry and make up a big part of the work we architects do. Even though these projects often involve fairly simple structures and rarely need to consider weather conditions, there’s very little reuse happening in this part of the field. People tend to stick to
the way things have always been done. Reusing materials can be
tricky—it raises questions about room specifications, warranties, and
responsibilities. It’s usually easier to work with new products, even
though reused materials can be just as good, and often cheaper.
Another key point is the expectation of freshness. Few people want to move
into a space that feels old or tired. The feeling of newness, freshness, and
smooth functionality shouldn’t be underestimated—especially in offices or
commercial spaces that might not have strong architectural features to offer.
These days, many offices look very similar, with the same ceiling heights, moldings, and acoustic ceiling panels. In many cases, the only thing that can make a space stand out is that feeling of freshness. That means reused materials need to be handled in a way that keeps the space looking vibrant and appealing.
Branding is another important factor. Companies naturally want to show
off their brand, often against a simple backdrop so that their products
stand out. But the changes one tenant makes to highlight their brand rarely fit the next tenant’s preferences. A perfect example is Telia’s former offices at the Mall of Scandinavia. Telia, the former Swedish telecom provider, had a very distinct color profile—orange, green, and purple carpets—that clearly said “Telia” about 15 years ago. Now, Telia has moved out, leaving thousands of square meters of branded carpets behind.
The challenge was: can these carpets get a new life? Can they be given a
second chance by mixing them into new patterns? Can we turn them into
something fresh, exciting, and functional instead of throwing them away?
During the covid pandemic I spent most of my time alone in a tiny one room apartment. At some point I found myself sitting at my table every night drawing corners – or more accurately drawing colors blocks which messed with corners. Maybe it came from staring too long at the walls and corners during this period and perhaps trying to open them up or break them down. Corners are important in defining a room spatially – how can we alter and play with the “room” only applying color in corners? I am not sure why, but it resulted in a fascination for the corner and simple cheap paint.
This is an ongoing project where more corners will be attacked and/or celebrated.
Stockholm, Sweden, 2010 – with Svensk Standard
In the summer, it’s always nice to go somewhere. In Stockholm, many of the people leaving the city go out to the archipelago at the edge of the Baltic Sea. It is nice there. Some people go boating (or sailing) and many just stay at their summer houses doing (usually not a lot of) things like reading and having barbecues at a lawn close to the house. If they are lucky the lawn is also close to the water. This is very popular. So popular that the prices of these summer houses limit most people from actually experience this local eden. Thus many Swedes of middle to lower income travel to places like Thailand with cheap charter flights and cheap hotels.
We wanted to hang out on a lawn, reading and having barbecues. But we also wanted to hang out in the city, and we thought that it would be a little boring to be in the same place the entire summer. Lucky for us there is a lot of water in Stockholm. It is, after all, often referred to as “Venice of the North”. So we decided to build a floating lawn with a small engine to move it around.