Everyday Urban Architecture : Urban blocks, building typology, architectural elements; reading into the urban form of Stockholm

Sammanfattning: With the growing role of cities, rapid urbanization, transformation under shifting economic, environmental, social and demographic conditions, the purpose of architecture is changing too. The legacy of the modernist decades left a broken urban fabric of isolated buildings from the urban landscapes of streets, plots, and blocks. In its aftermath, professionals sought to revive the traditional city fabric starting from the block, as the basic element. Although recent developments produce blocks, the livability of streets and other public spaces remains questionable. With a newfound focus into the block, as the fundamental structural element in planning, architectural typologies become the starting point to translate the qualities of urban life. The relationship between two scales, the urban and the architectural, will be examined in this thesis. Architectural elements and typologies have the ability to enhance public life, fostering positive social relations through meaningful design. The following research will explore architecture in Stockholm from the scale of an urban block, to the building typologies, and finally to the modest details within a single building. The fundamental idea is to extract building types and architectural elements that have an impact on the daily life of individuals in the city of Stockholm.