Reopening in 2024

ArkDes has temporarily closed its doors to begin an exciting process of redevelopment. An extensive reconstruction of the museum’s public space has now begun—the culmination of six years of work on the collections, the development of an ambitious temporary exhibition programme, and the building of a new research environment both inside the museum and in the streets and squares of Sweden.

Our location on Skeppsholmen remains our home. Under the direction of Stockholm-based architecture studio Arrhov Frick, the design process focuses on recycling and reuse. Many existing spaces of the museum—including Boxen, designed by Dehlin Brattgård Arkitekter and opened in 2018—are being carefully dismantled and reconstructed into completely new objects and structures, changing over time. 

Opening in June 2024, the new ArkDes reimagines ways for everyone to engage with and experience architecture, design, and public life. It is a public space, an open platform, and a continuously evolving work-in-progress.

Redesigning the museum
The redesign of the spaces of ArkDes makes visible the museum’s mission as Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design. Five new environments form the backbone of a new visitor experience, beginning with a new main entrance and a site for large-scale annual commissions by international architects. Inside, a new temporary exhibition space will host changing exhibitions centred on contemporary architecture and design, continuing the energetic programme of temporary exhibitions presented in recent years. A new area to display the museum’s ongoing work in practice-based research and innovation will augment the most comprehensive collections-based permanent exhibition in the museum’s history. Finally, a new outdoor space will host commissioned works of design aimed at children and young people.

A new collections exhibition
At the heart of the new ArkDes, a new collections exhibition will present a rotating selection of original works from the museum’s unique collection of over four million objects of Swedish architecture and design. Spanning from 1880 until today, the exhibition is organised thematically, and follows the design process: from imagination and the materialisation of ideas to the complexity of the city. The exhibition represents a new way of thinking through our collection: a continuous process of research, selection, digitisation, and discourse that is conducted in the exhibition rooms. It brings to light a cultural treasure that has been largely out of the public eye for decades.

Architecture, design, and public life
The opening temporary exhibition, on display from June 14, 2024, is Designing Motherhood—a show exploring the arc of human reproduction through the lens of design. Curated by Juliana Rowen Barton, Michelle Millar Fisher, Zoë Greggs, and Amber Winick, this will be the first presentation of the exhibition in Europe. The museum’s programme will also include major temporary installations and a sequence of integrated commissions, details of which will be announced in early 2024.

A new chapter
The museum was founded as Sweden’s Arkitekturmuseet in 1962, moved into spaces designed by Rafael Moneo in 1998, and became ArkDes in 2013. Today, it is a national museum and a policy and research think tank. The new ArkDes represents the next step in its journey and is part of this evolution. Since 2018, under the direction of Kieran Long alongside a broad team of museum professionals, ArkDes has worked to become among the most ambitious exhibition venues in Sweden. Simultaneously, new research environments around the collections and national programmes connected to practice-based research have manifested in projects such as Street Moves and Power of Places.

2018 to today
Exhibitions have included large-scale thematic shows, such as Public Luxury, The Future Starts Here (in collaboration with the V&A), Cruising Pavilion: Architecture, Gay Sex and Cruising Culture, Flying Panels: How Concrete Panels Changed the World, WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD: The World of ASMR (later presented in collaboration with The Design Museum), Kiruna Forever, and Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Death and Life. Monographic exhibitions have presented work by people and practices including Space Popular, Amie Siegel, and Tham & Videgård. Large-scale outdoor installations have been created by Linda Tegg, Studio Ossidiana, and Mira Bergh and Josefin Zachrisson. Most recently, the museum worked with Joar Nango and collaborators to present Girjegumpi: The Sámi Architecture Library in the Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition—the Venice Biennale.

ArkDes is enormously grateful to all who have visited and followed the museum’s work over recent years, and we are immensely proud of our collaborations and projects. We warmly invite you to Stockholm for the inauguration of the next chapter for ArkDes on June 14, 2024.

To follow our work over the coming months, follow us on Instagram and keep an eye on our website.

For media inquiries, feel free to contact Maria Östman: maria.ostman [​at​] arkdes.se