Small Gestures : The Importance of Details in Architecture

Abstract: This diploma project aims to explore the importance of details and small gestures in architecture.  Whether its a technical detail, a choice of material or a lighting fixture, these seemingly small gestures all influence how we experience a room. It is my belief that these little details, can make a big difference to how we experience our everyday life and that they communicate care and thoughtfulness. What difference does a minor change in material, division of space or a door handle do to the experience of a room as a whole; which are those small gestures that show care and thoughtfulness?  The project has explored details and small gestures in three categories: Division of space, Materiality & Elements, partially though case studies of renowned buildings from architects such as Alvar Aalto, Josef Frank and Sigurd Lewerentz, as well as though the proposal of a redesign of the courthouse of Katrineholm, into a Municipal Archive. The redesign tested small gestures in relationship the room as a whole, to each other and to its surroundings.  “We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street” - Alvar Aalto