Do it again, do it right – Around the country with Renoveringsraseriet by authors Gustav Bergström and Alfred Skogberg.

Over the past decades, we have seen container after container filled with our common building heritage. Beautiful 1950s kitchens are worn out and replaced by mass-produced ones, mouth-blown window glass ends up in landfills, and cheap, unmaintainable materials replace old and solid ones.

Since its inception in 2020, Renovation Fury has criticized careless renovations on their popular Facebook and Instagram accounts of the same name.

In this book, we follow the founders, Gustav Bergström and Alfred Skogberg, on a journey to twelve Swedish cities; from Kiruna in the north to Sölvesborg in the south. They talk to architects, urban planners and experts and point out both good examples and pure disasters.

Do it again, do it right is both a portrait of the times and a cry for help. Caring and preserving is not just about nostalgia, it’s a must if we want to achieve our climate goals. It’s high time we started to see the value of craftsmanship and quality, and realize that new is not always better!

Many of us love old houses, the atmosphere they give you, the secrets and questions they hide and pose: What did the house look like originally? Has it always been here? Who has lived here before me?

Sweden has a unique treasure trove of archived material that can tell us so much about our houses and their inhabitants throughout history. This is by no means limited to castles and manor houses. There is also a lot to tell about our country houses, detached houses, city apartments and suburban villas. You just need to know where to look.

In this book, architectural historian Erika Åberg wants to take us by the hand and tell us how we can find the history of our houses, and how we can best utilize different buildings and their annual rings. She does this by telling inspiring stories, guiding us to different archives and showing us how to best interpret a building, exterior and interior.

There are plenty of in-depth examples from the TV program of the same name, but it’s a book that stands on its own, with solid advice on building styles through the ages, building conservation and restoration tips.

Agricultural architect Charles Emil Löfvenskiöld (1810-1888) dreamed of reforming the Swedish countryside. A new architecture characterized by both beauty and rationality would combat poverty and misery. Bright, spacious and well-planned houses for both humans and animals were the basis for a humane and prosperous society. Only when the practical was also beautiful was it truly functional.

The purpose of the publication Landtmannabyggnader, hufvudsakligen för mindre jordbruk from 1868 was to disseminate the new findings in affordable and educational booklets with clear drawings and explanatory texts. Today, the work is an architectural classic that has had a major impact on Swedish building culture.

This reproduction is supplemented by an appendix with drawings by Löfvenskiöld’s pupil and longtime collaborator Pehr August Pettersson (1841-1906). They were originally published in his Landtmannabyggnader: ritningar för alla områden inom landthushållningen from 1891, a sequel and tribute to Löfvenskiöld’s classic work.

Så byggdes villan is a unique exposé of a significant part of our cultural heritage – the everyday architecture of villa construction in Sweden. The book shows typical villas and characteristic building details decade by decade, from the first villas built in the 1890s to villas built in the first decade of the 2000s. Style ideals have varied over different time periods. Architecture, floor plans, structures and interiors have changed with the times. The general features of this development are shown here through a variety of new accurate illustrations in scale. Each villa has its own history and its own conditions. For the homeowner who wants to renovate his house with period carpentry, there is a drawing section with carpentry and building details, such as floor plinths, window linings and ceiling moldings.