Stjärnhusen i Gröndal
bevara och förnya stjärnhusens innergårdar
It is sixty years since Sweden's first star-shaped housing estate was built in Gröndal, a suburb of Stockholm. Olle Engkvist, the building contractor, was the driving force behind the residential area and it was designed by architects Sven Backström and Leif Reinius. The estate comprises detached star-shaped houses suited to a more hilly terrain and terraced star-shaped houses on the flat land. The eight gardens of the terraced houses form the shape of a hexagon. It is these gardens, designed by Sven Hermelin and Per Friberg, which are the main focus of this thesis.
The buildings on the estate have recently been renovated and it is now time for the gardens to be restored. The tenant-owners' association is seeking
advice on the renovation of the gardens. The measures taken so far have not included much consideration for the gardens; practicality has taken preference over esthetics. Now it is time to restore and highlight the last remaining characteristics of the 1946 design.
The gardens have been neglected, not due to bad maintenance but due to a more or less deliberate attempt to neglect the green material, and they have lost some of the characteristic features typical of the 1940s art of gardening. The trees have diminished in numbers, but also other features
have been lost.
The main aim of the proposals in this thesis is to ensure that the gardens are renovated on the basis of free renewal. The renewal would take into consideration the existing features of the gardens and revive elements of the original design.