Villa Göth is a house on the street of Döbelnsgatan in the Kåbo neighborhood of

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden. Completed in 1950, the home is listed as having a special architectural interest in Sweden ('' byggnadsminne''). Architects Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm designed it as the residence of

Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfel ...

head Elis Göth. The building has significance in international architectural history as the believed source of the term ''

brutalism Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

''. Villa Göth has two floors and a basement and is built in dark brick. The windows are plain but form partial rows in the façade. The visible I-beams over the window sections in the front and rear of the building are an example of how the choice of materials is openly displayed in the house. The roof is a flat, gable roof. The floor plan is open on the interior, and materials are consistently made visible in a straightforward way. The tongue-and-groove pattern of the boards used to build the forms for the poured concrete is visible in the ceilings. Several interior walls are of the same dark brick as the exterior. The bathrooms on the first floor are formed of raw concrete (''

béton brut ''Béton brut'' () is architectural concrete that is left unfinished after being cast, displaying the patterns, textures and seams imprinted on it by the formwork.''Exposed concrete.'' In: Béton brut is not a material itself, but rather a way o ...

'') in the form of

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

's famous Aalto Vase. Centrally located in the house is the open stairway that connects the floors.

Villa Göth and brutalism

The term ''

'' was popularized by British architectural critic

Reyner Banham Peter Reyner Banham (2 March 1922 – 19 March 1988) was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'' (1960) and for his 1971 book ''Los Angeles: The Architectu ...

, who used it in 1966 in his book ''The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic?'' to characterize a new group of architectural trends, specifically in Europe. It is believed to have been coined in 1950 by Swedish architect

Hans Asplund Hans Asplund (16 August 1921 – 8 January 1994) was a Swedish architect. His work was part of the Art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics#Architecture, architecture event in the Art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics, art competi ...

in a facetious comment about Villa Göth. The expression was spread by British colleagues visiting Sweden and adopted by younger architects in the UK. In a letter from Hans Asplund to the editor of '' The Architectural Review'', published in August 1956, Asplund describes how he first used the term. The letter is reproduced in Reyner Banham's ''New Brutalism''. New brutalism centers on simplicity and Functionalist principles, intended to avoid the creation of associations or emotions. Stylistically, brutalism is viewed as a reaction to the architecture of the 1940s, much of which was characterized by a retrospective nostalgia. Brutalism is an expression often used derogatorily to denote largeness of scale, insensitivity, and the use of raw materials. Villa Göth is often viewed as having a severe, aloof impression, but it is also a simple and carefully prepared building with well-received architectonic qualities. This well-preserved and culturally significant house was listed as historically significant by the Uppsala county administrative board on March 3, 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Goth Brutalist architecture in Sweden Buildings and structures in Uppsala 1950 establishments in Sweden Houses completed in 1950 Goth 20th-century establishments in Uppsala County