The Fire Festival

In celebration of the survival of our bell, and in extension the entire architectural programs rise from the ashes, we hereby invite you to join us at the Fire Festival to ring in the next prosperous, and hopefully fire-free, 100
years!

One night, on the 4th of May 2011, flames engulfed the building. Originating from the place of creation and creativity, the workshop, fire reached high and treacherous. It ate away at the building, leaving it bare and destroyed. Fortunately, it wasn’t completely destroyed…  

Many of people and architects educated there praise the building, its qualities missed. The old school was spacious, housed its own architectural library and laboratories, among many other features. It held a lot of functionalities that the new school would come to lack. 

Additionally, the fire destroyed much of the school’s equipment, as well as the much of the architecture chapters’ storage space. Miraculously, the sole surviving item was the architecture chapter’s beloved gasque bell, or that is as the story goes. It would end up with some minor damage, but people were forever grateful that the celebratory object survived. A signifier of the architectural chapter’s 100th jubilee and of its resilience.

In 2014 a new architecture school was erected in the heart of campus Valhallavägen, drawn by architects Tham & Videgård. The rustic building joined the campus, catching eyes while also melting into the old architecture. With the fire, a new celebration began and the Fire Festival started! Not only to celebrate the old that we lost, but also the new we gained. 

And so, in celebration of the survival of our bell, and in extension the entire architectural programs rise from the ashes, we hereby invite you to join us at the Fire Festival to ring in the next prosperous, and hopefully
fire-free, 100 years!