The new Swedish political party Partiet Arkitekturupproret, or Architects’ Revolt Party, was founded just before the new year and has already become controversial. This is a so-called one-issue party, but the PA’s only goal is to prevent the construction of the new Nobel Center at Slussen in Stockholm, which the party members find extremely ugly as it looks in the drawings.
The leader of the party is the architect Nils Freckéus, who used to be called Nils Gustafsson-Frecke in the Swedish national register, and who has gained fame mainly for stoning a hamburger at a security guard at the House of Culture in Stockholm in February 2024 and reaping 40 daily fines as punishment, but a daily fine, a punitive sanction in Sweden, is calculated based on the income of the person receiving the fine.
The most hate was directed at the Cultural Center
“His passion for architecture can be clearly seen from the fine print from February 2024,” writes Swedish public broadcaster SVT. “After being expelled from the Culture Center in Stockholm, Freckéus threw a hamburger in the face of a security guard there,” writes the state radio.
“The Cultural Center is perhaps the building that the party hates the most,” says Freckéus in an interview with SVT that was published this morning.
“The Uppreisn arkitektinna party fights for more beautiful houses to be built in society. We would like to see more architects think the same way and are interested in making changes to what is currently taught in architectural education,” the leader further says to the Swedish National Radio.
A satire of architects
The party shares the name with the organization Arkitektauppreisninni, föreningen Arkitekturupproret, which for years has made itself known on social media and made itself heard about the ugliness that its followers believe characterizes many new buildings in Sweden.
The organization has also been behind the satire of architects on the internet and has not stopped at attacking named architects with mockery and mockery, even using anonymous Facebook accounts.
Despite this, the representatives of the organization say they do not agree with the viewpoint of the political force that bears their name, even though a number of its members can be found on the political party’s list of candidates for the parliamentary elections in Sweden on September 13 this fall.
Half the board members but no connections
“The current board of the party is partly made up of members of the organization, but nevertheless there is no formal relationship between them,” says Freckéus to SVT, but he himself was a member of the Association of Rebel Architects, although he says he is no longer on the membership list.
In the fine for the hamburger throwing, it is said that the goal of the offender was to “take revenge”, although it is not mentioned for what, it seems either to have been kicked out of the Cultural Center or simply because it was built with an appearance that disgusts the architects of the rebellion.
The magazine Arkitekten about the “shit storm” of the rebels
The organization’s website, where a clear position is taken against the party
