The award
Stockholms Arkitektförening has awarded its annual prize, Guldrummet 2026, to Gaia Arkitektur. The prize was presented at a ceremony at Konstakademien, the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, in Stockholm on Thursday 17 September. Gaia Arkitektur describes itself as a transition practice, using architecture and practice-based research to create living environments with greater vitality.
The jury
“Gaia shows the potential of the architect’s role to support the transition – towards an attentive and long-term way of being and acting in the world. The winner does so by collaborating across boundaries in careful dialogue, between disciplines and fields of practice, and between research and building,” says the jury’s convener, architect SAR/MSA Elizabeth Hatz.
The jury’s citation reads: “For the ability, in attentive collaboration, to make room for and develop deeply relevant questions, and for persistently aligning work and production with a clear ethos that centres responsive responsibility.”
Alongside Hatz, the jury consists of architects MSA Michela Barone Lumaga and Malin Heyman, and architect SAR/MSA Ethem Erdogan.
About Gaia Arkitektur
The office takes its name from the mythological Gaia, a personification of the Earth. It was founded six years ago by architects SAR/MSA Ania Öst, Marta Bohlmark, Pi Ekblom and Ulrika Stenkula. The team also includes architect SAR/MSA Sigrun Borgen and Martin Mehlin.
The practice starts from the conditions of each site and its need for change, and defines together with its collaborators the effects the work should contribute to. By gathering different perspectives, knowledge and resources around a shared direction, the office aims to break established patterns and develop new solutions for how buildings, landscapes and places are designed, used and cared for. Larger ongoing projects are Isbladslagunen, Munkbrohamnen and Rotväven.
The prize
This year’s prize consists of SEK 25,000 and a large ceramic sculpture by artist Matti Hoffner, born in Karlshamn in 1999. Hoffner graduated from Konstfack in 2025 and was among the youngest artists represented at Market Art Fair, held at Magasin 9 in Frihamnen, Stockholm, in April this year.
About Guldrummet
Stockholms Arkitektförening is a local association within Sveriges Arkitekter, the Swedish Association of Architects. It has awarded Guldrummet every year since 2016 to recognise architectural achievements and works that suggest the possibilities of architecture as culture.
Photo: Gaia Arkitektur
Sculpture: Saskia Neuman Galley & Matti Hoffner
By Editorial Team, ScandinavianDesign.com