Background
Mark Isitt has worked as a journalist, author, moderator, and editor covering architecture, design, and urban planning since the late 1980s. Unlike most names on ScandinavianDesign.com, he is not a furniture or product designer — his subject is the built environment itself, and Swedish architecture’s place in public life.
Television and radio
Isitt hosts Grand Designs Sverige on TV4, a series that has earned consecutive Kristallen nominations, Sweden’s national television award, and Årets hus (House of the Year), also for TV4. He appears as the architecture critic on SVT’s Hemma hos arkitekten, and has contributed to Sveriges Radio’s coverage of architecture and urban development.
Journalism and books
He writes architecture criticism for Göteborgs-Posten and has contributed to the Danish newspaper Politiken. His books include Förenta nationerna, a history of the UN headquarters; Stockholm Sub, a photographic study of Stockholm’s subway system; and 25 kvadrat, a collection of essays on the challenges facing contemporary Swedish architecture. He is also a co-founder of Frank, an architecture publishing house whose design work has won a Red Dot Award and recognition from the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Awards and recognition
Isitt received Kritikerpriset in 2019, Sweden’s award for the best architectural analysis or public debate on architecture, and the Olle Engkvist Medal in 2020 for distinguished journalism on architecture and urban development. He also sits on the board of the Ralph Erskine Prize foundation, which has previously recognised projects such as the 2017 winner, a community centre built for refugees.
Public appearances
Isitt regularly speaks at Swedish home and building fairs, including his appearances at Hem & Villamässan, where he argues that Sweden undervalues the aesthetic qualities of a house — a case he makes for beauty as a form of sustainability, since a house people love is a house they maintain. More of his writing and public work is collected on his own site.
https://markisitt.se/
Photo: Jakob Dahlström.
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