Umeå School of Architecture warmly welcomes students, staff and the public to the first UMA Talks event of the academic year 2025–26, a lecture titled Warm in the Winter with architect Björn Ekelund.
Björn Ekelund is an urban designer and architect SAR/MSA, PhD with over 20 years of experience and one of the founders of Warm in the Winter and the practice-oriented research institute Arkitekturinstitutet. He is also an assistant professor in architecture at Luleå University of Technology with assignments at several architecture schools in the Nordic region. His work focuses on innovative, speculative and transformative urban design based on evidence as well as passion for both people and environment, which is expressed in many different scales and stages of planning and construction.
In 2026, Björns office will celebrate 10 years of urban design and architecture. And the question they have received the most times during these ten years is: Why are you called Warm in the Winter? This lecture is the first time that the answer is unfolded in its entirety. From their ambitions for sustainable development to the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces and their work on adapting cities, public spaces and buildings to seasonal variations. In short, their strive to define Nordic urban design and architecture.
The UMA Talks are a free and accessible series of events. The series is devoted to advancing architectural discourse from both an international perspective and local perspective, and strives to enable the public, students, teachers, and researchers both within architecture and from other fields to get insight to and participate in the educational activities and academic research taking place at Umeå School of Architecture. Theorist, practitioners, artists, and other relevant guests are invited to speak or to participate in roundtable conversations or similar formats. Read more about UMA Talks.