Cyanotype images of the bridge in Östansjö.
Palimpsest: Narratives for placemaking and architectural resilience through time
Master’s Degree Project
2026
What happens when what we value as important changes, and how can architecture embrace transformation to strengthen a sense of place? The transition from the commons to privatization has changed the way we relate to the boreal landscape. In northern Sweden, traces of earlier systems persist through collectively managed land. Rather than viewing these sites as relics of past systems, this thesis proposal explores their potential as points of continuity between past and present forms of land use.
A palimpsest is a greek compound with the words “again” and “to rub”, signifying a piece of paper or parchment on which the writing has been erased, to make space for a new text. This thesis proposal investigates architecture in relation to time and place. It questions the idea of architecture as permanent, whether intentionally through the creation of monuments for posterity or the preservation of what is valued as heritage, or implicitly through a lack of consideration for how buildings weather and adapt over time.
‘Palimpsest’ elaborates on how the history of forest ownership systems in Sweden, from the commons to privatisation, has changed the way we relate to the boreal landscape. Traces of earlier systems were found to persist within the present through the preservation of former fäbodvallar by changing it into land collectively managed by civic associations. Palimpsest and time perspectivism is used as a theoretical framework for how time is perceived and divided across multiple scales.
Through interviews and cyanotype workshops guided by critical visual methodology and slow-looking, local knowledge is shared, re-interpreted and synthesised. Through a reinterpretation of the fäbodvall in a contemporary rural context of Gottnebydgen, it proposes the construction of a timber frame building which allows local residents to connect to the cycles of the boreal forest, and is continuously remade through repair.
Map of collectively owned land and important associations in Gottnebygden.
Growth cycles of P. Sylvestris trees and cyanotype of all temporal states.
Perspective view of the mounting of the wooden trusses, harvested from the site two years prior and laid out to dry.
Cyanotype light experiment and section.
Plan with midday habitation and axonometry of exposure to weathering.
