Nordic 'citizen design critics' are gaining influence thanks to their online popularity

2023-08-07T18:07:00-04:00

Founded in Sweden in 2014 as a public Facebook group, [Architectural Uprising] is a collective of citizen design critics who object to what organizers call the “continued uglification” of developments in Nordic cities, and push for a return to classically informed design. [...] The movement’s size and persistence, however, has earned it a seat in the discourse. “When [historians] talk about architecture during these years, [the Architectural Uprising] will be part of that history”

A new report in Bloomberg tells of the staying power of social media-driven architectural criticism. Projects lambasted by the popular (mostly) Scandinavian group include Oslo’s new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design by architect Klaus Schuwerk and estudio Herreros’ Munch Museum, which Oliver Wainwright also panned.

Its presence has apparently spurred Norwegian firm MAD Arkitektur’s concessions on the Sandakerveien 58 B/C renovation and other projects. Politicians in Norway have even begun reaching out for tacit endorsements in a turn mirroring the "ugly" debate in America concerning the design of federal buildings that has become a charge of late for Republicans in love with the concept of classicism in spite of its racist underpinnings and widely-critiqued past.

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Nordic 'citizen design critics' are gaining influence thanks to their online popularity