Matilda Karlsson

When I was little, I dreamed of becoming an architect.
Now when I am an architect, I dream of playing.

As a child, I felt that most things happened on the adults’ terms, but forts and playhouses gave me a sanctuary where I could be myself. A place where only my own rules applied, where the imagination had no limits – a place in my own scale.

Play is the child’s way of understanding the world, where reality and imagination come together to explore and learn about life. I want to examine architecture from the child’s perspective, in the child’s scale.

In my degree project, I have taken play as my starting point. I have chosen to construct three playhouses under a tree in a shady courtyard on the street of Siljansvägen in Årsta, where I have examined if an architect and playground designer can promote movement, imagination and play in harmony with nature.