people: Robin Durand

Robin Durand will give a lecture at Föreningen Byggnadskultur about his Small Visionary project Little things/Små grejer, followed by a workshop where participants will have the opportunity to contribute their own small things to the project researching everyday buildings with unexpected solutions in the area of Umeå Municipality.

Little things/Små grejer is a pocket-sized architecture guide that collects images of buildings in Umeå Municipality that have been rebuilt by their users in a way that changes the symbolic value of the architecture. The reconstructions are often small-scale and made by a single individual. The seemingly small changes manage to create a new architectural experience where the relationship to the body is very direct. They can also be read as traces of care for the building. This pocket guide will be a tool for critical reflection on everyday architecture in Umeå Municipality. It aims to look at so-called banal architecture with a renewed curiosity, revealing a sense of care, commitment and the relationship between architecture and its place.

Robin Durand is a Lecturer at Umeå School of Architecture, and the Little things/Små grejer project is supported by an UmArts Small Visionary Project award.

Before the workshop:

Walk around and focus on capturing (photographing) small, unexpected, but significant changes in buildings or environments. These can be renovations or small adjustments made by the users themselves, and which create a direct, new relationship between people and architecture. Try to capture images that express care, commitment or other signs of the relationship between the building and those who use it.

Select 1–3 images that you think best represent the changes or details you want to highlight. Send these images to Robin Durand’s email: robin.durand@umu.se. Images that have been emailed in will be discussed during the workshop. For inspiration and tips, you can read the article published on January 29, 2025 in Västerbottens-Kuriren. Link to the article is here.

Lecture and workshop are part of the 50th Anniversary of Building Conservation. Arrangement in collaboration with Folkuniversitet. Coffee sales during the break between lecture and workshop.

When: Tuesday, April 15th at 18.30-20.30
Venue: Aula, Folkuniversitetet

Små Grejer (Little Things) is a pocket architecture guide to Umeå Kommun which gathers together a collection of hybridized buildings where modifications intentionally made by its users transform the symbolic value of the architecture. These modifications are often small-scale and made by a single individual. Seemingly minor, they manage to offer a different architectural experience: where the relation to the body is very direct, along with the impact of the modifications. These modifcations or interventions can also be read as traces of care for the building.

This pocket guide will be a tool for a critical reflection on the architecture of the everyday in the area of the Umeå Kommun. It aims to look at so-called banal architecture with a renewed curiosity, revealing a sense of care, dedication and relation of the architecture to its place.

For the last Um…Crits for the semester we will talk crowdsourcing, artist books and photography when following the creative process of Robin Durand’s SVP Project Små grejer (Little Things). Durand is developing a pocket guide of so-called banal architecture with a renewed curiosity, revealing a sense of care, dedication and relation of the architecture to its place.

Små Grejer (Little Things) is a pocket architecture guide to Umeå Kommun which gathers together a collection of hybridized buildings where modifications intentionally made by its users transform the symbolic value of the architecture. These modifications are often small-scale and likely made by a single individual. Seemingly minor, they manage to offer a different architectural experience: where the relation to the body is very direct, along with the impact of the modifications. These interventions on buildings can also be read as traces of care.

This pocket guide will be a tool for a critical reflection on the architecture of the everyday in the area of the Umeå Kommun. It aims to look at so-called banal architecture with a renewed curiosity, revealing a sense of care, dedication and relation of the architecture to its place.