The Women’s Building Forum

Explore digitised objects from the ArkDes collection, with a focus on the 2025–2026 exhibition period and the theme The Women’s Building Forum.

In 1980, a group of women working in architecture and construction come together to form the Women’s Building Forum (Kvinnors Byggforum). They aim to transform housing design and challenge a male-dominated industry by grounding their work in women’s everyday experiences. Uninvited, they participate in the Boplats 80 exhibition in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm. In a full-scale model of the entrance spaces of a block of flats, the group presents alternatives to the era’s often impersonal housing environments. Their exhibition space stands out and attracts a great deal of attention from visitors. But not everyone is impressed. Some male colleagues complain that the bold colours make the organiser — the Swedish Association of Architects — look bad. As part of their protest, they redesign the exhibition’s official logo — a simple roof symbol — by adding the female sign and colouring it pink. The action in Kungsträdgården marks the starting point of the Women’s Building Forum’s longrunning efforts to create more equal housing environments.