Byggfenomen: The First and Last Thing We See

Exhibitions / Byggfenomen: The First and Last Thing We See

*Sketch by Byggfenomen/Daniel Johansson. 2026.*

Exhibitions

05.06.2026-30.05.2027

Hall 2

Byggfenomen: The First and Last Thing We See

It is there without us noticing. A grid of acoustic tiles that is not really a ceiling, since it is not there to carry anything. Its purpose is to conceal: ventilation ducts, cables and sprinklers. Systems that modern interiors depend on, yet that we would rather not see.

At ArkDes, the tiles have been moved from the ceiling to the wall, directly in front of our eyes. What usually blends in is instead given space. The installation, created by the architect Daniel Johansson, makes the everyday visible. Through repetition, patterns emerge, a kind of ornamentation.

They follow us through life, above our heads in schools, hospitals, offices and municipal corridors. There, between the floor and the ceiling, everyday life unfolds. The tiles are practical, inexpensive and improve the acoustic environment. But why is so little care devoted to such a large part of the spaces we inhabit?

Byggfenomen

Daniel Johansson (b. 1979) runs the architectural practice Byggfenomen, founded in 2012. The studio has received praise for its blue-coloured villa, Alice’s National Romance With Modernity (2018) located in Djursholm, where ordinary lightweight aggregate blocks are used as ornament in the façade, giving the building an unexpected, almost fairy- tale- like expression. A similar approach also characterises the bathhouse extension Grott(esque)O Parlante (2021). Daniel Johansson also teaches at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Contemporary Projects in the ArkDes Collection

The ArkDes Collection presents Swedish architecture and design from the past 150 years. The final chapter of the exhibition highlights contemporary practitioners from the Nordic region, exploring how architecture and design engage with current and future societal challenges. In 2026, Byggfenomen: The First and Last Thing We See is presented as a 1:1 scale installation, bringing elements of everyday architecture into the exhibition space.