The series of books on Wingårdh’s private homes started with Gert and Karin Wingårdh’s own house, which they call Villa Sand. On Saturday, May 12 they’ll release the next book in the series, which is based on villa Kristina, a home on a small site on the seacoast just outside Gothenburg. A young couple inherited the property, but being a landowner is not always an unmitigated joy. They swung back and forth between anxiety and euphoria. They were tempted by the simplicity of a standardized house but put off by the available design choices.

Architectural design is custom tailoring. Building is communicating. It’s about ideas, about obstacles, about opportunities, and—not least—about that one little detail: money.

Villa Kristina takes readers along for the entire journey from the very first meeting with the clients, the couple Anders and Kristina, to the pounding of the last nail. Just as in Villa Sand, it takes the form of a picture book full of realistic photos, illustrations, building permits, and as-built drawings just like the ones everyone encounters in the construction process. Everything is authentic.

Wingårdh’s Villas is a series of books in which Gert and Karin Wingårdh try to explain how an architect thinks. What is it that actually makes a building turn out the way it does? We try to get inside the minds of both the client and the designer. What role does the site play? How does the size of the budget and the client’s resources impact the design? And what about timeless form—or the spirit of today?

The book series treats one house at a time and spans the Wingårdhs’ entire careers, from the late 1970s to the firm’s most recently completed work. It is published by Langenskiöld.

On Saturday morning, May 12, Gert and Karin Wingårdh will be on the television program Nyhetsmorgonon on channel 4. Between 1:00 and 2:00 PM the same day they will be signing books and greeting readers at Designtorget in Stockholm.

For questions, call Klara Grape at 010 - 788 11 19 or email klara.grape@wingardhs.se.