Portrait of Tim Ronalds and images of Asplund's Gothenburg Law Courts Extension in this week's Building Design

Some photo shoots feel like a real privilege. While studying at LCP I spent a day photographing Arne Jacobsen's St Catherine's College in Oxford, and was almost overwhelmed by the excitement of gaining access to such an incredible example of modernism.

It was a similar feeling to shoot Gunnar Asplund's extension to the Law Courts in Gothenburg, Sweden. Architect Tim Ronalds had chosen the building as his 'inspiration' for the fascinating ongoing series in Building Design. The interview is published in this week's issue (1 October).



While admittedly not much from the outside – the building went through many incarnations and revisions and the final result is rather underwhelming – the interior is a real gem of Scandinavian modernism. It was  completed in 1937, and is full of sensuous curves and timber fixtures and fittings. The design is deliberately informal yet retains a strong and dignified civic presence, something that designers of many of the new generation of PFI law courts should do well to study carefully.



The building is currently unused, but journalist Pamela Buxton had arranged access. It remains fully furnished, and there was something strange yet thrilling about having the entire building to ourselves. Tim had visited the building on two previous occasions, but his excitement and passion for this modern masterpiece was still much in evidence, and he was an excellent tour guide with lots of interesting information about the project.