Monica von Schmalensee

Monica von Schmalensee. Photo: Peter Brinch

Monica von Schmalensee is the CEO and director of Sweden’s biggest architecture firm, White Arkitekter. Founded in 1951 by Sid White and PA Ekholm, the practice has always prioritised multidisciplinarity and original thinking. These qualities combine today with a strong focus on social and ecological sustainability. With 800 staff across its 14 offices in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the UK, its shared ownership model means it has been able to invest in integrated research, both in-house and through alliances with academic partners.

I guess innovation is the same for us as for others — to come up with novel and applicable solutions. It means to meet challenges with new ways of thinking, and also new ways of acting.

We have a way of working that we call White Innovation Process that supports the multidisciplinary groups we often work with, providing a structure that brings the creative work forward. In our practice, innovative ways of collaborating are just as necessary as technical and other innovations.

Needless to say, I think innovation is very important. First, because the field of architecture and urban design needs innovations to meet today’s challenges, and secondly because a culture that encourages innovation is key to keeping us all happy at work.

White has a long history of practice-based research that is initiated and carried out by interested individuals at all levels in the organisation. I would say that our R&D organisation, White Research Lab, is one of our biggest assets. Our distributed model of R&D is something of a trademark for White and it is made possible by three factors: funding, a non-hierarchical organisation and active networks within our different fields of competence.

We allocate substantial resources for R&D, both within the company and to an open trust called ARQ. At the moment we have six active PhD students and we collaborate with universities also, through a handful of professors. But just as important as the academic research is the possibility for all employees to apply for funding from White Research Lab for investigations and small development projects in connection to on-going work.

This triggers both innovative thinking and critical debate about our own contributions to architecture and of course to society.

The competence networks make it possible to exchange experience and knowledge between our different offices in a simple way, both on an everyday basis and in yearly meetings. White Research Lab is also responsible for the yearly field trips that we use for inspiration and to study how architecture and urban design elsewhere take on the challenges we meet and address in our practice.

Visual for the New Karolinksa Solna Hospital in Stockholm. Courtesy White Arkitekter

There are absolutely fascinating things going on concerning materials, for example [antimicrobial] textiles that can make a great difference in healthcare, and the use of wood, both in connection to construction and as a tactile and enriching material in itself. I think the healthcare sector is particularly interesting, especially with this new hospital we have designed, which opened in June [New Karolinksa Solna Hospital, Stockholm].

It’s a totally new way of treating patients. It has one-patient rooms, and then instead of having the patient going around seeking different clinics, different doctors will come to them in one room. If you can get those clinics to work together, it’s a totally different way of working, and much more collaborative.

We arrived at this scheme after a lot of research, much of which was inspired by the [project’s] architectural competition. But we are building on a solid body of knowledge; we have been involved in healthcare a long time, and we have published research reports proving that good architecture can improve your health.

This is a very bottom-up organisation. The ownership that we have [co-operative] makes it possible for us to put a lot of money into R&D. From what we see and hear from our staff, this is what architects want to do: to improve the quality of their work rather than have high salaries. VS