Paul Hedqvist

Who was Paul Hedqvist?

Paul Hedqvist was a Swedish modernist architect with many official commissions in Sweden through the 1930s, including housing projects, major bridges, many schools, and urban planning work. His practice evolved into designing office towers and at least one major stadium in the postwar 1950s. At one point he served as the city architect of Stockholm.

Hedqvist studied at the Technical University in Stockholm and worked for Ragnar Östberg before opening his own office in 1924, with his partner David Dahl. Hedqvist became part of the functionalist movement developing in Sweden after Stockholm International Exhibition, which he took part in. Through the war, from 1938 through 1948, he was professor at the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm.

Hedqvist worked as a functionalist. Early in his career he took part in the 1930 Stockholm Housing Exhibition, organized by Gregor Paulsson, but Hedqvist chose not to join other Swedish architects in the "Accept!" movement. Instead he was awarded a good share of Sweden's high-profile state commissions in the 1930s, dams and housing projects and many schools and the Stockholm airport, working mainly in a rationalist style.