The prefabricated gift : 300 Swedish houses in Bornholm

From June to November 1945, over 70 shipments of flat-packed architectural elements arrived at the harbours of Nexø and Rønne on the Danish island Bornholm. The shipments consisted of prefabricated interior fixtures and ready-to-be mounted walls. The Danish municipality prepared infrastructure, named new roads, and within a year, 300 wooden houses were assembled on site. The buildings, Svenskehusen (the Swedish houses) or Gavehusen (the gift houses), were donated by Sweden to Denmark following the devastating bombings of Bornholm in May 1945 when about 750 Danish families lost their homes. The bombs were dropped by the Soviet Union after the official end of WWII, to force the German commander, who did not acknowledge the Nazi surrender, to leave Bornholm. In 1949 the houses were listed and protected as historical and cultural heritage. By following the making, reception and management of the houses, this project uses the notion of the gift as a conceptual framework to investigate histories of Svenskehusen. From the Swedish manufacturer to their construction, and through their 80 years of use, alterations and maintenance, to their present state and legacy. We are particularly interested in the houses as prefabricated buildings, as mass-produced parts for worldwide distribution that has become particular significance in a specific place. How do the prefabricated houses, through the perspective of the gift, affect the architectural, cultural, and historical understanding and significance of them, both today and in the future?Our project involves both teaching and research and includes explorations of Svenskehusen and their heritage designations. As part of the master course Cultural Heritage Buildings, students have proposed design alterations and additions. These design responses are considered as one of many inputs in a broader understanding of the “prefabricated gifts” from Sweden to war-damaged countries after WWII, which also include buildings to Norway and France.