SWEDISH GRACE.

Sweden's embassy is intended to display symbolically the country's natural materials and to provide a dignified but gentle workplace.

In the north-east corner of the compound is the Swedish Embassy on a triangular site which overlooks the Norwegians to the west and the Finns to the south over Berger + Parkkinen's formal pool. The third side of the triangle is formed by the curving copper perimeter of the compound, but here, unlike the Danes for instance, Gert Wing[dot{a}]rdh has created a flat glass wall within the curve and arranged for the copper scales to be left open, so you can glimpse the warm Swedish interior from the traffic in St[ddot{u}]lerstra[beta]e.

From the interior of the compound, the building seems to have two personae. To the south is a white plane of Gotland limestone behind storey-height windows protected by horizontal planes of translucent glass which are intended to act as anti-dazzle screens. The west side has rather more conventional treatment, with strips of windows over black stone spandrels, though the latter are rather odd. Made of Br[ddot{a}]nnhult diorite, their outer faces are polished, but they are suspended overlapping from right to left like big slates, and the exposed edges are hand trimmed, giving a roughness which is intended to emphasize the nature of the very hard and dense stone. The change in material and treatment is rather curious, for both facades front similar kinds of offices, and of course both are subject to the sun as it travels round the south-west arc of the heavens. It is difficult to see the justification for the change, apart from a wish to demonstrate the possibilities of Swedish materials. And to give the build ing more figure and presence: for the best of democratic reasons, these are remarkably lacking in much contemporary Swedish architecture, and perhaps there is an element of over-compensation in Berlin.

The slightly strident exterior is offset by a splendidly tranquil interior. You are led in by a curving, slightly battered white limestone wall which draws you through a glass screen to the building's main space, a full-height foyer that looks out over the Tiergarten through the louvres of the outer copper wall. The space is lined with warmly finished birch veneer, and seems almost like the inside of a very fine musical instrument, beautifullly crafted like the interior of Gothenburg's '20s concert hall by Nils Einar Eriksson Wing[dot{a}]rdh is a Gothenburg architect).

A solid-seeming spiral stair corkscrews from basement pool to top floor, and the space is overlooked by upper floor meeting rooms and the staff canteen, which slots into the building at second floor level. It is difficult to overemphasize the calm of this gentle, welcoming and beautifully built space.

To the south, the curved white wall which greeted you at the entrance rises to enclose a big meeting room which overlooks the metaphorical Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland. The space between ceiling and the wall is filled with glass to provide acoustic privacy; a huge piece of curved stone is pivoted to act as entrance door. Visual privacy is provided by a magical curtain of woven copper threads which can be drawn round the conference table.

Of all the buildings in the compound, the Swedish one has a dignity usually associated with the embassy type, but it is a democratic dignity, not in the least tainted with the pomposity and bureaucracy which so often permeates such buildings.