A Day With: Anders Holmberg

When we arrive at the meatpacking district of Västerås, Sweden, the expectations are high. Anders Holmberg and his crew at Anders Holmberg Arkitekter recently moved their office to an old slaughterhouse. A creative space where the ceilings are high and the daylight is bright. And one more thing: the new office can also, literally, fit a car. This was one of the reasons why they moved in the first place, since Anders dreamed of an office where he could park his Porsche 911 SC from 1983 inside.

The office

”This oppurtunity to move here was too damn good to refuse. I mean, the ceilings are high, the light is fantastic and the space is big enough to fit my team, my car and at the same time there is plenty of room over for nice furniture, and clear open spaces.”


The first thing your eyes register when you enter the office is the car parked next to a lounge area. Anders tells us that this is highly appreciated by the team and also the clients. In some way, Anders explains, vintage cars and architecture are interrelated.

”Timeless design objects tend to work great with each other, wheter it's a car, a house, a watch or a chair. This car is representing what we are standing for, which is timelessness and long-term design. The fact that I wanted to become a car designer when I was a child has also something to do with it of course”, Anders says.

When we ask Anders what he thinks is timeless architecture, the answer is simple: build bigger than you think. Every house hasn’t got to be big, but if you are building for the future, Anders tells us, you should build quite a few square meters more than you first planned.


”You never know how your life will evolve, but somehow, you will always need more space. That is important to think of at the beginning, because you can’t invent the design of your house twice.”

The home

”When we saw the house, we immediately fell in love with it. It is a souterrain house, so when you stand in front of it, it just looks like a single storey house. But when you come inside, it is spectacular. And that is also great architecture according to me, when you don’t reveal everything at first sight. When it gives you the chance to discover, and it takes time, to appreciate.”


The house is built around a large living room, which is on the second floor (in this case the floor underneath us). The high ceiling has large windows for natural day light, and the house also has its own indoor swimming pool à la 1960s Mad Men style.

”When we first moved in, we wanted to renovate some parts of the house, but we really wanted to do the house justice. The kitchen for example, which I designed, has Oregon Pine in it that works perfectly well with all the original interior.”


There are books and design furniture in the house which gives us clues about his sources of inspiration. Famous names like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Pierre Koenig to name a few. Anders continues to talk about how you, as a house owner, can minimize the risk of not feeling pleased with your home, and how to save money.

”Some people say that it takes three houses in your life to find the perfect home, but that is bullshit according to me. If you had hired an architect in the first place, you would have your dream home at the beginning for less than you paid while searching. People always ask me if it’s expensive to hire an architect, and my answer is: no, but it is however expensive to make mistakes.”