2011 ASF at SOM Grant Recipient Sara Patriksson

Sara Patriksson was born and raised in small town Sandsjöfors, southern parts of Sweden in 1984.  Starting out on her studies in Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture in 2005 meant moving to Copenhagen, Denmark. Prior her architecture studies she took classes in history and studied French in Switzerland. 

Spring 2008 Sara received her Bachelors’s degree in Architecture succeed by a year of internship and studies abroad. Following fall she supplemented her architecture studies with art classes at Weißensee Kunsthochschule sculpture department in Berlin. She participated in several art projects and exhibitions.
During her internship at Gonzalez Haase Architecture and Scenography in Berlin a great deal of her work dealt with the interaction of lighting and architecture. A special focus at the studio that primary works with spatial contexts for art and art-related activities as well as scenography and exhibition spaces.

Coming back to the Academy in Copenhagen Sara got accepted at the recently established international masters program founded in 2010.
During her master studies she decided to explore and develop her understanding of materiality and the potential in the transformation of existing spaces and buildings.

Going in to her masters year she travelled to Valletta, Malta ,in the Mediterranean, to study the materiality of the city and the possibility of development through the re-use of urban fabric. The studies resulted in her thesis project ”An Institute of Materiality”- the transformation of an abandoned dock into an apprenticeship school and material institute.

Receiving the 2011 years ASF AT SOM Fellowship right after her master’s degree meant moving from Copenhagen to New York to work with renowned architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.  After completing the initial three months’ of internship her stay with the firm has been extended and she is currently continuing her work at SOM.