architectural photobook, house moving, husflyttningar, Northern Sweden, Umeå, vernacular architecture, de-growth, architectural photography, spatial politics, adaptive reuse, moving buildings, architectural archive.
WIDE LOAD [ BRED LAST ] A House Moved
TITLE: WIDE LOAD [ BRED LAST ] A House Moved
AUTHORS: Tonia Carless Robin Serjeant paula roush
James Benedict Brown Matthew Hynam
FORMAT: Monograph
PAGES: 268
DIMENSIONS: 14.8x 10.5 x 2 cm
PAPER: Uncoated matt
BINDING: Perfect binding
PROCESS: Indigo
COLOUR: Colour and black and white
PUBLISHER: msdm publications
PUBLICATION LICENSE: Creative Commons
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
YEAR: 2023
ISBN: 978-1-7391803-1-7
£19.99 online store here [ + ] note: this is for the A6 pocket size edition.
1st Edition for the opening of Smedjan UmArts
Umeå University Sweden
June 16 &17 2023
Support by Umeå University Sweden
Funded by UmArts A Small Visionary Project Award
2nd Edition for the the exhibiiton House_Flow
Form/Design Center Malmö in collaboration with Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx)
Sept 24 - Nov 23 2025
Support by Danish Arts Foundation and Architects Sweden.
The first iteration was a bookwork shown at
Relate North 10: Possible Futures Symposium
and Exhibition
Yukon University (Yukon School of Visual Arts)
University of the Arctic’s Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD), and the University of Lapland [exhibition here]
January 27 & 28 2023
[see bookwork here]
The third iteration is pocket sized for the travelling exhibition house_Flow Counter Move produced by Tonia Carless and Robin Serjeant with Sonja Lindgren, Magnus Mårtensson Nya Töre Husflyttningar.
house_Flow was first exhibited at The Copenhagen Architecture Biennial CAFx Slow Down at Form Design Centre Malmö Sweden 18 September-23 November 2025.
Counter Move is touring at: Society Expo 26 Skellefteå Wasteland Viewing Tower. A collaboration with The Oslo School of Architecture and Design 27 May-9 June 2026.
UmArts Research Studio for EURAU 26 European Research on Architecture and Urbanism Symposium Latitudes
at UMA School of Architecture
10-12 June 2026 and as part of the off-summit programme of The Arctic Arts Summit 15-17June 2026 at Umeå University Sweden.
The School of Architecture London South Bank University 28 September-1 October 2026
WIDE LOAD [BRED LAST] A House Moved is a collaborative photobook, architectural archive and research project by Tonia Carless, Robin Serjeant, paula roush, James Benedict Brown and Matthew Hynam.
The publication documents the relocation of a historic house in Umeå, Northern Sweden, exploring the cultural, technical and material significance of house moving (husflyttningar) as a vernacular architectural practice. Combining photography, essays, dialogues, drawings, models and archival research, the project examines the spatial politics of un-building, mobility and urban transformation within a context of ecological transition and de-growth.
Structured around a single house move undertaken in 2021, the book traces the building's journey from Teg to Degernäs while situating this event within broader histories of settlement, demolition, adaptation and architectural reuse across Norrland. Through photographic documentation and experimental forms of representation, WIDE LOAD [BRED LAST]A House Moved proposes house moving not as an anomaly but as a cultural practice that challenges conventional assumptions about permanence, ownership and the life cycle of buildings.
Published by msdm publications under a Creative Commons licence, the project has been presented through exhibitions, research events and public programmes in Sweden, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Contents
Preface Un-building as spatial dialogue and
moving buildings in Norrland page 7
1. Uplift page 11
Dialogue One: This is another Europe. A contextual
discussion situating the house page 35
2. The Move: Teg to Degernäs 10 Km page 45
3. Settling. After the move to Degernäs page 71
Dialogue Two: A very strange looking house and it appears to only lightly touch the ground. A discussion about the nature of the house, its interior and a small vision event page 85
4. Digital Model page 95
Essay: Moving materials and ways of life page 106
Essay: A house moved [Husflyttningar] page 122
5. Moving inside Degernäs page 139
6. Long load [Lång last] page 159
7. Sinking. Other lives of the cabin [Stuga] demolition page 175
Dialogue Three: What is this mound? A Discussion about the demolition of cabins at lake Nydala, their relation to the moving house, and a small vision event page 187
8. Sloyd model and other representations page 197
9. Husflyttningar as culture page 233
10. Ep[a]log event page 251
Volunteers Poster page 257
Acknowledgements page 260
Colophon page 264
