Work began in 1938 on building L.M. Ericsson’s new headquarters at Midsommarkransen in southern Stockholm. The open square in front of the building was named Telefonplan [Telephone Square] and since then the area became known as L.M. City. The company moved in the spring of 1940, when the Second World War was barely six months old.
In his book on this suburban “model village”, Anders Johnson describes L.M. City as a textbook example of “functionalist” architecture. The development embodies the ideas of Taylorism [scientific management] and functionalism and is characterized by Johnson as a “factory town,” but more mentally than physically. Ultra-modern, well-organized and patriarchal are three adjectives that have been used to describe L.M. City, where the company still has some minor operations today.
Illustration based on a rendering by Ralph Lysell in 1941.
Author: Svenolof Karlsson & Anders Lugn