Martin Wickström: The Lighthouse Room

The Lighthouse Room – a text by SSE President Lars Strannegård

The Stockholm School of Economics main building at Sveavägen 65 was completed in 1926. While many classrooms still resemble their original appearance, both teaching methods and digital infrastructure have changed significantly over time. Renovations and new learning environments are therefore an important part of developing education at SSE.

One of the classrooms on the entrance floor, formerly known as Room 120 and located opposite the Aula auditorium, has been redesigned by Sweco Architects and is now called the Lighthouse Room by Sweco.

The Lighthouse Room is designed as a space for dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge creation. At the center of the room is a lighthouse-inspired structure seating up to 12 people in a circular formation intended to encourage equal participation and conversation. A fireplace placed in the middle contributes warmth and creates an atmosphere intended for discussion and reflection.

Surrounding the central structure are tables, chairs, and whiteboards designed for group work and smaller conversations. Blue curtains covering the walls improve acoustics while also evoking associations with water and the sea. Above them hang Martin Wickström’s eight lighthouse paintings.

Lighthouses have long held symbolic importance in culture, literature, and visual art. Historically, they have served as guides for navigation, but they have also represented ideas such as guidance, safety, solitude, and leadership. References to lighthouses can be found in works by artists and writers including J.M.W. Turner, Paul Signac, Edward Hopper, and Virginia Woolf.

The room also connects to Swedish innovation history through Gustaf Dalén, the Swedish engineer and Nobel Prize laureate whose lighthouse technology transformed maritime navigation in the early 20th century. His inventions allowed lighthouses around the world to communicate through distinct light signals.

Inspired by these ideas, Martin Wickström created eight highly detailed portraits of lighthouses from different countries. Although they belong to the same architectural tradition, each lighthouse has distinct individual characteristics. The paintings can also be understood as reflections on SSE’s international community, where shared academic values coexist with individual perspectives and experiences.

The Lighthouse Room was made possible through a generous donation from the Actum Foundation together with three SSE students from the Class of 1979.

Text by Lars Strannegård, President of the Stockholm School of Economics, written in 2023.