In Sweden today, there are 3.7 thousand registered Swedish churches with the oldest being just over 900 years old. During the last thousand years the church has existed side by side with the Swedish society which has formed alongside of it. During a long period, the national registration was managed by the church with the parish being the most important community for the individual.

As modern Swedish society developed, its relationship to religion changed. The percentage of formal members in the Swedish church has dropped to 56%. Forecasts suggest that the number will drop to 30% by 2050.

In the year 2000, the church and the state separated. Since then the churches are formally owned by the Swedish church. However, the possibility of freely disposing of them is severely limited by legal protection (cultural heritage law). In compensation for the increased responsibility and additional costs for the individual parishes, a cultural heritage compensation (KAE) was introduced. This is a compensation that currently amounts to SEK 460 million per year.

Despite this number, it doesn’t fill the economic gap that the maintenance of these buildings creates. As a result of this 104 churches have been taken out of use since.

The trinity of Sweden, the state and religion is a complex matter and the fate of Swedens churches is still to be decieded. But the fact that cultural heritage is being torn down due to lack of interest, money and ignorance is something worth pointing out.

At the same time, the discussion of reuse has never been more relevant. So what if we could reprogram the function of these churches? Making the premises active once again.

This thesis work will start in the context of rethinking a Swedish church - How could a church be reprogrammed?

In this project, I wish to develop an understanding of how to manage a modern solution within a cultural and historic built environment. And by this creating a new experience of the church building in correlation to how our society functions today.