Mark Bessoudo

📆 After a short hiatus, C20's Building of the Month feature returns, with new editor @markbessoudo Our building for July is the exquisite Valhallabadet in Gothenburg, Sweden, with words by writer and historian Veronica Hejdelind and photography by Jonathan Anders Hökklo. ✍ Designed by Nils Olsson and opened in 1956, Valhallabadet was once Sweden's largest public bath and swimming hall. Today, it represents an extraordinarily well-preserved example of the Swedish welfare state’s form and quality conscious architecture. The building manifests fundamental ideas of democracy, equality and public health in several ways. The most prominent feature is artist Nils Wedel’s giant 700 square metre modernist wall mosaics; depicting abstract wave movements, a beach ball and motifs evoking water, sun and summer. For 70 years it has been a popular meeting place for the community, attracting nearly half a million visitors annually, but now the building is theatened with demolition. In 2025, @europanostra - a leading citizens’ movement for protecting Europe’s cultural and natural heritage - listed the pool among the 7 Most Endangered Heritage Sites in Europe, while local NGOs, architects, writers and the community are fighting to save it. 🔼 Read the full entry on the C20 website: c20society.org.uk/building-o… ✊ Join the campaign to save Valhallabadet via Föreningen FASAD and @AcanSverige: foreningenfasad.se/

Building of the Month for September 2025: Chapel of Reconciliation, Berlin Reitermann and Sassenroth, 2000 @markbessoudo writes: 'It is said no other city treats memory so architecturally as Berlin. Set within the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, the Chapel of Reconciliation (Kapelle der Versöhnung) is easy to miss. A modest yet radical building of rammed earth and floating timber slats, and a reflection of its communitarian design and construction process.' ➡️Read the full article on our website: c20society.org.uk/.../chapel…...

EVENT: C20 Open Mic Night 📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm 📍The Gallery, Cowcross Street + Online 🎫 Book tickets: c20society.org.uk/events C20 Open Mic is back! Returning after a hugely popular debut, this event is an evening of short talks by young and early-career specialists in twentieth-century heritage. Focussing on the theme of housing and the domestic sphere, our five speakers will explore such topics as public art commissioned by Sainsbury's; Trellick Tower and community housing; UK housing and value; and Silver End, a 1930s new town built by Crittall Windows. Featuring: • Mark Bessoudo - writer and engineer • Skye Langmuir - urban designer at Alan Baxter • Laura Bucero Descalzo - urban designer at Broadway Malyan • Krista Evans - postgraduate researcher and Construction Manager at Hackney Borough Council • Helen Warner - heritage consultant at Alan Baxter