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Telefonplan: the telephone works and the design school
architecturequirky

Telefonplan: the telephone works and the design school

The old Ericsson factory turned art school, a tower you can colour from your phone, and a village high street.

Photo: Michal Kopec / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

3 km

Time

~ 70 min

Difficulty

Easy

End

Midsommarkransen (T-bana)

Best at

afternoon

Right now
18°C· Clear

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

The south-west doesn't draw many visitors, which is exactly why Telefonplan is worth the trip. This was LM Ericsson's telephone works — telefon, the clue's in the name — a 1930s–40s functionalist factory complex that has become an art school and a creative quarter without erasing the industry it grew from.

Three kilometres, gentle, mostly around a handful of streets. Come up at Telefonplan and the old factory blocks are on top of you. The 72-metre tower is the landmark: its upper windows are Colour by Numbers, a 2006–07 installation anyone can light from a phone — though check it's running before you plan around it.

Konstfack, Sweden's art-and-design university, has filled the converted factory halls since 2004; the degree shows and ground-floor spaces are open, and the long industrial bays are the show. Walk north-west through LM-staden, the 1940s workers' housing, and the factory turns into a neighbourhood.

End on Midsommarkransen's high street — yellow houses, craft studios, small shops — and the T-bana, where a wooden midsummer wreath has hung from the ceiling since 1979.

The route

On the map.

Elevation

55 m·56 m·4053 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

  1. 01
    1

    Telefonplan station

    The metro stop named after the telephone works — *telefon* is exactly what it sounds like. Come up and the LM Ericsson buildings are right there, yellow-grey functionalist blocks from the 1930s and 40s. The whole walk fits in the few streets around you.

  2. 02
    2

    The LM Ericsson tower

    The 72-metre landmark spire of the old factory. Its upper windows are an art installation — *Colour by Numbers*, made 2006–07, which anyone can light in any colour by calling a free number or using the app. Verify it's running before you build a visit around it; check the colour at dusk if you can.

  3. 03
    3

    Konstfack

    Sweden's university of arts, crafts and design, in the converted Ericsson factory halls since 2004. The ground-floor spaces and the term-time degree shows are open to the public; the building itself — long industrial bays now full of studios — is the reason to look in.

  4. 04
    4

    LM-staden streets

    The workers' housing the company built around the factory — *LM-staden* — low blocks and greenery laid out as a planned community in the 1940s. Walk north-west through it toward Midsommarkransen; the shift from factory to neighbourhood happens in a couple of blocks.

  5. 05
    5

    Svandammsplan

    The little square at the foot of Midsommarkransen's high street, with the old *Tellus* cinema nearby. The village centre of this corner of the south-west — benches, a few cafés, the IK Tellus sports club's home turf.

  6. 06
    6

    Midsommarkransen high street

    The high street proper — small shops, makers and craft studios, yellow houses with red roofs. Walk it to the *Midsommarkransen* T-bana, where a wooden midsummer wreath hangs from the platform ceiling, made by locals in 1979.