Displaying Tor focuses on a people’s house called Tors lokal, located on Alnö, outside Sundsvall, in the middle of Sweden. The building was built in 1896 by sawmill workers from the Hörningsholm sawmill, who were engaged in the first labor movement group in the region. This report focuses on a contextualization of this people’s house—why it was built in the first place, a summary of the sawmill history and how the building’s usage has shifted over the years depending on the areas’ need for a place to meet. Lastly, the thesis uses Tors lokal in creating a method of how we, within the field of interior architecture, architecture, or similar professions can work with existing buildings. It stresses the significance in listening and getting to know a built structure. 

The thesis accentuates Tors lokal as it being one of the last standing buildings from the sawmill era, which I argue is crucial to preserve and take care of—as a tool for understanding the past to relate to the present. The report functions as an extension of the aim of Displaying Tor, enhancing the context of the building while the artistic work revolves around representation and displaying. The project aims to intertwine organizations in Sundsvall, which work with preservation of the sawmill era, to initiate discussions regarding Tors lokal’s continuous lifespan to relate it to our contemporary time as Tors lokal’s organization faces a shift in generation.  

Displaying Tor relies on quotes from the researcher Margaret Kohn, the artist Robert Smithson and relates to the artistic work in Öyvind Fahlströms’ installations.