A strategic military installation of the Swedish Armed Forces, located on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, is often referred to as P 18 or the Gotland Regiment. Following a period of demilitarization, the Nordic garrison on Gotland was officially re-established in 2018 to strengthen Sweden’s defense capabilities in the region.
The Swedish government decided in March 2015 to begin reestablishing a permanent military presence on the island, starting with an initial 150-troop garrison, consisting primarily of elements from the Swedish Army.
After winning a 2024 competition from the Swedish Fortifications Agency to design a new base for the P18 armored regiment on the Baltic island of Gotland, the team at the Stockholm-based architecture firm CF Møller decided to reimagine what a military complex could look like.
“We are proud and happy to have two projects in the final, and even more so to end up as winners. An important basis for the architectural quality can be found in the Fortifications Agency’s high ambitions for the re-establishment of the Armed Forces on Gotland,” says Henrik Linton, architect at C.F. Møller Architects, which has worked on the project together with the Fortifications Agency’s project manager Per Falkgren, among others.
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Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s accession to NATO, military readiness on Gotland increased, with the Swedish government spending 150 million euros to expand military infrastructure on the island.
The result is a garrison that defies convention, blending elements of functionality, security, and architectural distinction into a striking, understatedly Scandinavian visual identity.
Buildings for vehicles and machinery are clear volumes where the folded sheet metal of the facades reflects the verticality of the pines and the play of light. Dining hall, sports hall, administration, and other activities with people at the center have facades dominated by graying wood. The pine material engages with the colors and light of the limestone bedrock. Buildings with high safety requirements are constructed directly from the ground limestone and are made with light-pigmented concrete.
Thomas Ängshammar, a spokesman for the P18 regiment, says, “The challenge we’re now facing is that the geopolitical situation keeps changing. But we can be flexible in how we’ll respond to that, thanks to this location.”
The Nordic Garrison on Gotland, Tor Kjolberg reporting.
All images © CF Møller Architects (except photo of Per Falkgren).