The Stockholm School of Economics welcomed its first students in 1909, with the founding charter from that same year establishing the school’s objective as strengthening the competitiveness of Sweden through science-based teaching and research. Science is thus at the core of SSE’s identity. Science, theorizing, and academic thought is what the Heckscher-Ohlin Room is a celebration of and a tribute to. The room is located at the very core of the School. It has the most prominent location in the building, right above the entrance, and in the middle of the piano nobile, the bel étage. To manifest the importance of scientific approaches, the room is infused with the highest aesthetic quality and attention to detail. The room combines international design and works by internationally renowned Swedish artists. Along with a chandelier by Lindsey Adelman, chairs by Mario Bellini, a sofa by Konstantin Grcic, and tables by Piero Lissoni, there are artworks by Charlotte Gyllenhammar, Bella Rune, Christian Pontus Andersson, and Jens Fänge.

The room serves as our faculty lounge, where we gather for academic celebrations. When entering the room, you encounter portraits of two prominent former SSE professors: Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin. The latter was the 1977 recipient of The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, partly for his work in collaboration with Heckscher, who passed away in 1952. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling has an almost organic form, like an enlargement of a model of something you expect to find in nature – a model of a molecule or a depiction of something organic. The chandelier is a first hint to what this room wishes to convey: a feel for models and theories that aesthetically combines beauty and a quest for understanding our world.

The huge wallpaper artwork by Jens Fänge both serves as a tribute to theory as to the history of our school. Charlotte Gyllenhammar’s photograph Whiz and Bella Rune’s virtual projections explore new surprising perspectives of otherwise taken-for-granted realities. The Heckscher-Ohlin Room also reminds us of the charm of serendipity in science. Christian Pontus Andersson’s buffoonish chef figure surprisingly pops out of the wall.

The design and refurbishment of the room were made possible through the very generous support of Nordiska Galleriet. The artwork by Jens Fänge was made possible by the generous support by Lena & Per Josefsson, Elisabeth & Martin Wiwen-Nilsson, and Carl Hirsch.

Excerpt from the "Hecksher-Ohlin Room: Introduction" by Lars Strannegård, President Stockholm School of Economics.