A masterclass in camouflage and military architecture on the island of Gotland

“The client wanted to send a message that we weren’t going to just throw up some barracks,” says Henrik Jonsson Linton, an architect at Stockholm-based practice CF Møller. After winning a Swedish Fortifications Agency competition to design a new base for the P18 armoured regiment on the Baltic island of Gotland, the team at CF Møller decided to reimagine what a military complex could look like. The result is a garrison that defies convention, blending elements of functionality, security and architectural distinction into a striking, understatedly Scandinavian visual identity.

The Gotlands Garrison’s simple design belies its functionality. As well as sleeping quarters, there are offices, a canteen, several vehicle-repair workshops and a medical clinic. Because it’s the base of an armoured regiment, it needed to be spacious enough to allow vehicles and people to co-exist and work in high-pressure situations. “Basically, no one should get run over by a tank,” says Jonsson Linton.

The architects were also tasked with making the garrison’s buildings blend in with their heavily wooded surroundings, which would bring both strategic and aesthetic benefits. The challenge, says Jonsson Linton, was to preserve “the feeling of wild nature” while meeting the security standards of a modern army. It was a steep learning curve for the designers. Early proposals featured glass façades, which the military immediately ruled out because of the material’s delicate nature. Still, CF Møller managed to sneak in enough glass to filter some of the diaphanous Gotland light while conforming to the complex’s technical requirements.

Gotland is a logistical site that is crucial to Sweden and Nato’s strategy of deterrence and defence in the Baltics. There are plans to use it as a logistics hub if conflict ever breaks out between Russia and Nato. The Swedish Armed Forces has also announced its intention to create a combat group of 4,500 soldiers to be permanently stationed on the island – a key part of the 27,000 new recruits it hopes to add to the ranks by 2030.

When Monocle visits, 300 conscripts are being put through their paces. “The work that we do feels urgent and inspiring but we have a challenge: the combat group isn’t yet complete,” says Joakim Marklund, P18’s deputy regimental commander. “That’s why our international joint combat exercises are incredibly important, so that we can be a deterrent and still have enough time to produce the combat brigade.”

The garrison’s new residents seem content with their workplace. “It’s great that everything is new and clean,” says Cornelia Ohlsson, an armoured-vehicle gunner. “I wasn’t keen on doing national service but now I think that it’s really fun,” says Aram Shakeley, an armoured group commander. “It’s good to be part of something that’s being built from scratch.”

Looking out towards the woodlands that still cover much of the garrison, Tomas Ängshammar, a spokesperson for the P18 regiment, is already thinking about the next phase of development, in which thousands more soldiers will arrive to fill the base’s bunkrooms and pathways. “The challenge that we’re facing is that the geopolitical situation keeps changing,” he says. “But we can be flexible in how we’ll respond to that, thanks to this location.”