Münchenbryggeriet: The MobileHCI 2011 Conference Venue

We are proud to announce that Mobile HCI 2011 will be held in the beautiful old brewery, Münchenbryggeriet, located in the south part of central Stockholm. Münchenbryggeriet has a fantastic setting on the waterfront of Riddarfjärden in Stockholm, overlooking the City hall, where the reception will be held on the opening day of the conference. The building dates back to 1740 and has an intriguing history. The story goes that during the construction of the city hall, beer was transported on rowing boats across the water from the brewery to the construction workers. The brewery has also survived a fire and the threat of a demolition.

The old building, which today is a conference centre, was originally built in 1740 as a garment factory. The factory was built after an appeal from the king to the burghers to increase manufacturing in the area. The clothing manufacturing was later expanded with a production site for tiles and an investment was made in new technology, a steam engine.

In 1855 the garment- and tile manufacturing was sold and the premises was reconstructed into a brewery. The steam engine, however, remained as it proved to be necessary for the brewing operations to grow into an industry. The brewery was renamed “München’s brewery” (Münchens bryggeri) to evoke the idea of Bavarian beer that was popular at the time.

In 1893 a fire destroyed the brewery. A more efficient production facility using modern technology was built in its stead, which gave the brewery a huge advantage over their competitors. Beer was brewed in Münchenbryggeriet up until the 1970’s when the production was moved to a modern site outside of Stockholm.

The City of Stockholm bought the old brewery in 1974. The plan was to tear down the building to leave space for new housing. This caused massive protests from well-know artists, writers as well as over 20 000 people in Stockholm. The plans were eventually stopped and Münchenbryggeriet is today hosting a conference centre, a school, and a number of companies. The well know skyline of Södermalm (the south of Stockholm) has since then been kept intact.

The story goes that during the construction of the City Hall, boats with beer from Münchenbryggeriet, were rowed across the water of Riddarfjärden to the workers at the construction site. The same journey we will take with boats, across the water to the opening reception of the conference in the Golden Hall at The City Hall.

Welcome to Stockholm and Münchenbryggeriet!