The timely aspect of space constituted the point of departure for the Nordes summer school workshop for doctoral students in design in August 2006. The workshop took place in Suomenlinna, or Sveaborg, which is the Swedish name of this historical citadel, or a group of fortified islands just outside of Helsinki. The focus of interest for the workshop was also Suomenlinna’s hybrid character. Historically speaking, both Swedish, Russian, and Finnish, culturally speaking both heritage site, everyday environment , and recreational retreat; Suomenlinna did indeed evoke many stories, more or less political or personal; grand as well as minor narratives. Yet, while in many historical sites you would find an official History deliberately exposed and defined, in Suomenlinna History has been contested and reconstructed at various points, in a peculiar way leaving traces of excluded, minor or even micro narratives behind – rumours, wandering myths, smalltalk. The aim of the workshop was therefore the investigation of the islands from the point of view of its micro narratives, its gossip, its elusive narrative practices and their distribution and organization in and as space.