The Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

My review of the Nordic Pavilion is now on Building Design online, have a look at it here.

This year, Sweden, Norway and Finland celebrated 50 years of the Sverre Fehn-designed Nordic Pavilion, which was inaugurated in 1962 with the original concept of bringing the Nordic Light to Venice. The exhibition, playing on this theme, is titled Light Houses and shows the work of thirty-two young architects born after the year of 1962­- eleven from Finland and Sweden, and ten from Norway- who have presented thirty-two small conceptual ‘houses’. Each participant’s installation responds to the spatial and atmospheric qualities of the Pavilion, while also being reflective of the architect’s own design principles. The result is simple, highly tactile and very Scandinavian.

The exhibition is all about experiencing the ‘Light Houses’, or elämys as the Finnish would call it, an enriching understanding of experience, that as curator Peter MacKeith notes, is not merely enjoyable in a directly physical way, or aesthetic in a cognitive awareness of forms and colours, but occurs to a profound depth of emotional resonance. This is what MacKeith is inviting you to do- come into this open house, walk among them, contemplate the designs, even touch a few if you would like- all a welcoming change from being brainwashed with endless information as with some of the other pavilions.

Images my own

The various works are elevated onto steel-legged pedestals, designed by Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa, a friend and colleague of Fehn. Many of these are at eye-level but some hover suspended at different heights, so you can inhabit them physically, by raising your head into them or bending down to peer through them.

Of a selected few, Tham & Videgård Arkitekter have presented a distilled version of their mirrored Tree Hotel in Harads, suspended in the midst of a deep wild forest in the north of Sweden. In Praise of Shadows Architecture have created Elma, a huge hunk of elm wood, treated on each side with variations in tactility, inviting the visitor to further alter it with their caresses. Similarly, JKMM Architects’ ‘Light House’ is a sculptural log of an ash tree, with its rotten core carved out, again the subtlety being in the different treatments of the surface. A frightened white rabbit stands on its hind legs for Haugen/Zohar Arkitekter’s entry, reminding us that in order to avoid extinction, the architectural profession needs to become more aware and adaptable. Another one to look out for, or listen out for, is Manthey Kula’s suspended grey felt speaker that plays the fictional dialogue between Sverre Fehn and Andrea Palladio. This is positioned next to an OSB board crate seat that is also used to transport the speaker, within the constraints of the 600x600x600mm cube set out by the curator of the Pavilion for all thirty-two entries.

In principle, the whole exhibition embodies the “essence” or “identity” of Nordic architecture, which was so well conceived in Fehn’s Pavilion by uniting interior and exterior. All the classic hallmarks of Nordic design are there, from simplified form, to the frugal use of materials, and a sensitivity to the natural site. This is something the Nordic countries are suggesting could be useful all over the world, with sobering economic constraints and diminishing environmental resources that currently limit architects in every nation. As Finnish historian Matti Klinge says, ‘to build ‘lightly’ is therefore to build responsibly and ethically’.

National Tourist Route, Havoysund by Reiulf Ramstad Architects

I know myself how appealing the landscape of Norway is. Towards the extreme north of Norway, near the Arctic Ocean, it's barren, inhospitable but wildly beautiful. This is where Oslo-based practice Reiulf Ramstad Architects has designed a winding concrete walkway to enhance the experience of walking from the roadside down to the seaside. Although a little tedious, you could just simply walk from A to B, the new addition re-focuses awareness of the visitor on the landscape and opens up the shoreline to all ages, with the addition of ramps, built-in benches and tables. 

Images: Reiulf Ramstad Architects 

Boathouse by Norwegian firm TYIN

Andreas G. Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad of TYIN tegnestue Architects tore down a dilapidated traditional Norwegian boathouse on the coastal Aure, recycled and reused some of the materials, to create a new building for recreational summer use. Previously used for storing boats and fishing gear, the old boathouse's good placement and honest use of materials became key sources of inspiration for the new addition. A gabled roof was kept, with part of the structure resting on bare mountainous rock and clad in Norwegian pine, that will weather to produce a soft grey patina. Backlit cotton canvas shutters open up the boathouse to create a sheltered outdoor area. 

Images: TYIN

Vennesla Library and Cultural Centre by Helen & Hard

Stavanger-based Norwegian practice, Helen & Hard have recently completed a library and cultural centre in Vennesia, which features 27 prefabricated timber and CNC cut plywood ribs. These ribs inform the geometry of the roof, as well as the undulating orientation of the interior spaces, which create personal study zones nestled in between them. Each enclave contains glass panes that serve as lighting covers, and integrated reading niches with shelves for books. From the main entrance these gradually shifting shapes can be seen from the exterior, creating an inviting public space with a symbiosis of structure, furniture and interior design. 

Images

Fantastic Antique Shop in Bergen, Norway

Whilst I was recently in Bergen, in the fjords of Norway, we visited this eclectic antique shop within the medieval cobbled streets. It was absolutely rammed, you could hardly move through the shop; there was countless piles of bric-a-brac, cameras, ornaments, china and military hats, balanced upon Norwegian taxidermy, musical instruments and wartime memorabilia.

Images: my own

Opera House Oslo by Snohetta

Below are a few photos of the Opera House in Oslo by Snohetta, which I recently visited. Certainly an icon on Oslo's harbour, the remarkable building acts as both a theatre inside and a platform for public space. Visitors can explore the building by climbing up it's slopes to the roof. One thing I didn't realise until I visited, however, was just how huge the Opera House is; this is an imposing building, making it's mark on Oslo's horizon. 

Images: my own. 

Steilneset by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois

Steilneset is a memorial on the edge of Vardø in Norway remembering the 91 people convicted of sorcery and burnt at the stake. The last major installation by artist Louise Bourgeois is contained within a building and information centre designed by architect Peter Zumthor. The monument stretches out into the stark Scandinavian landscape, a modern addition to remember the past crimes of a harsh era. Svein Ronning, curator of Norway's ongoing National Tourist Routes programme, invited Bourgeois and Zumthor to collaborate on the tourist attraction, as part of an ambitious scheme which involves man-made follies popping up across the Norwegian landscape. The open structure was inspired by the wooden racks used to dry the daily fish in the local villages, and contains a stretched canvas corridor. 91 windows, one for every victim, line this internal space, with solitary bulbs and pieces of silk describing their fate. Alongside this information centre is a black glass cube housing Bourgeois's artwork, The Damned, The Possessed and The Beloved.