The far reaches of , stretching from the polar circle to the northern cape at the 71st parallel, and to the Svalbard Islands even further north, is a vast landscape of islands, fjords and mountains. The vernacular architecture of the region’s fishing industry reveals a long and advanced building tradition along the coast. But the north, like many remote areas ILLUSTRATEDJC THE SÁMI PARLIAMENT around the world, has also provided a laboratory for modern architecture BERG MARTIN JAN 16 OF NORWAY (2000) Architect: Stein Halvorsen

RØED VILLA HOLMBOE (1988) Address: Avjovargeaidnu 50, Karasjok Architect: Blå Strek arkitekter since the Second World War. Bodø Town Hall (1962) 11 Info: www.sh-arkitekter.no Address: Conrad Holmboes vei 13, 1 Architect: Gudolf Blakstad Tromsø and Herman Munthe-Kaas Info: www.bluearchitecture.com Address: Gjerdåsveien 2, Bodø VEGAR MOEN VEGAR

GRUNNFØR BICYCLE SHELTER (2004) 6 Architect: 70° Nord Address: Austvågøy, Lofoten Info: www.70n.no INGEBJØRG HAGE

BO I NORD RESIDENTIAL AREA BODØ CULTURAL QUARTER (2014) (1988 – 1990) Architect: DRDH Architects 12 2 Architect: Various architects Address: Kvartal 100 – 105, Bodø Address: Olsgårdvegen 17, Tromsø Northern lights Info: www.drdharchitects.co.uk NORWAY — TEXT: JOAKIM SKAJAA, ILLUSTRATION: SYLVAIN TEGROEG FANNY SCHERTZER FANNY

This has especially been the case in the post-war pe- This period of rebuilding, spanning from the war’s different modes of practice. Knowledge of local con- ANDERSEN TORBJØRN VADSØ CHURCH (1954 – 1958) riod, but also in more recent decades when the relative immediate aftermath to the late 1960s, also provided ditions, both physical and social, were used as Architect: Magnus Poulsson CHURCH (1971) 17 distance from the mainstream of the country’s south- a generation of architects the possibility to build a a starting point. Collaboration and participatory Address: Amtmannsgt 1B, Vadsø 7 Architect: Oskar Norderval ern parts has provided a clean slate for different, more large number of churches, town halls, schools, swim- processes were important to both co-housing proj- Address: Årstein, Gratangen concentrated discussions. Right now, the landscape ming complexes, cultural centres and other public ects and urban planning processes. Knut Eirik Dal NILS PETTERNILS DALE

is shifting and the northern areas are taking a more buildings. Some, like Jan Inge Hovig, assembled and Nils Mjåland of Blå Strek are significant as pre- HOLMSTAD GUNNAR central position with their proximity to large-scale a substantial oeuvre in just a few years. In the early decessors for later offices like 70° Nord and Dahl & SVALBARD SCIENCE CENTRE (2005) climatic and economic developments in the Arctic. 1950s, pre-war national modernism, where an inter- Uhre, and Tromsø is this era’s undeniable centre. 13 Architect: Jarmund Vigsnæs Architects national style mixes with hints of local folklore, is In a kind of late post-modern period, a more for- Address: Hilmar Rekstens vei, The cities and villages of were Longyearbyen heavily impacted by the war, both in its early days, apparent, while in the ’60s a more simple international mal approach to architecture has been developed. Info: www.jva.no when the key port city of was contested, and style took its place. Magnus Poulsson represents the Associations with indigenous culture and natural towards the war’s end. Many cities were completely pre-war generation, while Jan Inge Hovig is a repre- phenomena (icebergs, ice sheets and the Northern destroyed, making planning for a complete recon- sentative of the post-war generation. The latter Lights) are taken as starting points for architectural struction necessary. This effort, called the ‘Planning finished his architectural education in 1946 and went forms. More recently, the northern part of Norway

of Burned Places’, is the reason many of these small on to hold the position of city architect in Narvik, has experienced a major shift, from remote outpost JMA GUNNAR HOLMSTAD GUNNAR cities and villages on the northern edge of Europe heading the rebuilding there from 1947 to 1950. to the centre of rapid transformation. This change is TROMSDALEN CHURCH (1965) SALT ART AND ARCHITECTURE are not organically grown settlements but classically Through the 1980s and early ’90s, a series of in- fuelled by the discovery and exploration of energy Architect: Jan Inge Hovig FESTIVAL (2014) 8 planned, with ordered streets on clear grids oriented teresting projects were realized that questioned the resources on the seabed, as well as the withdrawal 3 Address: Hans Nilsens veg 41, Tromsø Architect: Sami Rintala with towards the distant mountain ranges. existing architectural production, trying to develop of the ice sheets and resulting geopolitical implica- international students tions. It is a time also characterized by an increasingly Address: Sandhornøya, Gildeskål

TOUR GUIDE TOUR Info: www.salted.no

international architectural production. Architects SKOVANG HEGE Exploring a from abroad are given important projects, and local city, region, POLARBO RESIDENCE (1994) or theme architects are more rapidly influenced by global Architect: Steinsvik Arkitektkontor

14 SCHERTZER FANNY 15 practice, hyperlocal movements and DIY spirit. Address: Lia, Vei 234 Info: www.steinsvikarkitektkontor.

JAN MARTIN BERG MARTIN JAN VARDØ CHURCH (1958) blogspot.nl For international travellers, Bodø is a good place Architect: Eivind Moestue 13 14 ALFHEIM SWIMMING HALL (1965) 18 to arrive, with the possibility of reaching the Lofoten Address: Søndre Langgate 2, Vardø 9 Architect: Jan Inge Hovig archipelago, and Tromsø from there. Address: Alfheimveien 23, Tromsø 12 Distances are vast, but travel options are varied.

11 19 There are many local flights, and the Hurtigruten TORBJØRN 9 cruise line brings travellers by sea from in KNUT HAMSUN CENTRE (2009) 8 18 the south to Kirkenes in the north-east. 4 Architect: Steven Holl Architects Bodø is the main city of Nordland, the southern- Address: 8294 Hamarøy 10 17 Info: www.stevenholl.com most of northern Norway’s three counties. The city was rebuilt after the war with an urban plan that combines classical ideas with a strong relationship RIESTO BJARNE 16 to the surrounding nature. The town hall (1) by 5 Gudolf Blakstad and Herman Munthe-Kaas was com- 7 pleted in 1962. The centrally located building has 6 clear pre-modern references, with a bell tower and main hall on the piano nobile. In 2012, Danish firm Atelier Lorentzen & Langkilde won the competition 4 for a new addition to the building, which is a good TORBJØRN ANDERSEN TORBJØRN DAVID GRANDORGE DAVID VEGVESEN WÆHLER/STATENS J.

HARSTAD CHURCH (1958) SVALBARD HOUSING (2009) STEILNESET MEMORIAL (2011) 1 ‘ The region has experienced Architects: Jan Inge Hovig Architect: Brendeland & Kristoffersen Architect: Peter Zumthor,

5 BERG MARTIN JAN 15 19 Address: Åsveien 2, Harstad Address: Vei 230, Longyearbyen Louise Bourgeois a major shift, from remote Info: www.bkark.no Address: Andreas Lies gate 9950, GRØNNEGATA 21 – 23 (1986) Vardø 3 2 outpost to the centre 10 Architects: Blå Strek arkitekter Info: www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en/ Address: Grønnegata 21-23, Tromsø varanger/steilneset of rapid transformation. ’ Info: www.bluearchitecture.com

58 A10 #60 TOUR GUIDE TOUR GUIDE A10 #60 59 (Northern lights) ning and the actual building of their new home. IN THE NEXT ISSUE: starting point for a tour of the city that should also From 1988 to 1990, the building exhibition Bo i nord include the new cultural quarter (2). Due to open in (‘Living in the North’) was organized in Tromsø (12), EUROVISION: HUNGARY late 2014, it is based on a 2009 competition win by and included projects by Blå Strek, Div.A, Steinsvik In recent years, Hungary has witnessed significant British practice DRDH. The three buildings in the Arkitekter, Bjerk & Bjørge and others. The exhibition, economic, political and social changes. The quarter reference the city’s existing buildings, like the just outside the city centre, is organized around an economic crisis slowed the construction industry, much older town hall, and develops a new relation­ Arctic park and includes several interesting housing forcing many architects to venture into design ship to the landscape. It includes a theatre, concert projects that take both the location and the need for and technology. The government’s centralizing hall, new library, cafés and exhibition spaces. more social housing developments as their starting tendencies and budget cuts resulted in a gap A 45-minute trip by high-speed passenger boat point. Blå Strek’s Punktet is a series of three houses in social services, inviting a focus on community takes you to Sandhornøya and the SALT art and connected by an outdoor pergola, while Octupus by cohesion and public space. In the meantime, architecture festival (3). Now in its first year, the Løvstakken and Sundlisæter is a complex with almost Budapest has become one of Europe’s party capi­ festival is situated on a large white beach surrounded one fifth of floor space set aside as common areas. tals, with interior design driving the commer­ by mountains and looking out on the northern archi­ cialization of entire neighbourhoods. Eurovision pelago. The project consists of a group of buildings Svalbard, while mostly visited for its untouched na­ Hungary outlines these trends, exploring the (including a grand hall, sauna and living quarters) ture and the Aurora Borealis, also has a few archi­ complexity of practicing architecture in the con­ created by Sami Rintala and international groups of tectural gems. Longyearbyen, a small city of about temporary Hungarian landscape. students. The event will remain at its current location 2000 inhabitants, is the centre of these remote is­ until September 2015, when it heads off on a nomadic lands. The city was established as a mining town, journey through the Arctic territories.* but as mining activity dwindled, its focus has be­ The Knut Hamsun Centre (4) in Hamarøy is a two- come more centred on research. The Svalbard hour drive up the coast from Bodø. Based on a 1994 Science Centre (13) by Jarmund Vigsnæs Architects competition win by Steven Holl, the centre, a black is a university education and research institution that tower with characteristically coloured balconies and also incorporates the Svalbard Museum. The build­ grass roof, makes poetic links between Hamsun’s ing envelope is based on studies of climate, wind character, writing and nature. and snow, remotely echoing the earlier Polarbo res- Harstad, a small city 130 kilometres further up the idence (14) by Steinsvik Arkitektkontor. Polarbo’s coast, could be a starting point for a tour of the beau­ overall shape is intended as a plough cutting through tiful Lofoten archipelago. The town is home to the the region’s harsh winds. All the apartments open ↑ Spring Wind House by Architecture Ucomfortable Workshop Harstad Church (5) by Jan Inge Hovig. An early onto a shared corridor, where a communal living example of his work, it is clearly influenced by the room and crafts room are situated. A more recent READY work of earlier Norwegian modernists, with its slate project is Brendeland & Kristoffersen’s small,three- September saw the opening of the Tadeusz roofs and natural stone walls. unit housing project (15) for the Store Norske min­ Kantor’s Art Documentation Centre (alias The national tourist road in Lofoten starts in ing company. The structure’s extremely restrained ‘Cricoteka’), which is an expansion of the Museum Raftsundet, a couple hours south of Harstad, and detailing, reminiscent of surrounding houses, lends of Tadeusz Kantor. Located along the Vistula continues for 200 kilometres until it reaches Å a great deal to its character. embankment in Kraków, this public building takes (Moskenes), a small town at the southernmost tip of in a former power station spanned by a striking, the archipelago. The tourist road includes a series of Bordering both Russia and Finland, Finnmark is the bridge-like structure. In 2007, A10 correspondents small buildings conceived by architects like Snøhetta, most northern of Norway’s counties, and largest by Roman Rutkowski and Lukasz Wojciechowski Jarmund/Vigsnæs, Manthey Kula, and 70° Nord area. Karasjokk, in the eastern parts of the plains wrote about the first outlines of the project, which (see www.nasjonaleturistveger.no for routes and that form the majority of this region, is the adminis­ foreshadowed a busy and lively future. Coming projects). The latter made a small tower at Grunnfør trative centre of the Sámi population. The Sámi up, we return to see if it lives up to its promises. (6) that provides both a protected place to take in Parliament of Norway (16) by Stein Halvorsen is the beautiful views and a bicycle shed. based on a 1996 competition win. The architecture Driving north, stop in Tromsø Gratangen, where is strongly influenced by indigenous construction, Oskar Norderval’s Gratangen Church (7) is well worth especially the lavvu (Sámi temporary dwelling), es­ a visit. Built in untreated concrete and glass, it makes tablishing the ‘Sámi style’ in northern architecture. a strong impression in the landscape. The flat roof is Vadsø, a three-hour drive along the eastern border contrasted by two triangular concrete slabs standing and situated on the northern shore of the Varanger at 90 degrees. While clearly ‘brutalist’, their reference Fjord, is home to the fantastically eclectic Vadsø to ships’ sails on the fjord below is an early example Church (17) by Magnus Poulsson. It is built in the of the associative formalism of later decades. same place as an older church, but the direction of the building is changed from the usual east-west WEBBER AND STORMANN Tromsø is the largest city in northern Norway and orientation to north-south, in alignment with the ↑ Cricoteka by Wizja and nsMoonstudio the second-largest city north of the polar circle. It is new city grid. This concrete church’s most remarkable easy to reach, with an airport only ten minutes’ drive features are its two imposing towers topped with a OFFICE from the city centre. Most of the city is built on an large gable. The Dutch office cepezed has tripled in size since island, and Jan Inge Hovig’s church, nicknamed the The final stop in Finnmark is the small island the 1990s, and now counts about 50 employees. Arctic Cathedral (8), stands at the point where the city of Vardø, on the most north-eastern tip of the Recently, the firm moved into a self-designed bridge from the city reaches the mainland. The country. In this small town can be found Eivind office space located in a century-old monument church is one of the most well-known buildings in Moestue’s Vardø Church (18). Built in 1958, it has a in Delft. The conversion comprises three halls Norway. Instantly recognizable, it immediately be­ long, narrow interior with concrete pillars. The high, once built to house the laboratory of the Depart­ came the city’s icon upon completion in 1965. Hovig thin triangle that forms the bell tower lends the struc­ ment of Mechanical and Naval Architecture of is also the architect behind the Alfheim municipal ture a distinct identity. On the western coast of the the Delft College of Technology (now TU Delft). swimming pool (9). The main pool is surrounded by island, a ten-minute walk from the city centre, is the Cepezed transformed the brick structures into a large glass wall giving unobstructed views towards Steilneset Memorial (19). A collaboration between a single, multi-company building, wherein the the impressive mountains surrounding the city, the Peter Zumthor and artist Louise Bourgeois, it com­ largest hall accommodates their own staff. roof seemingly floating above. memorates the 17th-century trial and execution of Since the 1980s, Tromsø has been home to a 91 people for witchcraft. It comprises two structures: strong community of architects producing a series a long building of wood and textile where each victim of innovative housing projects. Blå Strek (‘Blue Line’) is memorialized through a small window, and a com­ Architects was run by Knut Eirik Dahl, Gunnar pact glass building containing Bourgeois’ contribu­ Hageberg and Nils Mjaaland. Their housing project, tion, her last work before she died in 2010. Grønnegata 21 – 23 (10), contains family housing, The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø hosts offices and a small gallery. The architecture is an a comprehensive online guide to architecture in eclectic mix of elements found in the area’s tradition­ northern Norway (www.ub.uit.no/baser/arkinord). al wooden houses and more classical architectural Writing this guide would have been difficult without LINDERS JANNES elements. Villa Holmboe (11) is another housing it as a source for project details and images. ↑ Cepezed’s office in a heritage-listed building, 2014 project where the idea of community is strong. It has two wings of apartments and a small tower with * Unfortunately the first autumn storm caused severe damage ...and much more. A10 #61 issue will be published to some of the installations and the exhibition is currently closed communal spaces. Residents took part in both plan­ for rebuilding. Check the website for updates (www.salted.no). 1 January 2015.

60 A10 #60 TOUR GUIDE