Kiala Wallace Orientation to Arch 001 Monaghan
Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn is known for
his amazing achievements. Sverre Fehn was awarded in
1997 both the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the
Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal. Recognized as one of
Norway’s most gifted architects Sverre Fehn is categorized as a modernist by many architectural writers. Fehn attended Oslo School of Architecture and received his degree in 1949. He went on to form an organization, the Norwegian branch of CIAM (International Congress of Modern
Architecture), called PAGON (Progressive Architects Group Oslo Norway) with Norberg-Schulz,
Grung, Mjelva and Vesterlid, and Jørn Utzon. PAGON had a philosophical influence that created architecture which had a firm foundation in the modern movement, however it was conveyed in terms of the materials and language of their own region and time.
At Sverre Fehn’s alma mater in Oslo in 1971 he became a professor of architecture until
1993. He have given lectures all over the world such as, the United States, Finland, Denmark,
Italy, and many more. Along with his international lectures, Fehn also does exhibitions in France at the Galerie des Beaux-Arts in 1965 and the International Congress of Modern Architecture in
1952; in Brazil at the Sᾱo Paulo Biennale of Architecture in 1957; Vasa University in Finland in
1964; and in Norway at the Munch Museum, Oslo in 1973; Gallery Palladio, Oslo in 1981 and at the Bergen Festival in 1982. Sverre Fehn was included in 1992 to the exhibition Five Masters of the North which toured Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Reykjavik, Madrid, and
Barcelona.
Fehn worked on a few museum projects during his career. Some of his museum projects include the Hedmark Museum 1967-1979, the Norwegian Glacier Museum 1991-2002, and the Kiala Wallace Orientation to Arch 001 Monaghan National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design 2003-2008. Besides his many museum projects,
Fehn has built various private residences. He does not believe that his rooms should dictate how people will live there but the opposite. He clarifies that at the beginning of any project, he has a discussion with the client about what they want, how they see the site. He then studies maps, photographs and the topography of the site, then he might make a model. Only after his dream of the building has had a chance to grow in his mind does he visit the site. Fehn does what some architects forget to do, think about the people who will be using that space. Some of his residential projects include a houseat ski, the villa kiso, the Brick House, the Sparre house, the Underland house, Villa Busk and the Schreiner house.
Sverre Fehn believes the most important portion of his architecture is especially, the construction, and harmony, rhythm, and honesty in the use of those materials. He believes the act of building brutal, and particularizes that, “When I build on a site in nature that is totally unspoiled, it is a fight, an attack by our culture on nature. In this confrontation, I strive to make a building that will make people more aware of the beauty of the setting, and when looking at the building in the setting, a hope for a new consciousness to see the beauty there, as well” (Fehn). With Fehn he considers light an additional form of material when it comes to any construction. He demonstrates this connection with his Venice Biennale Nordic Pavilion, it is built around the existing growing trees, and the design of the roof beams to diffuse the light from the sun deliver an interior exhibition space with a soft light characterized as Nordic.
Sverre Fehn was deeply moved by Prouvé’s ingenuity in undertaking complex problems of construction detail, but while in Paris, he was also intensely influenced by Le Corbusier. He prospered in finding a path between the opposing philosophies of hi-tech and brutalism which these two figures came to signify, a concern for the primitive from Le Corbusier. Around that time, Kiala Wallace Orientation to Arch 001 Monaghan he began lifelong relationships with his contemporaries Jørn Utzon and Giancarlo de Carlo, who were suspicious of increasingly canonic character of the modern movement. Morocco was also an inspiration for Sverre Fehn I the early 10950s. Fehn was able to both study and live in the adobe vernacular houses, and was impressed by its beauty. He seen these as clear and logical just as nature is itself. The Moroccan environment was just the opposite of Norway where Fehn works and lives. With the differences in climate and environment Fehn tries to create similarly responsive architecture for very different conditions.
Like many architects Sverre Fehn’s work progressed over the years, along with that a somewhat varied approach to different projects. His varied approach to different projects had an added emphasis on the choice of materials for construction, adding concrete and steel to his palette of wood timbers. In his most recent designs, it appears that he had unified all that has gone before achieving works that become a source of inspiration for everyone. Fehn was the type of architect that inspired while he kept improving. His imagination definitely took him farther in his life.