New Scandinavian architetcts
Undaunted by the shadow of Arne Jacobsen et al, a new generation of Scandinavian architetcts is making its mark. As the building industry gathers for the MIPIM real state market in Cannes, architet Jack Pringle takes a look at the major players.
words by Jack Pringle
blue sky thinking
Scandinavia was the envy of the architectural and design world last century and many an architect went north to learn just how good modern design could be in a civilised society. Denmark gave us Arne Jacobsen with his ‘Christine Keeler’ chair and his, still stunning, Copenhagen Danmarks Nationalbank building. Jacobsen designed Britain’s St Catherine’s College, Oxford, including everything from the building to the door handles, light fittings and cutlery. In Sweden, Ralph Erskine (a Glaswegian by birth) designed stunning and clever white painted housing above the snow line as well as the dramatic Cityterminalen in Stockholm and the famous Byker wall in Newcastle, UK. In Norway, Sverre Fehn crafted exquisite buildings that seemed to be part of the very earth and Norwegian landscape, and in Finland Alvar Aalto has left us the dramatic Finlandia Hall with its wonderful curvy acoustic ceiling as well as a million wiggly vases for our coffee tables and mantlepieces. All of this work (which is still worth making a detour to visit) bore a certain Scandinavian hallmark of modern purity and a reverent use of natural materials, implying health and, somehow, a democratic society. Indeed it was architecture for all.
But time moves on and the new century brings a batch of young guns who are keen to kick over the traces and forge a new Scandinavian architecture. Leading the charge for Norway is Queen Sonia who travels the world with her King Harald promoting cutting-edge Norwegian design with real understanding and passion. Prince Charles, look and learn! Norway’s Snøhetta
(the firm is named after a mountain not a person) burst on the international scene in 2002 with their spectacular angular wedge shaped design for the new Alexandria Library in Egypt. Since then they have completed a number of designs such as the Lillehammer Olympic Art Museum, the ill fated but brilliant pebble form Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate, England, and the competition winning design for the new Oslo waterside Opera House. This is a must for any visit to the Norwegian capital. Next from Snøhetta will be the National Academy of Arts in Bergen. A great five-storey high sweeping glass roof will cover the exhibition spaces, filling the building with light and dramatic spaces. At a simpler level, Jensen & Skodvin’s stone and glass church in the Oslo suburbs is worth a visit too for a moment of quiet enjoyment.
Henning Larsen’s ‘Wave
Residences’ along the
Vejlefjord, in Jutland,
Denmark (due 2009)Denmark has stayed on the pace with architects like Henning Larsen whose Copenhagen Opera House with its huge overhanging roof and beautiful bent timber-clad bowl of an auditorium has to be experienced if only for lunch, but preferably for a performance. Larsen’s Unibank Headquarters, also in Copenhagen, is a cool set of modern commercial buildings with courtyards open to the public. For a more contemplative experience, it’s worth visiting Schmidt Hammer and Lassen’s Copenhagen Royal Library with its black leaning facades, its huge atrium and wavy bridges to take you from one facility to another. Meanwhile Copenhagen-based 3XN is taking Europe by storm with competition wins. Their Bruun’s Galleri shopping centre in Århus or the beautifully lit renovation of the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen are good tasters of their work. But there’s a lot more stunning stuff in the pipeline including a theatre and jazz house in Molde, Norway, and a crystalline glass cube HQ for Deutsche Bahn in Berlin, plus housing projects in Mandal, Norway.
Meanwhile, Danish architect CF Møller is forging ahead with new designs for a floating hotel called the AquaDomi Star Hotel R200, an extension to London’s famous Natural History Museum with a ‘cocoon’ to house 28 million insect sample and three million plants as well as a huge (3bn euro) solar cell factory in Singapore. Another to watch is Bjarke Ingels with his new practice BIG, who is working on the Maritime Museum project in Helsingør as well as spectacular towers for the World Trade Center in Vilnius and a huge hotel and library in Copenhagen.
The Cube, Berlin, and
a new
theatre in Molde,
Norway being
built by
hot Danish firm 3XN
Thanks to James Bond and the film Die Another Day, Ake Larsson’s Swedish Icehotel is known by millions. This entire hotel is rebuilt each winter using 10,000 tons of ice and 30,000 tons of snow. All for the most fabulous, if chilling, experience. Back in the real world, Sweden still invests in top quality design, like Johan Celsing’s new stone, copper and timber-clad art gallery in Stockholm and Studio Grön’s Tradgar’n restaurant in Gothenburg.
Claesson Koivisto Rune continue the Jacobsen tradition of comprehensive design, working on architecture, furniture and products. Their Sfera shop in Tokyo is minimalist, timeless and playful at the same time. Indeed, their combination of modern form and abstract pattering confirms the notion that Adolf Loos’ doctrine “ornament is a sin” has run out of road in the 21st century.
So, has Scandinavia’s towering design tradition daunted its new generation of architects? Not a bit of it, and its young architects have the confidence to reinterpret what good design means today. What’s more, they have supportive governments and an appreciative public. Not to mention Queen Sonia.
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