Steven Holl Architects-Knut Hamsun Center
Steven Holl Architects
Knut Hamsun Center
Hamaröy, Norway
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Knut Hamsun, Norway's most inventive twentieth-century writer, fabricated new forms of expression in his first novel Hunger. He went on to found a truly modern school of fiction with his works Pan, Mysteries, and Growth of the Soil.
The recently inaugurated Hamsun Center, dedicated to Hamsun, is located above the Arctic Circle, near the village of Presteid of Hamarøy where the writer grew up.
Photo © Steven Holl Architects
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
The building is conceived as an archetypal and intensified compression of spirit in space and light, concretizing a Hamsun character in architectonic terms.
The concept for the museum, “Building as a Body: Battleground of Invisible Forces,” is realized from inside and out. Here the wood exterior is punctuated by hidden impulses piercing through the surface: An "empty violin case" balcony has phenomenal sound properties, while a viewing balcony is like the "girl with sleeves rolled up polishing yellow panes."
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo © Ernst Furuhatt - Salten Museum
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Many other aspects of the building use the vernacular style as inspiration for reinterpretation. The stained black wood exterior skin is characteristic of the great wooden stave Norse churches. On the roof garden, long grass refers to traditional Norwegian sod roofs in a modern way.
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
The rough white-painted concrete interiors are characterized by diagonal rays of light calculated to ricochet through the section on certain days of the year. These strange, surprising, and phenomenal experiences in space, perspective, and light provide an inspiring frame for exhibitions.
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo © Steven Holl Architects
Photo © Steven Holl Architects
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
Photo: Nordland County Council / Tore Schöning Olsen
The Center includes exhibition areas, a library and reading room, a café, and an auditorium equipped with the latest film projection equipment. Hamsun's writings have been particularly inspiring to filmmakers, which is evident in the more than 17 films based on his work.
Sketch courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Site Sketch
Sketch courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Sketch
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Site Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Ground Floor Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
First Floor Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Second Floor Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Third Floor Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Fourth Floor Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Roof Plan
Drawing courtesy Steven Holl Architects
Section
Total area: 2,700 square meters
Completed: 2009
Client: Nordland Fylkeskommune (County)
Architects: Steven Holl Architects
Design architect: Steven Holl
Associate-in-Charge: Noah Yaffe
Design Development
Project Architect: Erik Fenstad
Project Team:
Gabriela Barman-Kraemer
Yoh Hanaoka
Justin Korhammer,
Anna Müller
Audra Tuskes
Structural Engineer: Guy Nordenson and Associates
Construction Documents
Associate Architects: LY Arkitekter AS
Project Team:
Francesco Bartolozzi
Ebbie Wisecarver
Structural Engineer: Rambøll Norge
Mechanical Engineer: Rambøll Norge
Mechanical Engineer: Ove Arup
Lighting Consultant: L'Observatoire International
Lighting consultant: Vesa Honkonen Architects
Landscape Architect: Landskapsfabikken
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