Knut Hamsun Centre Norway, Norwegian Architecture, Photos, Project, News Arctic Circle Building : Project by Steven Holl Architects e-architect			World Architecture : index Building architect: Steven Holl Architecture News
Knut Hamsun Center : Architecture Information + Images
Knut Hamsun Center in Hamarøy, Norway Designed by Steven Holl Architects Opened August 2009 Knut Hamsun Center Hamarøy, Norway 1994 - 2009 Completed building photos by Steven Holl, received 11 Aug 2009: photos © Steven Holl Architects 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. This center dedicated to Hamsun is located above the Arctic Circle near the village of Presteid of Hamarøy near the farm where the writer grew up. photos © Steven Holl Architects The 2700-square-meter 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.) 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." photos © Steven Holl Architects 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. 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. photos © Steven Holl Architects Knut Hamsun Centre building images / information from Steven Holl Architects 110809 photographs © Ernst Furuhatt - Salten Museum Knut Hamsun Center : background information on the building Knut Hamsun Center design - Steven Holl Architects Another project by Steven Holl that uses indirect coloured light: Chapel of St Ignatius, Seattle, Washington, USA 1997 photo courtesy Marialaura Polignano Norway Buildings Norwegian Architects World Architecture : e-architect - a guide to key buildings across the globe Comments / photos for the Knut Hamsun Centre page welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk Knut Hamsun Centre Norway Building - page: adrian welch / isabelle lomholt			Buildings by this architect: Linked Hybrid Beijing Loisium Hotel Alsace University of Iowa building Swiss Embassy USA Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Shenzhen Skyscrapers Herning Center of the Arts Key Links: New Houses Architecture Studios Art Galleries Architects