SVERRE FEHN: CONDUCTING A NORDIC LIGHT WITHIN THE VENITIAN CLIMATE SHANE PHELAN DT101 - 4 DUBLIN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE 13 - 05 - 2013
1. Sverre Fehn Concept Sketch of Pavilion
http://anopensketchbook.tumblr.com/post/32208640593/sketch-section-of-thenordic-pavilion-by-sverre
CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION NORDIC LIGHT IMAGES NORWEGIAN ROOTS IDENTITY AND PLACE NORWEGIAN PSYCHOLOGY NORDIC LIGHT THROUGH ART THE NORDIC PAVILION NORDIC PAVILION DRAWINGS PAVILION DRAWINGS SVERRE FEHNS LEGACY ENDNOTE BIBLIOGRAPHY WRITTEN REFERENCES IMAGE REFERENCES
2. Photo of Pavilion Interior
PREFACE The soft homogenous light first engulfs you, while an air of quiet ambience descends; the edge is suddenly removed from the bright Venetian atmosphere. These are my personal recollections of first entering Fehns Nordic Pavilion. One seems to develop a gentler mood almost subconsciously upon entering and it was as if i felt an instant appreciation for the exhibition on show. I did not fully acknowledge this at the time however looking back it would seem to be directly related to the atmosphere created within the Pavilion. Since this first trip to the Venice Biennale, my mind has been predominantly occupied, not by the vast array of architectural ideas on show but more with Sverre Fehns Nordic light box. As such I felt compelled to explore how an architect goes about conducting such a feat and subsequently this has become the question of my dissertation.
3. Photo of Pavilion Exterior
INTRODUCTION The Nordic Pavilion on the Grounds of the Guardini in Venice is a building which was designed to embody a Nordic presence. A structure that would characterise the Scandinavian countries of Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Yet the architect, Sverre Fehn in his design abandoned fundamental elements of Nordic construction and materiality, and instead choose to focus on creating a Nordic lighting quality using the more international modernist style and materials sourced locally. The project became about retelling a familiar Nordic story using a foreign language. The concrete pavilion becoming a metaphysical house of the North and working as a play between light and the integration of nature. The building itself retains a lot of the elements commonplace to the modernist buildings from Norway, built by Fehn, his peers and also the people who influenced him as he developed his trade. To fully understand Fehns ideas and thinking’s behind the Pavilion, one must first delve back into his roots in Norway, examine his teachings, travels, and influences that lead him up to this point in his career. Yet as we explore his early years, which will comprise of the first part of my essay, we must simultaneously trace the development of modern architecture in Norway throughout the 20th century. This will give a general understanding of the architectural world within which he grew up into, and should allow us to see how he developed his own style of architecture. The pavilion captures a Nordic light and portrays a Nordic identity within Venice, yet what is it that constitutes Nordic? The second part of this essay will explore the idea of place and identity. This will be a look at Nordic culture and what it is that shapes their mind-set. Within Scandinavia and Norway in particular there is a national consciousness of what a building must be this due to the harsh environment that has led to introvert housing, where everything is focused within, consolidating warmth and personal interaction. This national Norwegian psyche will be explored through a psychoanalytical perspective, and there will be an attempt to try to define what exactly it means to be Nordic. This will involve a look into Scandanavian literature and art, with painting
4. Map of Venice showing Giardini Grounds, https://maps.google.ie/
being of priority. Then drawing from part one, we will be able to see if this has impacted on Norway’s architectural development. Finally we must look also at how these thinking’s have manifested themselves within Fehns own style and in particular within his pavilion in Venice. The essay will then develop and become a detailed study of the pavilion itself, tracing its progress from the initial conceptual stage, through to its construction and development. There will be an exploration into Fehns structural intentions through analytical drawings and finally materiality. We will then observe the Nordic pavilions orientation and situation in Venice as a whole later on then cross referencing the pavilion against some of Fehns influences. In particular there will be a focus on the work of Arne Korsmo, whose love for the poetics in architecture greatly influenced Fehn whilst under his tutorship at the Norwegian Academy of Craft and Art Industry. Korsmo designed Villa Dammann in 1932 and it is seen as his masterpiece. It will be of interest to note if a positive correlation can be derived from both Korsmos Villa and Fehns Pavilion. Villa Dammann subsequently became Fehns home in later years and as such its design may have influenced him. Sverre Fehn has been working since he graduated in 1949 yet it wasn’t until 1997 that he was awarded the Pritzker prize, praising his years of work. This accolade showing that it is only in more recent years his architecture is truly being appreciated. As such the essay will conclude with a final brief look at the legacy Sverre Fehn has left, from the gardens of the Guardini in Venice to being recognised as one of the pioneers of Nordic architecture.
5. Map of Giardini showing Pavilion Orientation, https://maps.google.ie/
NORDIC LIGHT
6. Interior of the Nordic Pavilion showing soft shadowless exhibition space http://openhousebcn.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/trees-nordic-pavilion-sverre-fehnvenice-biennale-openhouse/
7. Norwegian sea in winter
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/198566
8. Norwegian Mountains
http://www.nordiclandscapes.com/Mountains-Winter/
9. Lillehammer, Norway
http://cloverssiteforblogging.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/norway-the-landscape-andthe-snow/
NORWEGIAN ROOTS “Architecture is a manifestation of the environment in which it is placed.” observes Christian Norberg–Schultz (1996) Nowhere is this statement more relevant than in the harsh climate of the countries of the north. Age old techniques having been used for centuries are often still employed in construction, where a consciousness of the surrounding environment is always present. Stave construction is the exemplar for Norway. Over a thousand stave churches were built throughout the country during the Middle Ages, these being of post and lintel wooden frame construction. These buildings enjoyed longevity without rot and decay due to the architectural innovations that prevented moisture and wind penetration, and also resistance against extremes in temperature. There are currently over one hundred and fifty still standing today and these buildings and this form of construction are quintessentially Norwegian.
11. Oslo City Hall, Arneberg and Poulsson (1931) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oslo_City_hall.jpg
Backers first building the Skansen restaurant in Oslo was a partial fulfilment of Le Corbusier’s five points of architecture as set out in his book, Towards a new Architecture (1926) and is seen as the first modernist building constructed in Norway. Le Corbusier five points were a set of architectural principals that he developed throughout his early career that defined his modernist ideas. These five points were; the use of pilotis, roof gardens, an open plan, a free façade and horizontal strip windows. Backers Skansen restaurant maintained a free plan through the use of concrete columns (pilotis) and also incorporated a free façade with banded windows, all elements of Corbusier’s teachings.
10. Heddal Stave Church, Notodden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stavechurch-heddal.jpg
Norway only gained its independence from Sweden in 1905 and as such, out of all the Nordic countries its early architectural progression has been the most passive. (Norberg Schultz: 1986). After becoming a sovereign state Norway’s first national style came in the form of National Romanticism in 1906. This was pioneered by Arneberg and Poulsson, where they drew from Swedish influences, and incorporated Norwegian motifs into their decorative and robust buildings. This trend began to give way to the Roman and Greece inspired Neoclassicism in the 1920s, yet this was shunned by the Norwegian people, seen as an intrusion of their natural environment, an international style were beauty and aesthetics were often chosen over functionality. It wasn’t until 1926 that Lars Backer became the first protagonist to this by promoting functionalism, exclaiming, “We will create architecture that suits the age we live in, one that is adapted to the materials we build with, the form will be determined by function.” (Norberg - Schultz, 1986 p.47) The Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany was also built in 1926, as modernism began to spread around Europe.
12. Skansen Restaurant, Oslo, Lars Backer (1926)
http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentatorer/sandberg/Nar-kulturminnevernet-river-6269624.html#.UZBEY7WsiSo
Two years previous to this, Sverre Fehn had been born in 1924 in Kongsberg, Buskerud. He studied his architectural degree as part of the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry and gained his degree in 1949. At the time Arne Korsmo was head of the school of Architecture and his ideas about the poetics in architecture had a huge impact on the young Fehn. Korsmo himself first encountered modernism while he worked for Bryn and Ellefsens office in 1926-1927 and following this he travelled to the US where he studied the works of Louis Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies Van Der Rohe. Korsmos father was a plant biologist and taught his son to study the detail and symmetry in nature during his youth. These ideas started to evolve once Korsmo began to study architecture. He began to form organic ideas, about an architecture being based upon the natural
world, and these ideas became conjunctive with the poetics he saw in building. He saw that the natural rhythms and dimensions that occurred in nature could be transferred to design. Fehn as a student at the time soaked up these ideas and they became intrinsic to how he himself began to think about design. Korsmo had been an integral part of the functionalist trend that had emerged in the 1920s and was one of the first protagonists alongside Lars Backer and Ove Bang against the neoclassical style previous to this. He employed the teachings of CIAM (Congres International d`Architecture Moderne), having himself just graduated at the same time as the beginning of the Bauhaus school in Dessau in 1926. The Congres International d`Architecture Moderne was a group of twenty eight European architects set up in 1928 by Le Corbusier, Sigfried Geidion and Hèlène de Mandrot, which Eric Mumford discusses in The CIAM discourse on Urbanism, 1928 - 1960 (2000). Walter Gropius and Alvar Aalto are two other notable members who joined CIAM later in 1929. The group held eleven conferences between 1928 and 1959 throughout Europe and were responsible in formalising the majority of modern architectures principals. CIAM also saw the political and economic advantages of their influence and were responsible for a lot of urban planning initiatives used in post war Europe. This focus on urban planning began after the fourth Conference in 1933 which took place on route from Marseille to Athens. The focus here was on the functional city, the principals of which were published by Corbusier in the Athens Charter in 1942. The city of Brasilia in Brazil completed in 1960 is the foremost example of these ideas. Korsmo and to a lesser extent Knut Knutsen (who also taught at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry up until 1947) imparted the modernist thinking’s of Corbusier and the architectural principals laid out in CIAM onto their students. Fehn in particular took exception to these modern ideals and used them as a basis for his future work In 1949 Fehn along with another young graduate and friend, Geir Grung won an international competition for a craft museum in Maihaugen, which employed many of the modernist traits schooled into them. On reflection the building actually showed what where to become the characteristics traits of Fehns architecture for years to come. Norberg – Schultz discusses these characteristics in his essay; The Architecture of Sverre Fehn (1997). These being firstly, that adaption to the site does not require a subjection to the natural conditions, more so a significant opposition is employed, where structure can be used to find solutions among the natural elements. Secondly the use of modular repetition when forming plans and finally that construction becomes the primary form of expression. (Each of these traits can be clearly seen on viewing of Fehns Nordic Pavilion.) Concurrently as the museum was being built, Siegfried Giedion approached Arne Korsmo about setting up a Norwegian branch of the CIAM. Korsmo, along with Christian Norberg Schultz and a few young graduates, Fehn and Geir Grung included, set up the PAGON (Progressive Architects Group, Oslo, Norway) in the 1950s. PAGON continued the spread of the CIAM principals throughout northern Europe. This was a short lived venture yet was fundamental in the spread of modernism throughout Scandinavia after the war. Fehn
and Grungs Museum of Maihaugen was however never built, yet it still became a symbol of this second rebirth of modernism in Norway after the turbulent years of world war two. Fehn studied in the studio of Jean Prouve in Paris for a time in the 1950s. Prouve was a French engineer, furniture designer and self-taught architect. He strove to create the most functionally and materially efficient designs, in favour of aesthetic beauty such as the design standard chair of 1934 (Fig 14) or the Anthony chair of 1954 (Fig 13). He collaborated with his cousin Charles Eduoard Jeannert on occasion, more commonly known as Le Corbusier. Prouve had a deep knowledge of modernism yet with his engineering background, he taught Fehn to reinterpret the ideas put forward by Mies, Gropius and Corbusier. Looking at characteristics of Fehns architecture, it could be argued that his use of modular repetition and structural expression were traits he developed under the tuition of Jean Prouve. Indeed Prouves industrial buildings and his prefabricated units such as the Ferembal house (Fig 16) or the Maison de Peuple (Fig 15), possess a linear rhythm that can be viewed in much of Fehns work. In 1952 Fehn travelled to French Morocco where he studied primitive architecture, and it was here he realised that originality in architecture does not really exist; all things have been built previous. “Perfection is timeless; it doesn’t refer to form but to the unveiling of the atemporal in temporal forms.” (NorbergSchultz 1997) Fehn recognized elements from the modernist greats, he saw Frank Lloyd Wrights opposition of parts, Mies Van Der Rohes unlimited walls and Le Corbusier’s roof gardens as hanging gardens in the sky. These realisations and acknowledgements allowed Fehn to begin to focus his own brand of modernism; one directly related to the specific traits he developed. These being, the use of modular repetition and structural expression whilst employing a significant opposition to the natural elements of the site. He allowed himself to stay true to this form of building and to ignore all of the architectural styles and “isms” that follow fashionable trends. Indeed even up until his death in 2009, Fehn remained unwaivered in his pursuit of a simple expressionist architecture.
13. Anthony Chair 1954
http://www.retrofurnish.com/en/anthony-chair-inspired-by-jean-prouve.html
14. Design Standard Chair 1934
http://www.curatedmag.com/news/2009/05/21/jean-pouvre-standard-chair/
15. Maison De Peuple, Jean Prouvè
http://arch.cafa.edu.cn/2007/u/liuwenbao/archives/2010/608.html
16. Ferembal House, Jean Prouvè
http://www.contentdg.com/jean-prouve-a-prefab-visionary/
IDENTITY AND PLACE NORWEGIAN PSYCHOLOGY Sverre Fehns Nordic Pavilion in Venice was designed and built to portray the Nordic countries in an architectural sense during the Art and Architecture Biennales that are held every other year. Fehns interpretation of this was to capture something which is integral to life in Northern Europe, that of Nordic light. Yet within his design he also had to consider what it meant to be “Nordic” and this Is what we will set out to explore. The Norwegian people have through the centuries always had a close affinity with nature. The harsh winters having always demanded a healthy respect as families often lived in isolation due to the environment, indeed almost a third of the country is part of the alpine tundra region. A harsh area of permafrost, within the Arctic circle. These factors meaning, that self-sufficiency from the land has been a natural adaption for every family throughout the years. Norberg-Schultz explores this concept in his essay “The Nordic” (1996). The situating of a dwelling was always paramount as shelter from the winter climate and access to food and materials could be the difference between life and death. Buildings became introvert and focused on creating a “warm cave” within. Standalone dwellings where a family could go out into the harsh surrounds to hunt before returning to their protective home. Farms also being centred specifically on central courtyards to allow a dialogue between interior and exterior spaces. The external facades were not important, and to enjoy the Norwegian winter a light, warm, colourful interior was required to contrast against the harsh dark eternal environment, as done by their ancestors. Jorn Utzon is another Scandanavian architect, hailing from Denmark that further explored this idea of an internal landscape within his architecture. He design a series of courtyard houses, most notably the Kingo Housing in Copenhagen, that were all introvert and that worked with the concept of old Nordic farmyard houses. The whole focus was on the central internal space, a place of warmth, safety and family interaction.
the plains of Africa and back. Peers isolation and forced self-sufficiency off the land is a satire on Norway’s own dependence on the natural environment. These traditional ways of life have imprinted themselves upon the national psychology of the Norwegian people and this has led to a national consciousness of what a building should be. The proof of this can be seen in the rejection of the Roman and Greek inspired Neo classicism during the 1920s. These buildings had grand external decoration and motifs yet weren’t adapted to suit the land around and were therefor shunned. Indeed even in Norwegian dwellings, traditional timber constructed furniture is preferable to the modern pieces that are international recognized. Sverre Fehn grew up in Buskerud in central Norway and as such this national consciousness surrounded him from a young age. The majority of his buildings are rural and it can be argued that due to this Norwegian Psyche, he was able to develop a greater environmental and habitual understanding. He employed these traits in his design of the Nordic Pavilion yet his main aim was to capture the shadow less illumination of Nordic light. However, to truly understand what this lighting quality one must look at some of the artists of Norway and how they captured this rare lighting quality. The building is in essence an exhibition space and as such Fehns design had to also have a clear idea of the pieces it was going to house.
Fehn had a consciousness of this internal – external contrast and his Nordic pavilion is almost a reversal of the traditional Norwegian idea. The warm bright Venetian climate surrounds the Building yet within a softly illuminated space is created. In Norway there is the desire to capture warmth associated with the favourable climate of the south, whereas in Venice Fehn strives to recapture elements of the brooding North. The Norwegian term for room (rom) derives from the Norwegian term for a clearing (rydning) and signifies that space is something humans have carved out of an unsurvivable world. Traditional methods such as Log and stave construction being breed out of the limited availability of materials. This idea of self-sufficiency is quintessentially Norwegian and it is something that the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen stigmatizes in his play “Peer Gynt” (1876). This play is the telling of a five act poem that revolves around the central character Peer as he struggles through life. The verses are told through a stream of actions and subconscious dreaming chronicling Peers journey from the Norwegian mountains to
17. Kingo Housing, Jorn Utzon (1958)
http://relationalthought.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/579/
18-21. Jorn Utzon Sketches, (Weston 2002)
These images are sketches produced by Jorn Utzon whilst developing his Courtyard Housing schemes. These images represents a form of protective housing where everthing is focused within.
ART - NORDIC LIGHT It was Louis Kahn that claimed “Light creates things” (Norberg – Schultz 1996 p.2) and this can be seen in the contrast between art of the southern world to that of the Nordic. Painting in the south is figurative, the classical painters of the renaissance portraying richly defined people and landscapes of their bright stable world. However in the north, where climate and weather can change drastically, the sun is never in its zenith and light subsequently grazes things obliquely creating a series of moods. Fehn realised this variety in lighting moods on his travel to French Morocco and the mediterreanan, claiming “If you build in Greece, light is the greatest part of your architecture”. (Fehn, 1997, p 42) The Flemish renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel did a series of six paintings entitles “the months” which to an extent captured these “moods”. This documenting of the seasons through painting being a well-established Scandinavian tradition dating back to medieval manuscript illuminations. The first piece in Bruegels series is entitled “The Hunters in the Snow” and portrays the months of December and January. The painting shows a dark wintery scene in which three hunters are returning from what seems to be a dismal expedition. The sky is dull and overcast over a solemn snow covered village. The image is a wash of dark greys and blues to show the indirect lighting. A similar mood is portrayed in Bruegals next painting, “The Gloomy day” with chronicles the months of February and March. Once again a hazy landscape is dominated by a heavy overcast sky. The subdued environment created out of a range of grey tones. Two other of Breugals paintings, “The return of the Herd” and “Winter landscape with a bird trap” also portray a similar brooding climate and quality of light. These simple Nordic characteristics are what Fehn sets out to capture within his Pavilion in Venice. Edvard Munch is another Norwegian artist who landscape paintings are more about the portraying of atmosphere that figurative accuracy. Munch’s night landscape piece called “Starry Night” represents the coastline of Asgardstrand, just south of Oslo. The painting is, according to Munch an attempt to capture the emotions called forth by the night, the colour blue conveying the mysticism and melancholy of the landscape, which seems full of premonitions (http://www.getty.edu/art/ gettyguide). Similarly in his painting “Winter”, it is what is undefined that becomes significant. The forest scene comes into clarity at the forefront yet becomes dark and sinister as the trees dissolve in the backdrop. A trail of hazy footsteps leading just out of sight. These paintings by Munch portray the Nordic as being a nightland, where daylight is scarce and the land undefined, scenes melting into one another. Yet with “Starry Night” an infinite world above becomes the focus of clarity. The night becomes the awakening.
22. The hunters in the snow, Bruegel (1565)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_Hunters_in_the_Snow_ (Winter)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
23. The gloomy day, Breugel (1565)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Bruegel_de_Oude_-_De_sombere_dag_ (vroege_voorjaar).jpg
24. The return of the herd, Bruegel (1565)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Bruegel_d._%C3%84._103b.jpg
Both Edvard Munch and Pieter Bruegel had success in capturing the essence of Nordic light, yet it was a Danish painter by the name of Vilhelm Hammershoi who managed to best represent the unity of light, environment and built form within his work. His painting “landscape” 25. The Starry night, Munch (1893)
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=869&handle=li
shows the Nordic earth arising as a threshold between the seen and unseen. There is a greater clarity in Hammershois work which is discussed by Norberg-Schultz in his essay the Nordic (1996) yet he still purposefully lacks the eidos forming shadow and plasticity of southern artists. In his own words “Light graces things with ghostly levity� (Norberg-Schultz 1996 p.13). In Hammershois work he uses the soft illumination of the north to create a subdued and intimate world, similar in approach to Sverre Fehn intimate exhibition space. This approach is also employed by another Scandinavian architect, Jorn Utzon from Denmark in his Bagsvaerd Church. This would seem to show that a shared consciousness is evident throughout the Nordic countries. Utzons church reacts against the horizontal context of Bagsvaerd by using restrained vertical external walls. Then within the church, a white billowing roof structure manoeuvres light into the building indirectly, illuminating the space in a soft glow. This shadow less light is quintessentially Nordic and as such the goal of capturing it accurately became a conquest for both Utzon and Fehn alike.
26. Winter, Munch (1899)
http://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collections_and_research/edvard_munch_in_the_ national_museum/winter/
27. Landscape, Hammershoi (1905)
http://en.wahooart.com/@@/8XXKBN-Vilhelm-Hammersh%C3%B8i-Landscape,-fromLejre.
28. Utzon concept sketches of Bagsvaerd church. (Weston 2002)
Utzon explains (Weston 2002) how the idea behind Bagsvaerd came to him while lying on a beach in Hawaii, where he was lecturing. The billow vaults of the roof structure are the fluffy clouds above a gathering on people on a beach, which becomes the central aisle and altar. A gentle light diffuses down upon the congregation that are framed by an abstract landscape of tree like columns.
29. Interior of Bagsvaerd church, Copenhagen showing soft homogenous lighting quality http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/utzon
THE NORDIC PAVILION In Carl Schmitt’s The Nomos of the earth (1950) he explores the idea that in the language of mythology the earth is called the mother of the law. The fertile earth preserves in its fecund womb an internal measure. Land cultivated by man reveals these sharp lines of visibly determined subdivisions. These lines are traced and dug through boundaries of fields, meadows and forests. In these lines, the rules and measure of agriculture are recognized. It is this central idea that nature is fundamental to design and built forms and the natural environment must coexist harmoniously that so occupied Fehn. The Nordic pavilion itself having three trees erupting through its central beams and then the main structural beam to the west splits completely to allow the passage for the growth of an existing tree. The building also backing up against a pre-existing terrain to the south-east. Yet traditional Nordic construction was integrated into the natural environment through the use of the local materials, where a selective relationship was created with its habitat due to careful planning of a dwellings situation. Whereas Fehn creates a significant opposition to the natural elements on the site, preferring to plan his building around the existing vegetation. The Pavilion has been within the grounds of the Giardini for over half a century and as such it can be argued it is now an architectural artefact within Venice. The city vernacular is not modernist in any sense of the word; however the local vernacular of the Nordics neighbouring pavilions boasts a range of architectural styles. Yet each new building within the gardens must focus more on fitting into the context of the surrounding pavilions that trying to appease the Venetian vernacular. Therefore the Nordic Pavilion can be seen as an architectural artefact within the Venice and the gardens of the Giardini.
a simple introvert shell and this allows it to interact easily with its Neoclassical American and Danish neighbours (Fig 34), however it is the roofing solution that is the true concept of the build. A series of six by one hundred centimetre beams run out at right angles from the back wall and are supported upon a massive two metre high beam that is held up from the concrete wall on the east and the solitary “y” column on the west. These beams are placed exactly five hundred and twenty three millimetres apart and above them a second series of beams run in the opposite direction at the same dimensions, acting as horizontal breise soleil (Fig 36). The precision placement of these beams preventing direct solar access. Indeed even as the Mediterreanan sun reaches its highest point of sixty four degrees during the summer solstice, direct light cannot enter the Pavilion. Fehns belief in structural expression, shows his Nordic origins, where both half-timbered and stave construction portray there basic structural elements on the exterior.
31. Photo of “Y” concrete beam, fibreglass paneling and cross beams also shown
30. Photo of Venetian vernacular
The building has a very light and airy feel to it as there are only walls on two of the four sides, a solitary thick column holding up the west corner. A strong modular planned grid of tiles makes up the floor and plan of the building (Fig 37), each window panel then adjacent to six tiles, the external steps each measuring half a tile for rise and for the going. The design was a further development on from his previous Norwegian pavilion built for the Brussels world exhibition of 1958. The building is in essence
There is almost a prefabricated quality with these simple rhythmic beams that lay across the pavilion, similar to the simple steel structures that Jean Prouve was so renowned at constructing. Fehns time in Prouves office would have given him a great insight into the engineering works of steel that were being constructed at the time. Prouve also collaborated with his cousin Charles Edouard Jeanneret better known as Le Corbusier often so all of his teachings would have been with a modernist backdrop. Prouves Ferembal house (Fig 16) is one such example of an idea for a mass produced prefabricated steel building. However although a comparison can be seem between the rhythmic elements of this building and Fehns pavilion, one of Fehns characteristic is always a reaction to site and as such he never set out to develop any sort of prefabrication. It is only when looking at some of Jean Prouve furniture that a connection can made. Prouve never designed around form alone and instead focused on creating the most structurally and materially efficient designs. This can be seen in his construction of the modern design standard chair of 1934 (Fig 14) and also his
trapeze and compass tables. These tables in particular had an inherent lightness about them that is also seen in Fehns Pavilion. The heavy beamed roof seems to almost float above the exhibition space below. Going back to the central idea of nature, Fehn has a magical ability to enhance and emphasise the buildings surroundings, thanks’ to his upbringing among Norway’s natural beauty of fjords, mountains and forests, and in this building there is a great sense of the world around. He also expands on his sensitivity to nature by placing sheets of curved fibreglass over the top layer of beams, in order to capture and direct the rainwater to grow the vegetation within. The design however, is not without its critics. Kenneth Frampton (http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu) arguing that all the main constructional elements have been used by architects previously. Fehns square repeditive plan taken from the plan of the nearby Doges palace in St. Mark’s square, his structural efficiency taken from the works of Jean Prouve and even the translucent roofing panels are copied from the Citroen 2cv automobile. These examples can certainly be seen to have influenced Fehn, yet it would seem more appropriate that the pavilion was primarily designed around the site and natural context. Yet while looking at these influences, the consequence of studying under Arne Korsmo must also be explored, in particular Korsmos functionalist Villa Dammann. The building was completed in 1932 and retains influences of Mendelsohn and Dudok, two architects which Korsmo studied on his trip to Holland in 1928. It consists of a large living room area closed off to the south with a smaller semi-circular room off it that has a large panoramic view of the nearby Fjord. The view is given, in order to experience the surroundings from hill to hill, claims Korsmo (Fjeld 2009). This clear view similar to Fehns use of an open façade on the north and west sides of his Nordic Pavilion, opening the space up to the Giardini gardens beyond.
32. Villa Dammann entrance, Arne Korsmo (1932)
http://fra-balkongen.blogspot.ie/2011/09/villa-dammann-arne-korsmo.html
33. Villa Dammann, Arne Korsmo (1932)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VillaDamman.jpg
Acces Plan Between the USA始s pavilion and the Danish始s one, the Nordic pavillion is setteld at the bottom of a slope
NORDIC PAVILION DRAWINGS
34. Ground Floor Access Plan of Pavilion
35. Front Elevation
Front elevation
1000
1000
Transluscent roofing Plastic reinforced by fiberglass Concrete beam High framework 1000x60 Concrete beam Low framework 1000x60 60
Concrete wall
300
Concrete fondation slab 450
36. Longitudinal Section
581
Longitudinal Section LONGITUDINALE
581 37. Structural Plan of Pavilion
High framework Low framework
Structure Plan
SVERRE FEHNS LEGACY Sverre Fehn left his mark within Venice. He designed and built the Nordic Pavilion to portray Scandinavia among the Venetian vernacular yet more extradinarily he also managed to capture and conduct a Nordic light within his building. The visitor now can experience a sense of place once only associated with the cold harsh countries of the north. Fehns work in Venice was a big influence on modernist thinking at the time yet his involvement in the Biennale and with other architects at the time also influenced his own career greatly. Fehn met with Carlo Scarpa during his time in Italy and was inspired by Scarpas work contrasting the old and the new. However it just over two decades later, in 1979 that Fehn completed his masterpiece. It was the Hedemark museum in Hamar that finally gelled all of Fehns ideas and philosophies together in an interplay of material and form. To realise the museum Fehn inserted his modernist traits into the ruins of a medieval bishops quarters, so that concrete platforms float above as layers of history are revealed in the ruins below. Fehn uses Scarpas Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona as a guide and employs the same minimal selection of materials as Scarpa to unveil the buildings construction. This is the par excellence
expression of his idiom that only by building the new can we achieve a dialogue with the past (Norberg Schultz 1996). Fehn simultaneously retains a Norwegian sense of form through the robust and articulate construction that centres on an interaction between wood and concrete. However Sverre Fehns “Poetic Modernism� failed for any years to be accepted by the society within which he was raised. Indeed many of his competition winning entries were never built, due to their apparent novelty. This disjointed attitude towards modernism in Norway leaving it reduced to scattering of dismembered motifs. The Norwegian people had a reluctance to enjoy the foreign influences of modernism and a lot of Fehns early commercial success was achieved in the most part overseas, most significantly with the Norwegian and Nordic Pavilions. It is only in recent years that his pieces now being seen as environmental art on the landscape, singular elements situated predominantly in the rural yet very much retaining Norwegian elements in their approaches. The Norwegian people have felt the need to reject these ideas since the 1930s yet through Sverre Fehn they can see a new concourse developing. A basis for new beginnings, a new architecture centred around the profound understanding of human existence on earth.
38. Hamar Museum, Sverre Fehn (1979)
http://elizabethquigley.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/hamar-bispegaard-museumsverre-fehn/
39. Museo di Castelvecchio, Scarpa (1965) http://www.superuse.org/story/castelveccio-museum/
ENDNOTE Sverre Fehn died at the age of 84 in the year 2009. He stayed true to his core principals of structural expression and a close acknowledgement of the natural elements throughout his career. Fehns works having a positive effect on modernism internationally. Yet his legacy throughout the Nordic countries and in particular throughout Norway is only beginning to be properly appreciated in the last number of years. However it was on my reading of a reflection on Fehn by his close college Per Olaf Fjeld in his book; Sverre Fehn: Pattern of thoughts (2009) that would seem to truly capture Fehns personal and poetic approach to architecture. “He told me a beautiful story of how the small wooden churches in the landscape in Norway “cry” when they shed the water that condenses on the wood at a certain time of the year. This was what materials were for, he told me, “we feel them and they are living.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY WRITTEN REFERENCES • Norberg – Schulz, Christian (1997) Sverre Fehn: Works, Projects,Writings, New York, Monacelli Press • Norberg – Schulz, Christian (1996) Nightlands: Nordic Building, Cambridge, Mass. ; London : MIT Press • Norberg – Schulz, Christian (1986) Modern Norwegian Architecture Oslo : Norwegian University Press, • Le Corbusier, (1927) Towards a new architecture, New York, Payson and Clarke Ltd • Mumford, Eric (2000) The CIAM discourse on Urbanism 1928 – 1960, Cambridge, Mass. ; London : MIT Press • Fjeld, Per Olaf (2009) Sverre Fehn: The Pattern of thoughts, Monacelli Press • Ibsen, Henrik (1876) Peer Gynt • Weston, Richard (2002) Utzon: Inspiration, Vision, Architecture, Edition Blondal • Schmitts, Carl, The Nomos of the earth (2006), Telos Press Publishing • The Paul J. Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/ artObjectDetails?artobj=869 (Accessed 12 May 2013) • Neveu, Marc J. On Stories: Architecture and Identity http://digitalcommons.calpoly. edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=arch_fac (Accessed 28 May 2013) • Torres, Elias (2006), Zenithal light, Actar • Venice Biennale Publication (2012), Light Houses on the Nordic Common Ground, Museum of Finnish Architecture, Kolofon Baltic OU, Tallin • BBC Four (2004), Light Fantastic (TV series), United Kingdom • Buttiker, Urs (1993) Louis L.kahn: Light and space, Berlin, Birkhauser
IMAGE REFERENCES 1. Sverre Fehn concept sketch of the Nordic Pavilion in Venice, [online] http://anopensketchbook.tumblr.com/post/32208640593/sketch-section-of-the-nordic-pavilion-by-sverre (Accessed 10 May 2013) 2/3. Nordic Pavilion photographs, [Personal Photographs] (Taken November 2012) 4. Venice.jpg, Map of Venice showing Giardini Grounds [online] https://maps.google.ie/ (Accessed 1 May 2013) 5. Giardini. jpg, Map of Giardini showing Nordic Pavilion Location [online] https://maps. google.ie/ (Accessed 1 May 2013) 6. Interior of the Nordic Pavilion showing soft shadowless exhibition space, http://openhousebcn.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/trees-nordic-pavilion-sverre-fehn-venicebiennale-openhouse/ 7. Norwegian sea in winter http://www.panoramio.com/photo/198566 8. Norwegian Mountains http://www.nordiclandscapes.com/Mountains-Winter/ 9. Lillehammer, Norway http://cloverssiteforblogging.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/norway-the-landscape-and-thesnow/ 10. Heddal Stave Church, Notodden, Norway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stavechurch-heddal.jpg 11. Oslo City Hall, Arneberg and Poulsson (1931) National Romantacism http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oslo_City_hall.jpg 12. Skansen Restaurant, Oslo, Lars Backer (1926) http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentatorer/sandberg/Nar-kulturminnevernetriver-6269624.html#.UZBEY7WsiSo 13. Anthony Chair (1954) http://www.retrofurnish.com/en/anthony-chair-inspired-by-jean-prouve.html 14. Design Standard Chair (1934) http://www.curatedmag.com/news/2009/05/21/jean-pouvre-standard-chair/
15. Maison de Peuple, Jean Prouvè http://arch.cafa.edu.cn/2007/u/liuwenbao/archives/2010/608.html 16. Ferembal House, Jean Prouvè` http://www.contentdg.com/jean-prouve-a-prefab-visionary/ 17. Kingo Housing, Jorn Utzon (1958) http://relationalthought.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/579/ 18-21. Weston, Richard (2002) Utzon: Inspiration, Vision, Architecture, Edition Blondal 22. The hunters in the snow, Bruegel (1565) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_Hunters_in_the_Snow_(Winter)_-_ Google_Art_Project.jpg 23. The gloomy day, Breugel (1565) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Bruegel_de_ Oude_-_De_sombere_dag_(vroege_voorjaar).jpg 24. The return of the herd, Bruegel (1565) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pieter_Bruegel_d._%C3%84._103b.jpg 25. The Starry night, Munch (1893) http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=869&handle=li 26. Winter, Munch (1899) http://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collections_and_research/edvard_munch_in_the_national_museum/winter/ 27. Landscape, Hammershoi (1905) http://en.wahooart.com/@@/8XXKBN-Vilhelm-Hammersh%C3%B8i-Landscape,-from-Lejre. 28. Utzon concept sketches of Bagsvaerd church. (Weston 2002) 29. Interior of Bagsvaerd church, Copenhagen showing soft homogenous lighting quality http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/utzon 30. Photo of Venetian vernacular, Personal Photographs, (Taken November 2012) 31. Photo of Y beam in Pavilion, Personal Photographs, (Taken November 2012) 32. Villa Dammann entrance, Arne Korsmo (1932) http://fra-balkongen.blogspot.ie/2011/09/villa-dammann-arne-korsmo.html 33. Villa Dammann, Arne Korsmo (1932) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VillaDamman.jpg 34-37. Drawings of Nordic Pavilion 38. Hamar Museum, Sverre Fehn (1979) http://elizabethquigley.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/hamar-bispegaard-museum-sverre-fehn/ 39. Museo di Castelvecchio, Scarpa (1965) http://www.superuse.org/story/castelveccio-museum/