N O R W A Y

A P P R O A C H E S T O N AT U R E A N D T R A D I T I O N
For the Norwegian chapter the term Other Modernisms covers all the doubtful cases we discussed as being MoMo architecture or not. Awareness of ones surroundings seems to be one of the key elements in Norways Other Modernisms. Both the awareness of nature and of traditional rural architecture have constantly exerted their influence on architects even after the national romantic period. However, these persistent and widespread influences gave rise to vastly different approaches. Architects based in the capital Oslo are usually seen as Norways fashion leaders. But other regions also contribute to the development of new trends. The Bergen School stands for a type of regionalism during the interwar period that combines traditional regional architecture with the Arts and Crafts ethics. It concerns mainly freestanding houses, like the Villa Konow designed by Fredrik Konow Lund. After the war a pressing need to rebuild the war-torn parts of the country coincided with a period of increased urbanization that created an acute housing shortage in the bigger cities. The orthodox modernist program seemed inadequate for the new housing projects that sought for a more humane architecture in closer contact with nature and tradition. In 1942, the Society for the Benefit of Oslo launched a comprehensive survey whose aim was to collect dwellers experiences and opinions concerning the apartments built just before the outbreak of World War II. The results of the survey were published and after the war new dwelling projects were planned according to the surveys findings. During the German occupation very little building activity took place, and a number of architects were unemployed. Some of these were involved in the survey, among which Jens Selmer. His apartment building at Tyen in Oslo is the first housing project based on the surveys conclusions. In the history of postwar architecture in Norway, two opposing schools, one modern and one organic are traditionally referred to, the second school being led by Knut Knutsen. Knutsen claimed that architecture should be subordinated to nature, as he endeavored to show in the cottage he built for himself in Portr. He was also a teacher at the Oslo School of Architecture. His students, who further developed his attention to surroundings and materials, are commonly labeled the Knutsen School. Connected to this school is the Arkitim office, which realized the first group of atrium houses in Norway. Wenche Selmer was another of Knutsens students and together with her husband Jens she designed their own home in Oslo. Each of the projects was influential in its time. We believe that they give a picture of the key trends that developed alongside Norways canonical modernism.
BY BENTE AASS SOLBAKKEN

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Bergen
1936

Villa Konow

FREDRIK KONOW

LUND (18891970)

Villa Konow is located outside Bergen city on the western coast in an area where the same architect All photos The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design - The Museum of Architecture designed many other detached houses. Born to a well-to-do family, Konow Lund could afford to be selective about commissions, and he was reluctant to accept compromises. He was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Edwin Lutyens. The Villa was erected at a time when avant-garde architects were busy with purely functionalistic projects but, as an exponent of the Bergen School of Regionalism, the Villa seems totally oblivious to this international trend. The rubblework walls give a medieval impression and the house looks like it has grown from the mountain on the site. However, while the stylistic expression does not have much to do with the international style, the asymmetrical plans are more modern.

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Oslo

Apartment Building
19451946

JENS SELMER (19111995)

The apartment building was commissioned by OBOS (the Oslo House Construction Cooperative) and it was the first housing project based on the conclusions of the war-time survey. It is a freestanding structure with four levels employing traditional stylistic elements such as a pitched roof and washed but unpainted facing brick. However, the belief in science and surveys as a method to design the perfect dwelling is a typical modernist feature. This architecture was labeled New Empiricism. In the Norwegian review of architecture Byggekunst, Selmer explained how a number of original ideas were carried out to ease the Norwegian housewifes burden. He implemented special washing sinks in the bathrooms and positioned a door between kitchen and bathroom to rationalize the working area. Balconies were placed on the landings in the stairways as a communal area to dry laundry, thereby reserving private balconies to recreation.

3
1949

The Portr Cottage

Portr, Krager
KNUT KNUTSEN (19031969)

In a text in the Byggekunst review, Knutsen detailed his claim that architecture ought to be subordinated to nature and argued that the rhythm of landscape and house should be in harmony. His summer house is a good example of this: built in 1949 among the skerries of Portr in the south-east of Norway, it stands almost out of sight between the slopes of naked rock. The cottage represents his efforts to unite nature and architecture, and its influence on his colleagues was immense at the time.

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OTHER MODERNISMS

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1962 ARKITIM OFFICE (ARE VESTERLID, FINN B

Atrium Houses
Furubergveien, Hamar

PER THORP ILDAHL, HANS STERHAUG, AND EDVIN HELSETH)

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In the Nordic countries the Atrium House as a type was inspired by Jrn Utzons projects in Denmark. The atrium houses in Hamar were at the time a pioneering project and represented a renewal of the Norwegian wooden architecture of the early postwar years. They are characterized by a quiet diversity (Vesterlids expression) and modest proportions that point to Knut Knutsens influence. Sixty-nine houses were planned, but only eight were completed and five became homes for the architects of the Arkitim office.

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Oslo
1963

Selmer House

WENCHE SELMER, BORN REIMERS (19201998)

AND JENS SELMER (19111995)

The Selmer House, designed for the architects family, was finished one year after the Atrium Houses at Hamar, and shares many of their qualities. The freestanding house is located in a wood whose trees conceal it from the road. The main faade has floor-to-ceiling windows that almost make the garden a part of the interior. The house shows that a low-cost and modest family home can be as remarkable as any other house. It is also typical of Wenche Selmers other houses and cottages, which were designed to be in harmony with the local environment and surrounding nature.

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OTHER MODERNISMS