ARCHITECTURE

The idea of a landscape hotel emerged as an opportunity to exploit breathtaking scenery with minimal intervention, allowing
locations which would otherwise be prohibited for reasons of conservation.

The Juvet Landscape Hotel is located at Valldal, near the town of Åndalsnes in north-western Norway. Passing tourists are attracted
by a spectacular waterfall in a deep gorge near the road, «Gudbrandsjuvet». The client, Knut Slinning, is a local resident.

«The idea emerged as an opportunity to exploit breathtaking scenery with minimal intervention»

In winter this high mountain pass road has to close at this point because of the heavy snow falls in the mountains, and the traffic is
led on a considerably longer route by the sea, making the desolate ambience of the place clearer.

Sustainability
The site for the hotel is a nature reserve. After extensive negotiations with conservation authorities, permission was eventually
granted for a plan allowing a maximum of 28 rooms to be built without the need for rock blasting or changing the terrain.

Instead of a conventional hotel with guest rooms stacked together in one large building, the idea was to distribute the rooms
throughout the site as small individual houses.
«Conserving the site is a way to respect the fact that nature precedes and succeeds man.»

Today’s concern for sustainability in architecture focuses almost excludingly on reduced energy consumption in production and
operation. We think that conservation of topography is another aspect of sustainability which deserves attention. Standard building
procedure requires the general destruction of the site to accommodate foundations and infrastructure before building can commence.
Conserving the site is a way to respect the fact that nature precedes and succeeds man.

Also, dutiful observation of existing topography produces a reading where the geometry of the intervention highlights the
irregularities of the natural site, thus explaining both itself and its context with more power. A sustainable connection is established
between structure and site.

A large experienced interior space

The hotel has been built in two main phases. Seven rooms and a separate spa building were built in the first phase, from 2007 to
2010. In the second phase, from 2012 to 2013, two more rooms have been added. The main approach is the same, although the two
new rooms have been built with both a more sophisticated, and a more simple architectural language and technology.
«We wanted to give the rooms an experienced space that is as large as the landscape.»

Including the latest addition nine rooms are completed, but with the possibility to add more rooms. All the rooms have slightly
different designs, as a result of local topographical needs and position of trees, and to maximize the requirements for privacy and the
best possible views. No rooms necessitate blasting of rock or changing the terrain, as the rooms are added to the existing
topography.
The technology
Every house has one or two walls that are entirely built in glass. Through careful orientation every room gets its own exclusive view
of piece of the landscape, changing with the season, the weather, and the time of day. No room looks into another so the rooms are
experienced as private even though curtains are not used. We wanted to give the rooms an experienced space that is as large as the
landscape.

The first seven rooms are built in a massive wood construction with no exterior insulation, and are intended for summer use only.
Each building rests on a set of 40mm massive steel rods drilled into the rock, existing topography and vegetation left almost
untouched. The glass is set against slim frames of wood, locked with standard steel profiles, using stepped edges to extend the
exterior layer of the main glass surfaces all the way to the corners.

The interiors are treated with transparent oil with black pigments, so that reflections from the inner surface of the glass wall are
minimized. Shelves, benches and a small table are all built by the same massive wooden elements to maintain a certain degree of
monotony that goes well with the complex nature views and to keep the visual presence of the interior at a minimum.

The two new rooms

The two new rooms are built similar to the old Norwegian Stabbur, a small separate log house for storing food, resting on small
stone foundations in each corner, so that no mice or rats could get into the house. The new houses are built in a very steep terrain, at
some points around 60 degrees. The whole room is lifted off the slope and rests on steel bolts, diameter 30mm. This means that the
whole box is lifted several meters above the ground at the most, and the feeling inside is that you are in a high and slightly
dangerous place.

The new rooms have a more minimal architectural language, constructed as log houses and with only one type of log, in the floor,
walls and roof. This creates a certain monotony in the expression that allows for a greater variation when it comes to other elements,
such as the sizes of window etc.

The windows are set directly into the log structure, which is not a normal detail. This, however, helps underline the feeling of
simplicity in these two rooms, as the number of different elements and materials used are very few. Each window has a special
purpose, as it is a result of the most interesting views possible to get from the pillow positions in each of the rooms; to a water fall,
to a river, to a mountain top, and so on.

The doors are done without conventional hinges, because the height of the house will vary with around 40 mm from February
(lowest) to September (highest). The hinge is a circular pole which is rests in a hole in the floor, and with a corresponding hole in
the roof, allowing for the different heights during the year. A specific geometric solution in the roof allows for mounting and
demounting the door after the house has been erected. The door blade, a glass pane, is inserted into the circular vertical piece.

A flower garden
The cuts in the wall where the glass panes are inserted are painted with different colours, chosen in collaboration with artist Knut
Wold. There are always four different colours for the four different sides in each opening, and in the colours appear only once in
each room.
In sum it could resemble a sort of abstracted flower garden, to look at both for the lush summer season and the dark and colourless
winter. In this respect it has the function of the colourful and decorative tole painting tradition so much used inside the traditional
Norwegian log houses, but in a very modernist way.

Phase one
Client: Knut Slinning
Project architects JSA: Jan Olav Jensen (pl), Børre Skodvin, Torunn Golberg, Helge Lunder, Torstein Koch, Thomas Knigge
Landscape architect: Jensen & Skodvin
Static consultant: sivilingeniør Finn Erik Nilsen
Artist: Knut Wold
Year Planned: 2004–2009
Year Built: 2007–2009
Status: Completed
Area: 800 m2

Phase two
Client: Knut Slinning
Project architects JSA: Jan Olav Jensen (pl), Torstein Koch
Landscape architect: Jensen & Skodvin
Static consultant: sivilingeniør Finn Erik Nilsen
Artist: Knut Wold
Year Planned: 2012–2013
Year Built: 2012–2013
Status: Completed
Area: 30 m2

Anchored in the locality

The entire construction process took five years and included restoration of old farm buildings, care of the cultural landscape,
designing, planning and execution of the work. All of the carpentry work, both on the interior and exterior, was carried out by
neighbours and local craftsmen in Valldal, including Valldal Bygdeservice. Fitting the windows was the only thing we needed
outside help for.

THE MAKING OF JUVET

The Juvet Landscape Hotel would never have been realised if it hadn’t been for a series of coincidences:
• The owner of the hotel Knut Slinning bought himself a holiday place and cabin by Gudbrandsjuvet in Valldal in 1986.

• The state implemented a major National Tourist Routes project on the stretch from Trollstigen to Geiranger. This brought the
architects Jensen & Skodvin to Gudbrandsjuvet where they met Knut Slinning. The architects had ideas for a completely new and
exciting type of hotel.

• In 2005, Knut received an offer to buy the hidden gem of Burtigarden. There was no turning back.

Without the investment in the National Tourist Routes project – stretches of roads that don’t just have the sole aim of getting you to
your destination as quickly as possible – Juvet Landscape Hotel would never have been built.

Since its inception, the road project has engaged over 60 eminent architects and artists to create exciting and functional view points
(with service buildings, car parks, furniture, paths and art), featuring modern architecture that will be durable and «grow old
gracefully» along selected stretches of road in Norway.
The architects Jensen & Skodvin have made the popular Gudbrandsjuvet even more spectacular and accessible to the public.

A «love child» of the NT project

Juvet Landscape Hotel was a big experiment and it wouldn’t have succeeded if many of those who could (and were entitled to) say
«No» such as Norddal municipality, Møre og Romsdal county, Innovation Norway and the neighbours in the town had not said
«Yes» instead.

A special thank you goes to the municipality’s environment and planning department. It was not a given that it would be possible to
build on the river bank of a permanently protected waterway. Without the project support from the National Tourist Routes (NT)
investment, there would have been no Juvet Landscape Hotel. We might say that Juvet is the love child of NT. Without the welcome
from Norddal municipality, support from Innovation Norway and very good neighbours this project would have been impossible to
carry out.

Experiment or not, Juvet Landscape Hotel is now a well-planned reality that emphasizes proximity to nature, the landscape and
cultural impulses, large and small.

Carefree
The farmer and hotelier at Burtigarden today was born and raised in the art nouveau city of Ålesund, just an hour and a half by car
from Gudbrandsjuvet at Alstad in Valldalen. His life in Valldalen started in 1986 when he bought the holiday home, Sans Souci,
from some Oslo people who early in the previous century had acquired a site for a villa with five decares of land on the hill directly
above the Burtigarden farmhouse.

Sans Souci means carefree. For Knut and the family, the cabin and the area around it became a welcome refuge from the fast pace
and pressures of everyday life. They went there to relax, de-stress and feel their anxieties, worries and everyday stress melt away.
They could just step out into the mountains, into the untouched wild landscape and enjoy the barefoot closeness to nature they
craved.

The contrast is marked. Fear and anxiety were likely to have been a major part of daily life for those who lived in that very place
two hundred years ago. At that time, there was a tenant farm under Burtigarden, and the records tell us that poor, landless people
lived here who may not have had enough to eat every day.

Knut calls this place his Soria Moria. «Soria Moria castle» is a Norwegian fairytale about the poor hero who made a long journey
and found both the lost princess and riches. In Norway, the story symbolises a journey towards perfect happiness – the sort of
happiness that can be found in a little tenant farm in Alstad.

A strange feeling
«I am very aware that I must not ruin my Soria Moria and turn it into a workplace associated with problems,» says Knut, an
economics masters graduate and former economics teacher. But what could he do? People in Burtigarden and upper Valldal had
gotten to know this guy who had wandered the area for 20 years, either on mountain hikes in strong leather boots or enjoying skiing
in the valley to the mountain at Trollstig plateau at his favourite time of year. One day in 2005, when he was out in the farmyard at
Burtigarden, he received an offer he couldn’t refuse: «You who likes this area so much, would you like to buy Burtigarden?»

It took just two weeks until the contract was signed after meeting with the architects and receiving the offer to take over
Burtigarden. Suddenly Knut was the owner of a large farm with an obligation to live there and run it. He was ready to embark on a
project and nobody knew how it would go.
It was a strange feeling. Knut presided over a narrative with various strands, one from the past which told him how it had been, one
from the present which told him that the lights were gradually going out in rural Norway, and another which showed the way to a
new future at Alstad.

This path to the future was not too far away. Behind the rock a fantastic rebuilding of the tourist destination and viewing point of
Gudbrandsjuvet was taking place. The architects from Jensen & Skodvin brought with them innovative and arresting designs for
both the viewing paths and serving area.

«No matter how right the circumstances had been, the Juvet Landscape Hotel would not have been realised without the big,
national investment in our tourist routes – which brought architects here who had drafted ideas for an amazing hotel,» says Knut.

Everything changed
Knut said «yes» to the people in Burtigarden, and «yes» to the architects. And so began a new journey, a new fairytale for a new
era. Instead of taking care of animals and producing food, Burtigarden now takes care of people and provides them with a good
experience. Showing hospitality is important to Knut, who has understood this well in the process of getting to where he is today.

«Deep down tourism is about taking care of people properly so that they journey onwards feeling good. Here they will get a taste of
the old and the new. Maybe they will find a little bit of themselves again, too,» says Knut.

The time since Knut said «yes» has been hectic, but now he says that things are beginning to shape up the way he had hoped and
dreamed. The farm buildings are now restored and create an historic framework around the modern landscape space that has
emerged. This is made up of nine small «cubes» on stilts with glass walls facing the landscape – a landscape so varied that none of
the rooms are alike. The landscape is also in constant flux, in accordance with the weather, the time of the day and the season.

The two last landscape rooms were completed in spring 2013, and are different from the others. The two small storehouse-like
cubes hang like bird nesting boxes in the slope above the farm, awaiting migrating birds.

«It has been important for us to take care of the traditional farm environment and cultural landscape while we carefully make way
for the new, says Knut. – But even if we take care of the old, we won’t forget that we are a part of history. The architecture and the
aesthetics should clearly show that we have been here too,» says Knut.

Soria Moria
So what has happened to Knut’s Soria Moria, his refuge? Did anything get lost along the way?

Knut has thought a lot about this and has been conscious of it throughout the entire process.
«This is about me having something very precious to me, which I would like to share with others. Sharing it doesn’t take away from
it, quite the opposite,» says Knut.

Previously it was family and friends who were allowed to share in what was valuable to him. Now the circle has been expanded,
gradually and carefully. Each step in the process up to where he is today has given him new experiences, insights and new gifts.

«Now I want to share what I have with all of those who are curious about what we stand for in our exotic «corner of the world». A
lot of work has gone into getting to where we are today, but there is so much pleasure in taking care of people who really
appreciate what we have and what we stand for. If something has been lost along the way, I have no regrets. I have found so much
that is valuable too,» says Knut.
Architecture touching nature
Has Knut Slinning succeeded in creating a hotel out of the ordinary, a hotel that provides his guests with the peace, joy and
closeness to nature that he intended? Knut says he can see in the guests that it does something to them to visit the hotel.

A peace descends on them when they come to the farm and get to wander around in the area and find their rooms. Their shoulders
drop. People come to find this peace, says Knut. Perhaps Juvet landscape hotel guests are more curious and interested than most
people in what Juvet is and what Juvet stands for. Those who come also give of themselves and leave more than money behind
them. They understand what this is. A very special hotel for special guests, maybe?

«It is very important to us that people feel comfortable here and that they understand what we have created. That gives
energy,»says Knut.

People have always travelled to see buildings, but they have tended to be classical, monumental buildings – castles, churches, old
towns and so on. Nowadays, modern architecture creates just as much interest. People travel a long way to see modern architecture
such as the Oslo Opera House or Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldal. And some people travel half the world, without particularly
thinking that they want to go to Norway. They have read about Juvet on the internet or one of the many journals or newspapers that
have printed articles about Juvet. And they want to see it.


«We can see that what we have created strikes a chord with people and touches them. People can see lots of pictures of Juvet
landscape hotel, Burtigarden and the surrounding scenery on the internet. But no matter how many pictures our guests have seen
before they come, it hits them.»

EARLY HISTORY

Burtigarden farm at Alstad was one of the largest farms in Norddal municipality. The farm and its people are documented in local
history and church registers as far back as the 1500s. These sources refer to the fact that Alstad farms had unusually good land
which produced good seed corn – so good that people from settlements to the east of the mountains came to get seed corn for their
fields.

The farms in this productive area are located at the natural approach to the West Norwegian Fjords, which in 2005 was inscribed in
Unesco’s world heritage list as the first natural heritage area in the country. Reinheimen National Park, which is a large, varied and
wild mountainous area, practically reaches all the way to the back gardens of this small community.

Constant change
The picture shows Burtigarden around 1880. At that time the main road went right through the farmyard, as was usual for most
valley farms. It was important to live close to the main road. The small house to the left of the farmhouse was moved to the
Høghjellane further out in the valley, where it served as a schoolhouse for the community there up to modern times. The barn to the
right of the farmhouse is gone. The one in the yard today was built in 1914.

Right below the old house, is the framework of an old farm barn with a turf roof. It is gone today, but the trestle frame technique
«grindbygg» is still part of local building tradition.

Gudbrandsjuvet gorge
Behind the pine-clad rock in Burtigarden is the famous Gudbrandsjuvet gorge. Here the Valldøla river flows through a narrow
ravine, where the glaciers’ melt water has formed many large potholes over thousands of years. Gudbrandsjuvet is a popular stop for
those who want to enjoy the sight of the powerful, crashing water masses, particularly after the road over Trollstigen was built and
opened in 1936.

According to legend, the gorge is supposed to have got its name from the lawless man Gudbrand, who settled in a small valley –
Gudbrandsdalen – on the mountain side above Alstad. The legend says that Gudbrand was a daring and fit man who jumped over
the gorge on it's narrowest. Was he fleeing from the sheriff or bailiff? Or had he been out kidnapping a bride and leaped over the
gorge with a beautiful bride in his arms? Or did he just put the trunk of a pine tree across the river where the Gudbrandsbrua bridge
was later built? We may well wonder, but Gudbrandsjuvet is still an amazing sight.

The picture shows the Gudbrandsjuvet Gorge after the improvements carried out by the National Tourist Routes. The same
architects designed the «new Gudbrandsjuvet» and Juvet Landscape Hotel.

Saint Olav
When King Olav Haraldsson went through Valldalen on a flight eastwards towards Lesja and Sweden in the winter of 1028/1029,
he stayed several nights under a rock at Alstad. Many strange things happened there, according to the Icelandic chief, historian and
bard Snorre Sturlason (who died in 1241), and who depicted the events in his sagas of the Norwegian kings. The king and his men
managed to clear the way through the impenetrable Skjervsura scree and, inexplicably, his whole accompanying group managed to
feed themselves there despite the scarcity of food.

Olav Haraldsson was mortally wounded in the fight against the peasant army in the battle at Stiklestad in 1030. In the following
year, he was canonised and then worshipped throughout the Nordic countries.

The local stories about Saint Olav are richer than the historical chronicles of Snorre, and Olavshelleren, Olavsvegen (Olav’s road)
and Olavskjelda (Olav’s well) are today vivid cultural monuments to Saint Olav’s travels through Valldalen. It is of course worth
mentioning that the water we drink and wash in comes from Olavskjelda. According to legend, those who drink from this well will
be cured of illness and stay young.

The illustration shows King Olav and his men at Skjervsura. The local artist Johannes Smogeli painted this fresco and many other
paintings of the travels of King Olav straight onto the walls of the old salmon lord hotel, Hotel Sylte, by the fjord. The hotel was in
operation between 1870 and 1965, and has been a private residence since it closed. Local historian Astor Furseth has taken pictures
of all the paintings.