Propositional Archaeology by Grey Grierson

Propositional Archaeology The legacy of resource extractive urbanism in Northern Sweden explored through reconstruction and reinvention GREY GRIERSON

Design Thesis, January 2022 Jesus College, University of Cambridge Supervisor: Dr. Minna Sunikka-Blank Word Count: 14988 A design thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.Phil. in Architectural and Urban Design 2020 – 2022

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Acknowledgments I would like to thank my academic supervisor Dr Minna Sunikka-Blank for her invaluable support, as well as my design tutors Ingrid Schröder, James Pockson and Conrad Koslowsky who were pivotal in developing the ideas explored in this thesis. Thanks also to Jennie Sjöholm, Elin Ranestål, Kjell

Törmä, Oliver Domeisen, Elin Ranestål and Camille Dunlop for the unique insights and interest. Special thanks are due to the ScanLAB team for inviting me into their creative world.

This thesis is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in

the text. Images that have been previously used in prior submissions for the degree are noted in the list of illustrations.

Contents INTRODUCTION Structure

6 9

03: REINVENTION

100

3.1 Reinventing Images

103

Methodology

3.2 Reinventing Paintings

112

Terminology

3.3 Performing Reinvention

120

3.4 Conclusion

129

01: NORRBOTTEN’S URBAN CONDITION

1.1 Contested Memory

1.2 Malmberget

1.3 Kiruna

1.4 Norrbotten’s Technological Megasystem 36 1.5 Conclusion

02: RECONSTRUCTION

2.1 Buildings of Recollection

2.2 Disassembly

2.3 Industrial Landscapes

2.4 Ephemeral Landscapes

2.5 Human Acts

2.6 Conclusion

04: NORRLAND’S ORE SANCTUARY

131

CONCLUSION

134

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

136

OBSERVATION NOTES

138

BIBLIOGRAPHY

139

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Introduction

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Introduction

“Creative architects have often looked to the past to imagine the future, studying an earlier architecture not to replicate it but to understand it as incomplete, relevant to the present and open to further development,” posits architectural historian Jonathan Hill.1 Historic forms, ideas and performances can become a catalyst for architectural innovations through their speculative reconstruction and reinvention. New technologies have opened up experimental ways to explore this translation, unsettling how we experience, design, and preserve our environment. In response to the exceptional conditions of Norrbotten’s extractive cities, this thesis advances a new design approach to history that is elastic and malleable, at the intersection between collapse and development. 1 Jonathan Hill, The Architecture of Ruins: Designs on the Past, Present and Future (London: Routledge, 2019), p. 295.

Introduction

FIGURE 0.1 Museum proposal creating a series of spectacles from fragments of Kiruna’s history. Produced by author, 2021.

Norrbotten is a sparsely populated, mineral-rich region in the northernmost

part of Sweden that witnessed a substantial growth of resource extractive urbanism during the twentieth century. Though many settlements are still

in operation, they are at risk of ruination by the same systems that have led

to their development. This is epitomized by the mining city of Kiruna where the continued extraction of iron ore now threatens the stability of an area

of buildings closest to the mine, resulting in a decision to relocate a third of

the population. As argued by the curator Carlos Mínguez Carrasco: Kiruna’s transformation should be considered neither finished nor untouchable, “this is a space where experimentation in architecture and urban life becomes urgent.”2

A prolonged fascination with Norrbotten’s cities, both within Sweden and internationally, has meant that its architectural history is well documented and explored. Recent interest in Kiruna’s urban transformation culminated

in the Kiruna Forever (2020) exhibition by ArkDes (Sweden’s National

Centre for Architecture and Design). This thesis is uniquely positioned in its

application of emerging techniques of preservation that utilise digital tools

within the context of the region’s specific urban condition. It argues that the incorporation of 3D scanning and advanced forms of digital reinvention can

enrich, challenge, and expand upon existing modes of preservation. It will

also emphasize the role of performance in the preservation of memory. At present, the use of 3D scanning as a creative architectural tool remains an

under-researched area, especially in the urban context. Typically, 3D scanning is considered in small scale installations (Shaw, Trossell, Sheil, Pearce) or

limited to a visual output (Devilat, Young). This thesis presents a series of

design-research investigations that demonstrate how the technology opens

up experimental possibilities to reconstruct sublime landscape qualities and intangible cultural practices that are often overlooked. This culminates in the

proposal, Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary, which redesigns the existing architectural preservation strategy while providing homes for residents during periods of displacement.

2 Carlos Mínguez Carrasco, ‘Relocating a City in Territories of Extraction’, in Kiruna Forever (Stockholm: Arkitektur Förlag, 2020), pp. 31–38 (p. 38).

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Introduction

FIGURE 0.2

STRUCTURE

View from Luossavaara, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first three are structured around research questions, while the final chapter integrates the key themes and ideas explored into a single design proposal. Chapter 1: Norrbotten’s Urban Condition -

What distinctive urban and architectural characteristics have developed in Norrbotten’s extractive cities, and what makes the preservation and activation of memory significant in this context?

The first chapter explores the spatial characteristics and unifying trends present within Norrbotten’s extractive urbanism. Focusing on the cities of Kiruna and Malmberget, design principles are examined and framed by a

broader historical, political, and territorial context. In doing so, the chapter

frames the discussion of preservation practices within the contemporary concerns of the region.

Chapter 2: Reconstruction -

How can the incorporation of 3D scanning into architectural practice challenge, expand and enrich existing preservation strategies within Norrbotten’s extractive cities?

Chapter 2 finds novel ways to address themes of loss and displacement

through the adoption of 3D scanning. It examines the existing preservation strategies and develops a series of design provocations in response. Chapter 3: Reinvention -

How can modes of architectural reinvention preserve historic scenes witnessed in Norrbotten’s extractive cities?

Chapter 3 investigates three distinct design strategies that reinvent historic

scenes. Each method of reinvention acts as an exploratory device, looking to the past in order to reimagine the present.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

KEY

1. Narvik 2. Kiruna 3. Gällivare

4. Luleå

5. Stockholm Norrbotten Reindeer Husbandry

ARCTIC CIRCLE

Introduction

FIGURE 0.3

METHODOLOGY

Map of Sweden. Produced by author, 2021.

This thesis is based on: interviews conducted since the start of the MPhil

TABLE 01

fieldwork in Sweden; observations during my involvement with a professional

Interview Table.

research investigations.

Reference Interview_1

Location of Interview N/A

Architecture and Urban Design programme in October 2020 (Table 0.1); practice specialising in the creative use of 3D scanning; and my own design-

Date of Interview 15/06/2021

Position Curator at Konstmuseet i Norr (Norrbotten’s County Art Museum)

Norrbotten Resident Yes

Interview_2 N/A

16/06/2021

Yes

Interview_3 Kistefos,Norway

11/07/2021

Senior Lecturer in urban design at Luleå University of Technology specialising in conservation and built heritage in Northern Sweden.

Interview_4 Kiruna, Sweden

Computational Designer, ScanLAB

23/08/2021

Journalist and photographer. Past editor-inchief of KirunaTidningen.

Yes

Interview_5 Kiruna, Sweden

24/08/2021

Gallery Assistant at Konstmuseet i Norr

Yes

Interview_6 Malmberget, Sweden

26/08/2021

LKAB Transport Worker

Yes

The primary focus of the fieldwork was to draw case-studies and test

experimental techniques of preservation previously developed during the programme. In August 2021, I travelled to Stockholm to visit museums,

galleries, archives, libraries, and notable architectural projects to source

material that frames Norrbotten’s urban condition within the broader historic and contemporary national context. Then I travelled to Norrbotten, where I

followed Malmbanan (The Ore Line) from Kiruna to Luleå, through Gällivare, to conduct on-site research at each of these northern cities. Alongside observations, interviews, and photographic documentation, I compiled

a selective three-dimensional catalogue of buildings that are at risk of

destruction (see: 2.1 Buildings of Recollection). I also built an installation that

explored the literal manifestation of ideas described in this thesis (see: 3.3 Performing Reinvention).

Both before and throughout my research I have worked as a designer for

ScanLAB Projects. ScanLAB is a pioneering creative studio that investigates

the use of 3D scanning in architecture, art, and film.3 This has been highly

influential to my research and enabled me to have a unique insight into a

range of case-studies which are explored in Chapter 2. With their support, I have also been able to conduct independent tests using their specialist equipment (see: 2.3 Industrial Landscapes).

3 ‘About’, ScanLAB Projects <https://scanlabprojects.co.uk/about/> [accessed 29 September 2021].

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Fundamental to the research are a series of design investigations that act as a means to test ideas, be explicit about the implications of the argument

and approach Norrbotten’s phenomenon from several angles. Though speculative, the provocations are grounded in written and technical analysis

and act as pieces of critical architecture that allow for different futures to be imagined.

TERMINOLOGY AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Resource Extractive Urbanism This term, originally used to describe industrial frontiers in South America, is

used to distinguish cities and infrastructure in Norrbotten that have developed through a close connection to mining, hydropower or forest cultivation.4 3D Scanning This thesis uses 3D scanning to describe either the act of LiDAR (light imaging, detection, and ranging) scanning or photogrammetry. These are two distinct methods of generating a 3D digital model from a solid object. In

LiDAR scanning, a device projects a laser beam then records the time delay between the emission of the ray and its bounce off a surface to establish a volumetric reading.5 Photogrammetry generates a 3D digital model from the

parallax between a series of two-dimensional images. Digital Reconstruction

Digital reconstruction is used to describe the 3D digital model generated from 3D scanning an object. Often authors will describe this digital model as

a replica (Shaw, Trossell, Devilat, Young). This is avoided in acknowledgement

of the inherent imperfections, staged nature and malleability of the digital model which make it an imperfect construction of reality. Reinvention Reinvention denotes a preservation strategy where historic scenes are interpreted to generate a new architectural reality. This definition is drawn

4 Felipe Correa, Beyond the City: Resource Extraction Urbanism in South America (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016), p. 4. 5 Roberto Bottazzi, Digital Architecture Beyond Computers: Fragments of a Cultural History of Computational Design (London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2018), p. 152.

Introduction

from Thomas Pearce’s architectural research.6 The reinventions re-visit both

real and fictional historical scenes in Norrbotten. The investigations do

not attempt to directly replicate the scenes, rather, through the process of reinvention, the historic scenes can be restaged. Preservation Preservation is a broad term used widely and inconsistently within architectural design. This thesis adopts the framing of preservation used by the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia GSAPP: an “experimental form of creative

expression and as a critical form of collective action guided by philosophical, ethical and critical thinking, […] enabled by emerging technologies and policy tools.”7 As GSAPP’s former Dean, Mark Wigley, argues: “preservation’s archiving gesture is always an act of design.”8 This framing shifts the focus of

preservation towards a future-oriented architectural design process. Memory

Preservation practices are connected to how and what societies remember, an area of study known as collective or social memory.9 The notion of collective

memory began to be theorised by the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs

in the 1920s who argued that human memory can only function within a collective context. Halbwachs suggests that individuals can think about

a previous time only by placing it within a societal framework that allows objects, tastes, and desires to become recognisable.10 Preserved objects serve

as vessels or triggers for social memory while the act of preservation is a form

of practising social memory. Social memory requires people to care and value the memory in question: lieux de mémoire (spaces or realms of memory) arise

from the notion that remembering is not spontaneous.11 Accordingly, it is not

a neutral cultural practice.

6 Thomas Pearce, ‘Parallax as a Practice between Re-Construction and Re-Invention’ (presented at the WORKS+WORDS 2019, Biennale in Artistic Research in Architecture, Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Akademi, 2020). 7 ‘M.S. Historic Preservation’, Columbia GSAPP <https://www.arch.columbia.edu/ programs/7-m-s-historic-preservation> [accessed 23 November 2021]. 8 Mark Wigley, ‘Unleashing the Archive’, Future Anterior, 2 (2005), 10–15 (p. 12). 9 Richard Rinehart, ‘New Media and Social Memory’, in Re-Collection: Art, New Media, and Social Memory (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2014), p. 14. 10 Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, trans. by Lewis A. Coser (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 50. 11 Pierre Nora, Realms of Memory, trans. by Arthur Goldhammer (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), p. 4.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.1 Gällivare in the foreground with Malmberget and Kaptensgropen behind. Photograph by author, 2021.

“Lundbohm brought in exotic trees and plants from around the world that continue to grow… you will not see those red berries anywhere else in the landscape.”12

12 Interview_4 (see Table 01).

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

This chapter explores the historical origins, development, and future of

Norrbotten’s extractive urbanism to frame the primary design interest within this thesis: architectural preservation and the activation of memory. Norrbotten’s extractive cities operate within a complex economic, political, and environmental context which has produced an architecture that is both celebrated and highly vulnerable. Straddling the Arctic Circle, winter is

the dominant season with long snow cover periods, windy conditions and average temperatures of -14.8°C in January.13 The polar night lasts for three

weeks in December where the sun does not rise. In contrast, the midnight sun shines for 50 days in summer, with average temperatures of 12°C in July. By

focusing on the specific challenges of urban obsolescence, displacement and

belonging, the chapter demonstrates the relevance of the design proposal and situates it within contemporary concerns of the region.

1.1 CONTESTED MEMORY Preservation practices in Norrbotten are significant and complex as

Malmfälten’s (The Ore Fields) development is fused with a prolonged history

of colonisation. Before Kiruna (Giron in Sámi) was established there were

“centuries of settlement and land use by the Indigenous Sámi and Tornedalian populations.”14 The state requisitioned the land to expand the infrastructure required to extract resources. This caused the displacement of many Sámi

and the disruption to their reindeer herding paths, a process that has been described as an “act of colonial and scientific racism.”15 Accordingly, any

contemporary memorial presenting the act of mining as a symbol of progress,

or objects which form further urban expansion, dually represent colonial

exploitation. However, as suggested by historians Dag Avango and Peder Roberts, it is an oversimplification to consider Malmfälten’s development

entirely oppositional to Sámi culture.16 Many Sámi worked in connection with

mines and thereby played an active part in the construction of the collective heritage. Preservation strategies have a role in mediating the colonial past as a point of healing and reconciliation.

13 ‘Fördjupad Översiktsplan För Kiruna Centralort’ (Kiruna Kommun, 2014), p. 28 <https://kiruna.se/download/18.70c3d424173b4900fc51e4db/1599054457503/fopkiruna-c2014_laga-kraft.pdf> [accessed 16 July 2021]. 14 Jennie Sjöholm, ‘Moving Costs: History and Identity in Kiruna, Sweden’, Architectural Review, October 2020, pp. 30–35 (p. 32). 15 May-Britt Öhman, ‘An Alternative Perspective on the History of the North’, in Kiruna Forever (Stockholm: Arkitektur Förlag, 2020), pp. 237–46 (p. 239). 16 Peder Roberts and Dag Avango, ‘Industrial Heritage and Arctic Mining Sites’, in Heritage and Change in the Arctic: Resources for the Present, and the Future, ed. by Robert Thomsen and Lill Rastad Bjørst (Aalborg: Aalborg University Press, 2017), pp. 127–58 (p. 142).

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.2 Laponia. William Hogarth, 1724.

Despite their role in the construction of Norrbotten’s extractive cities, the

memory of the Sámi that official narratives evoke is often problematic. From

the late seventeenth century, Northern Sweden was of considerable interest to many European intellectuals who often constructed the Sámi as the other.17

Othering is the process in which a group is cast in contrast and opposed

to one’s own identity. Considered “Europe’s last wilderness,” writers would

recall a rosy image of a region home to the “‘natural man,” despite arriving in a culturally advanced landscape.18 For example, in Travels throughout

Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa (1724), Laponia is celebrated by Hogarth’s

illustration that shows two Laplanders with dead stags standing next to a plinth representing the Swedish monarchs (Figure 1.2). Current tourism campaigns knowingly draw on this fictional memory to sell the region as a ‘natural’ space and, by associating this image with the Sámi, Sámi culture is sensationalised

or appropriated. The architectural significance of this is that; this imagery

impacts on and is incorporated into the experience of Norrbotten’s extractive cities and, subsequently, influences how it is remembered.

17 Rognald Heiseldal Bergesen, ‘Hybrid Iconoclasm: Three Ways of Picturing the Sámi as the Other’, in Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. by Elin Haugdal, Ulla Angkjær Jørgensen, and Svein Aamold (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2017), pp. 31–48 (p. 35). 18 Neil Kent, Soul of the North: A Social, Architectural and Cultural History of the Nordic Countries, 1700-1940 (London: Reaktion Books, 2001), p. 153.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.3 Raised Sámi storage building, Skansen Stockholm. Photograph by author, 2021.

FIGURE 1.4 Housing study inspired by Sámi models of urbanism and territoriality. Produced by author, 2021.

To sustain centuries of inhabitation, the Sámi developed exceptional models of low-density urbanism; modes of territoriality; and sustainable material use

which predominantly lack a presence in Norrbotten’s extractive cities. Sápmi – the land of the Sámi – is a borderless nation which previously allowed Sámi to practise “a semi-nomadic, seasonal way of life that refuse[d] fixed places,” blurring imposed state jurisdictions and boundaries.19 Semi-transhumant Sámi

reindeer herders were organised in a siida: “a structure […] that constituted a village based on common access to natural resources.”20 Traditional Sámi

structures are currently referenced at a surface level in architecture of sentimental regionalism which is criticised as simply borrowing the form

and natural materials.21 Joar Nango, one of the few practising architects who identifies as Sámi, argues that it is most productive to consider the Sámi

building tradition as “a way of thinking” that is “recognized by a sensitive

relation to the landscape and the specific ecological, spiritual and historical criteria provided by the site itself.”22 This tradition is varied and complex due to

the large topographical and climatic diversities, but themes of nomadism and

adaption continue to be relevant to Norrbotten’s contemporary architecture.

19 Nabil Ahmed and Damaso Randulfe, ‘Nature, Labour, Land: A Forum for Collective Arctic Governance’, in Áfter Bēlòngįńğ: Objects, Spaces, and Territories of the Ways We Stay in Transit (Zurich: Lars Müller Publishers, 2016), pp. 355–60 (p. 358). 20 Svein Aamold, ‘Unstable Categories of Art and People’, in Sámi Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. by Elin Haugdal and Ulla Angkjær Jørgensen (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2017), pp. 13–27 (p. 15). 21 Mimi Zeiger, ‘INTERVIEW: Joar Nango On Indigenous Architectures And Slippery Identities’, PIN-UP <https://pinupmagazine.org/articles/interview-mimi-zeiger-joarsami-architecture-joar-nango> [accessed 2 December 2021]. 22 Joar Nango, ‘Sámi Architecture’, Báiki: The International Sàmi Journal, 30, 2008, 14–15 (p. 14).

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.5

1.2 MALMBERGET

Building partially demolished, Malmberget. Photograph by author, 2021.

Historically, Norrbotten’s extractive cities are inseparable from themes of

FIGURE 1.6

Norrbotten’s settlements tied to resource extraction. In 1888, Malmberget’s

Discontinued road, Malmberget. Photograph by author, 2021.

instability and uncertainty. The formation of Malmberget (literal translation: The Ore Mountain) can be considered the first deliberate urban design of

population quickly expanded after being connected to the Swedish shipping port of Luleå via railway.23 Mining settlements were assumed to have a

non-permanent population that could be dissolved easily. As a result, the

“provincial government imposed absolutely no planning requirements on the mining company” despite workers wanting to purchase land.24 The poor

conditions eventually resulted in the state commissioning a gridded town plan in 1895. By 1900 Malmberget had “developed into a national scandal”

due to its poorly planned overcrowding and lack of services.25 The new town

plan was designed near the mine despite the mining company warning that “mining operations would probably take place underneath the future town.”26 The ground beneath Malmberget’s buildings inevitably became unstable, presenting challenges of loss and displacement before Kiruna’s urban transformation. In 1972, the demolition of buildings started to occur in Malmberget as the mining company LKAB confirmed that continued mining

would cause landslides and cracks to form in the bedrock.27 Accordingly, modes of preservation became of significance in attempts to retain a sense of permanence as people were obliged to move to novel surroundings.

23 Adolf Sotoca, ‘More Than One City: Kiruna and the Technological Megasystem of Sweden’s North’, in Kiruna Forever (Stockholm: Arkitektur Förlag, 2020), pp. 75–81 (p. 76). 24 Håkan Forsell, ‘Modernizing the Economic Landscapes of the North: Resource Extraction, Town Building and Educational Reform in the Process of Internal Colonization in Swedish Norrbotten’, International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity, 3.2 (2015), 195–211 (p. 202). 25 Forsell, p. 202. 26 Sotoca, p. 77. 27 Roine Viklund and others, The Book of LKAB (Stockholm: LKAB, 2015), p. 162.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.7 Building partially demolished, Malmberget. Photograph by author, 2021.

Visual reminders of Malmberget’s instability are abundant in the human

experience of the city. The land deformation grew to form the dramatic Kaptensgropen (The Captain’s Pit) which directly divides the town in two.

Virtually the entire town of Malmberget will now be phased out and 3,200 residents will have to move to Gällivare five kilometres south.28 In walking

between Gällivare and Malmberget, you move from new buildings and generous public infrastructure, through a green buffer zone to older residential blocks until, eventually, you arrive at a fence that marks the boundary between the habitable and uninhabitable space.29 Decommissioned

roads stretch beyond the fence and become overgrown. Buildings are half demolished along the boundary with many others uninhabited and vacant.

28 ‘Two Cities Become One’, Urban Transformation - LKAB, 2016 <https:// samhallsomvandling.lkab.com/en/malmbergetgallivare/two-cities-become-one/> [accessed 4 October 2021]. 29 ‘Observation Notes from Malmberget/Gällivare 26-28 August 2021’.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

1.3 KIRUNA

FIGURE 1.8

Unlike Malmberget, Kiruna was designed for long term prosperity making

Burial chapel designed by Wickman, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

its relocation and subsequent preservation attempts even more significant.

The poor conditions in Malmberget, the increasing nationalization of the mines and the prospect of longevity resulted in Kiruna being designed as

a model town at the turn of the twentieth century. LKAB’s first manager

Hjalmar Lundbohm (1855-1926) was responsible for establishing a narrative

of an “attractive community to recruit and retain labour” in this remote area. 30

Lundbohm employed the architect and city planner Per Olof Hallman to

draw plans for Kiruna between 1899-1900, making it the first “large company town designed by an architect” in Sweden.31 Gustaf Wickman acted as chief

consultant. Hallman and Wickman were both considered leading practitioners. Their task was to develop a new spatial identity for northern Sweden. This

brief led to a visionary town plan that was subsequently recognised as a national heritage site.

Established between the two mountains of Luossavaara (Salmon Mountain in Sámi) and Kiirunavaara (Mountain of the Snow Grouse in Sámi), Kiruna

was divided into three main areas: LKAB’s Company Area; a service zone; and

a Railway Area. Hallman was inspired by modern planning concepts of the Austrian architect and urban theorist Camillo Sitte who advocated “climate adjusted street routes” which would block the northern wind.32 This resulted

in winding streets of mostly detached houses with gardens that hugged the terrain. Motivated by the belief that Kiruna represented a “unique settlement

from the twentieth century, where planning ideals at the time were realized,” The Swedish National Heritage Board designated Kiruna a heritage site in 1990.33

30 Johanna Overud, ‘Memory-Making in Kiruna: Representations of Colonial Pioneerism in the Transformation of a Scandinavian Mining Town’, Culture Unbound, 11.1 (2019), 104–23 (p. 110). 31 Mats Ahnlund and Lasse Brunnstrom, ‘The Company Towns in Scandinavia: Architecture and Society in the Early Industrial Age’, in The Company Town, ed. by John Garner (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 75–108 (p. 91). 32 Forsell, p. 203. 33 Jennie Sjöholm, ‘The Town Reassembled: Authenticity and Transformation in Kiruna, Sweden’, in Authentic Reconstruction: Authenticity, Architecture and the Built Heritage, ed. by Peter Larkham, Rob Pickard, and John Bold (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), pp. 237–52 (p. 240).

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.9 Tower in Erskine’s Ortdrivaren neighbourhood, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

Following Hallman’s original plan, the schemes of the internationally renowned

British architect Ralph Erskine represent the next use of Kiruna as a testbed for radical architecture. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Erskine produced schemes for Kiruna and the nearby mining settlement of Svappavaara which

reflected his theoretical models for developing an architecture specific to

place. Schemes were characterised by the presence of sheltered passages

and outdoor spaces, dense residential units, “walls of taller high-rise buildings […] placed north and lower rise buildings made to face south in order to maximise sunlight.”34 His work was in opposition to “what were seen

as the homogenising and globalising tendencies of the International Style of Modernism” that failed to serve the needs of northern inhabitants.35

Many of Erksine’s progressive ideas were embodied in his Ortdrivaren neighbourhood in Kiruna (Figure 1.9). The scheme comprised dense housing,

shops, offices, and a church, wrapped in a distinct curved design to increase

the heat efficiency and prevent the build-up of snow. The form acted to

shelter large terraces for play and public seating with additional sheltered passages in response to the harsh conditions. Referencing the local culture,

balconies were designed to be reminiscent of mining lifts.36 Ortdrivaren will be demolished due to the urban transformation. When visiting, many

residents appeared to have now vacated the building, however, the northern side still acts as an important civic space within the city.37

34 Ann Maudsley, ‘The Architect Who Claimed the Arctic’, in Kiruna Forever (Stockholm: Arkitektur Förlag, 2020), pp. 123–27 (p. 128). 35 Jérémie Michael McGowan, ‘Ralph Erskine, (Skiing) Architect’, Nordlit, 12.1 (2008), 241–52 (p. 242). 36 Clara Nyström, ‘Kvarteret Ortdrivaren’, Kiruna Kommun, 2020 <https://kiruna. se/konst-och-kulturhistoria/modalpuffar/byggnader/kvarteret-ortdrivaren.html> [accessed 19 July 2021]. 37 ‘Observation Notes from Kiruna 23-25 August 2021’.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

KEY

1. New urban transformation 2. Mine 3. Land deformation growth 4. Area of demolition

KIRUNA

3 LUOSSAVAARA

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.10 View from Luossavaara of Kiruna and the mine. Photograph by author, 2021.

FIGURE 1.11 Map of Kiruna’s urban transformation. Produced by author, 2021.

In 2004, Kiruna’s Council issued a press release announcing that a “substantial

part of the town” was to be moved as the ground near to the mine was becoming unstable.38 The collapse had been publicly forecasted since

the 1970’s though had not been considered in the city planning.39 Urban

designers and architects were required to imagine a new extension that would rehouse residents and ultimately address the loss of an urban landscape to

which many residents were highly attached. In 2006, Wilhelmson Arkitekter proposed the relocation of Kiruna to the northwest, organically wrapping around Luossavaara and Kiirunavaara. Kiruna Council eventually decided that

a “new town centre would be established [to the] north-east” and organised an international urban design competition in 2012.40 The winner was White

Arkitekter’s Kiruna-4-ever proposal, which imagined a series of dense

blocks being developed over 100 years. The radical scale and cost of these proposals that restructured the entire city must be seen in the context of

Kiruna’s dependency on mining, which is of “profound economic and social importance.”41

Affected areas have gradually been evacuated. Buildings by some of Sweden’s greatest architects, along with housing blocks and streetscapes will

be demolished and moved. This is mostly funded by LKAB who must “provide full compensation for the negative impacts of its activities” under Swedish law.42 Kiruna risks losing both tangible and intangible cultural heritage

as the ground deformation continues to render large portions of the city uninhabitable.

38 Andrea Luciani and Jennie Sjöholm, ‘Norrbotten’s Technological Megasystem as a Heritage Discourse’, 15 (London: AMPS, 2019), pp. 292–300 (p. 294). 39 Sotoca, p. 77. 40 Sjöholm, ‘Reassembled’, p. 242. 41 Luciani and Sjöholm, p. 295. 42 Luciani and Sjöholm, p. 294.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.12 View of Kiruna’s mine from train. Photograph by author, 2021.

The broader ambition of White Arkitekter’s masterplan is to enable Kiruna to diversify the economy, making it less dependent on iron ore, and more accessible and attractive to historically neglected groups.43 Following a series

of interviews, researcher Brynhild Granås found the “iconic kirunabo” (resident) is represented as a male and embedded in the industrial characteristics of the city.44 Accordingly, young women are considered as crucial to involve

in future planning decisions.45 Granås also identified an active shift from

the “aesthetics of the iron-ore industry” to imagery that promotes a future aided by digital technology.46 Kiruna’s digital image reflects a trend across

Norrbotten to attract the global data industry, tech companies and scientific research. The cold climate and availability of cheap hydraulic power have

resulted in Facebook placing their European servers in Luleå, while the nearby Boden is home to one of Europe’s largest bitcoin mines.

Kiruna’s case study illustrates how the core dependency on mining has been both destructive and a catalyst for exceptional architecture. The city is a

space where architects and planners have proposed radical designs which attempted to be uniquely regional. Despite the large investment in the new city, the decision to locate it in the path of the mine means Kiruna “will have

to be moved again in no fewer than 50-100 years”.47 In an interview, a local

journalist remarked that the eventual decision to locate the new centre to

the northeast was a political one: there were already more voters in that location who wanted the new centre to develop around their homes.48 Loss,

displacement and memory will continue to be key themes in the future of the city meaning that it is essential that designers find strategies to manage the clash between the mines and residents.

43 Agatino Rizzo and Jeannette Sordi, ‘Resources and Urbanization in the Global Periphery: Perspectives from Urban and Landscape Studies’, Cities, 100 (2020), p. 2. 44 Brynhild Granås, ‘Ambiguous Place Meanings: Living with the Industrially Marked Town in Kiruna, Sweden’, Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, 94.2 (2012), 125–39 (p. 128). 45 Malin Lindberg and others, ‘Co-Creative Place Innovation in an Arctic Town’, Journal of Place Management and Development, 13.4 (2020), 447–63 (p. 455). 46 Granås, p. 125. 47 Max Wisotsky, ‘Extractive Architectures: Ore Bodies Over Human Bodies’, in P.E.A.R. No. 8 Global/Local, ed. by Ana Betancour and others (London: P.E.A.R Magazine, 2020), pp. 8–15 (p. 13). 48 ‘Interview_4 (See Table 01)’.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

1.4 NORRBOTTEN’S TECHNOLOGICAL MEGASYSTEM

FIGURE 1.13

The urban relocations must be contextualised within the broader industrial

Map of Norrbotten’s Technological Megasystem. Produced by author, 2021.

expansion of Norrbotten. In parallel with the growth in mining settlements,

was the construction of a vast network of harbours, railways, hydropower plants and fortifications. In 1902, the railway was extended to Kiruna, and then to the Norwegian port of Narvik.49 Hydropower plants were developed across

Norrbotten to provide energy for the rapidly expanding infrastructure. The

sites linking the region’s industrial infrastructure have been conceptualised as “Norrbotten’s Technological Megasystem.”50 Currently, 90% of Europe’s iron

ore is extracted from Norrbotten while the hydropower plants on the Lule river generate half of Sweden’s overall power, placing enormous national economic and political significance on the region.51

The sites of Norrbotten’s Technological Megasystem are intrinsically linked

to the global demand for natural resources. The extractive cities can be framed through the concept of Planetary Urbanization proposed by Neil

Brenner and Christian Schmid. Their theory suggests that contemporary

conditions mean that “the urban can no longer be understood with reference to a particular ‘type’ of settlement space,” rather “the urban represents an

increasingly worldwide condition in which political-economic relations are enmeshed.”52 Peripheral spaces that are considered far from city cores “have become integral parts of the worldwide urban fabric.”53 The urban relocations

are a result of facilitating the rapid expansion of metropolitan regions around the world.

49 Sotoca, p. 76. 50 Luciani and Sjöholm, p. 292. 51 Berta Morata, ‘The Northbothnian Technological Megasystem’, in Urbanism & Urbanization (presented at the 9th International PhD Seminar in Urbanism and Urbanization, Ghent University, 2018), pp. 87–102 (p. 89). 52 Neil Brenner and Christian Schmid, ‘Planetary Urbanization’, in Implosions/Explosions: Towards a Study of Planetary Urbanization (Berlin: JOVIS Verlag GmbH, 2015), pp. 160– 63 (p. 162). 53 Brenner and Schmid, p. 162.

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

KEY

1. Narvik 2. Kiruna 3. Gällivare 4. Luleå

Norrbotten Reindeer Husbandry Railway

4 GULF OF BOTHNIA

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Norrbotten’s Urban Condition

FIGURE 1.14

1.5 CONCLUSION

View from Luossavaara, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

Norrbotten’s extractive cities are situated within a complex economic, political

and environmental climate that has driven architecture that is both celebrated and highly vulnerable. The cities are underpinned by a prolonged history of colonisation. This is significant to preservation strategies designed to

mediate the damage as the urban fabric itself represents a loss to indigenous populations. Future developments should limit further expansion into the

indigenous territory and learn from themes of nomadism and adaption

central to Sámi architecture. Malmberget’s challenging formation influenced

the design of Kiruna leading to a unique settlement being built. This drive for radical architecture has continued in the schemes of both Erskine and

the more recent urban relocation plan. Addressing the loss of an urban landscape to which many residents were highly attached means that the

modes of preservation and the activation of memory have huge significance.

More broadly, Norrbotten’s extractive cities are a result of global demand

for natural resources and must be conceptualised within this worldwide condition that drives these urban phenomena.

The future of Norrbotten’s extractive cities is uncertain. Mining is likely to

continue: LKAB do not believe they will exhaust deposits any time soon

and have invested “SEK 700m” (£60m) in searching for new deposits in the past two years.54 However, if mining continues, the industry will increasingly

provide fewer jobs as the systems of extraction are increasingly automated. For this reason, the pivot towards the tech industry is vital. Nonetheless,

tackling the challenges of urban obsolescence will continue to be relevant: if mining operations ceased today in Kiruna, “the surface would destabilize

within a few decades.”55 This suggests a longer and more painful transition away from mining, requiring designers to imagine alternative futures that are sensitive and responsive to the uncertain nature of the landscape.

54 Anders Lindberg, ‘LKAB Ökar Tillgångarna Med En Halv Miljard Ton’, LKAB Framtid, 2021, p. 4. 55 Morata, p. 98.

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Reconstruction

Reconstruction FIGURE 2.1 Digital reconstruction of residential building, Kiruna. Produced by author, 2021.

In 1867, the V&A’s founding director called for countries across the world to create and share reproductions of Historical Monuments through casts, electrotypes, and photographs within the radical Convention for Promoting Universally Reproductions of Work of Art.56 Advances in digital technologies have now generated a wide range of new ways to record and reconstruct cultural heritage. This chapter focuses specifically on how 3D scanning can aid existing preservation strategies in Norrbotten’s extractive cities. 56 Anaïs Aguerre and Brendan Cormier, ‘Introduction’, in Copy Culture: Sharing in the Age of Digital Reproduction (London: V&A Publishing, 2018), pp. 19–26 (p. 23).

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FIGURE 2.2 Interior of Wickman’s Church, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

The investigation is structured in five sections which each focus on one

specific aspect of Norrbotten’s cultural heritage which is at risk: buildings; fragments of buildings; the industrial landscape; the ephemeral qualities within the landscape; and human acts. In each section, the use of 3D

scanning is contextualised within previously adopted preservation strategies observed during fieldwork. A series of design provocations and experiments are introduced which provide a means to be explicit about how the adoption of 3D scanning can manifest architecturally.

2.1 BUILDINGS OF RECOLLECTION Norrbotten’s extractive cities have developed radical strategies to relocate buildings so that threatened historic areas can be reconstructed within new

city centres. These buildings are considered by the local authorities to be

powerful mnemonic devices that preserve cultural heritage through their visual presence. Kiruna’s municipality and LKAB have agreed to relocate 39 cultural buildings to save them from subsidence.57 Smaller buildings have been moved by digging beneath the structure, sliding iron beams

underneath, and then craning the entire building onto a large truck to be carefully driven to a new location. Buildings like Wickman’s Church (1912),

considered a masterpiece in National Romantic Architecture, present a more complex challenge.58 Fortunately, the large wooden structure was fabricated using a “log-and-notch” style so can be carefully deconstructed then reassembled.59 Part of its distinction is that it was built on the highest point in the city, surrounded by a large woodland and enclosed by a low

stone wall. In response, there are plans to build a hill for its new location and painstakingly reconstruct the wall.60 This mode of preservation is not free

from issues of authenticity: the original context is replaced by an artificial

construction. However, this is considered unavoidable in the context of the land deformation.

57 ‘Minnena Lever Kvar (The Memories Live On)’, LKAB, 2019 <https:// samhallsomvandling.lkab.com/sv/kiruna/vi-flyttar-en-stad/minnena-lever-kvar/> [accessed 2 March 2021]. 58 Kent, p. 63. 59 Nicola Davies, ‘How to Move a Town - Church and All’, Engineering & Technology, 11.6 (2016), 46–49 (p. 47). 60 ‘Interview_4 (See Table 01)’.

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FIGURE 2.3 Ingenjörsvillan’s (The Engineers House) new site after being relocated in 2017, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

The significant economic costs associated with these relocations reflects the value attributed to preserving buildings. In Malmberget, 30 buildings will be moved to either Koskullskulle or Gällivare, five kilometres south.61

Allhelgonakyrkan (All Saints Church) designed by the renowned architect Hakon Ahlberg (1891-1984), will be moved again having been already moved

FIGURE 2.4

in 1974 due to previous subsidence. This ex-situ preservation reflects a desire

Vastveitloftet, a norwegain building moved to Skansen in 1901. Photograph by author, 2021.

This approach is seemingly radical and a point of media fascination. However,

to generate continuity between the old and new.

there is a long tradition of moving buildings in Sweden linked to the modern Conservation Movement, the roots of which stretch back to classical Greece.62

Buildings are considered stable objects that can host memories and evoke

the past while the external environment changes. In Sweden, rapid cultural

change brought about by industrialisation towards the end of the nineteenth century was perceived as a threat to traditional cultures which led to historic buildings being collected by open-air museums.63 Most famous is Skansen in

Stockholm, founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius. Hosting a variety of buildings,

visitors and researchers could immerse themselves in theatrical scenes where plants, animals and objects were brought together from across Sweden.64 Hazelius’ buildings “operated like theatre sets, with sculptured visitors shown

in dramatic and emotional situations.”65 As is shown in Figure 2.4, the artificial

village continues to draw in visitors keen to see and engage with the historic structures. This cultural phenomenon serves to emphasise the continued relevance of retaining historic buildings.

61 ‘Two Cities Become One’. 62 Miles Glendinning, The Conservation Movement: A History of Architectural Preservation: Antiquity to Modernity (London: Routledge, 2013), p. 9. 63 Sjöholm, ‘Reassembled’, p. 237. 64 Sten Rentzhog, Open Air Museums: The History and Future of a Visionary Idea, trans. by Skans Victoria Airey (Sweden: Carlssons, 2007), p. 8. 65 Rentzhog, p. 15.

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However, this means of preservation can be critiqued by evaluating the use of 3D scanning in contemporary digital storytelling studios. ScanLAB

Projects argue that emerging digital technologies of architectural survey

are increasingly able to produce accurate “digital doubles” of cultural heritage artefacts which “challenge the necessity and relevance of [physical]

conservation” practice.66 Since 2010, ScanLAB has experimented with the

visualisation of digital reconstructions through perspectival images, animated films and immersive virtual reality or augmented reality experiences. With

parallel development of CNC and additive fabrication tools, the “partarchaeological and part-propositional” practice has also explored the translation of digital reconstructions to physical objects to be experienced

haptically.67 For preservation, ScanLAB’s utilisation of 3D scanning unsettles the normal status of physical objects by introducing an alternative way to activate memories.

In Norrbotten’s context, where several thousand structures are being demolished, 3D scanning offers a crucial alternative to the long-term predilection towards relocating entire buildings. Discussing how 3D scanning might alter how we preserve objects, the futurist architect and filmmaker Liam Young posits that “in a time when everything is digital nothing really has to

disappear.”68 As the land deformation caused by the mining activities renders

the extractive cities uninhabitable, buildings could theoretically last forever

digitally. This premise was tested during fieldwork in Norrbotten. A series of digital reconstructions of buildings facing demolition were generated using

photogrammetry (Figures 2.5-8). The digital reconstructions compress the

volumetric data of a building into a point-cloud: a series of data points, each with an X,Y and Z coordinate and RGB value. Each reconstruction contains several thousand points, their relative density determines the perceived

opacity of the surfaces creating a ghostly cloud effect. The buildings are now

preserved in their point cloud state through multiple copies on different hard drives, theoretically far more secure than the endangered structures.

66 Matthew Shaw and William Trossell, ‘Digital Doppelgängers: Future Scanscapes’, Architectural Design, 84 (2014), 20–29 (p. 24). 67 Bob Sheil, ‘From Making Digital Architecture to Making Resilient Architecture’, in Fabricate 2020 (London: UCL Press, 2020), pp. 12–21 (p. 12). 68 Liam Young, ‘Frozen Relics’, Architectural Review, 27 February 2013, 96.

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As a tool of preservation, 3D scanning lies in opposition to the central premise

of many universally adopted heritage policies which prioritise the original building fabric. This stems from Ruskin’s belief that the original material of

buildings can grasp history through their “patina of age” (appearance and texture), a view which has had a powerful and long-lasting influence.69 In

the current strategy, although the life of the relocated buildings has been artificially prolonged, the original material is preserved and still subject to

what the media theorist and philosopher Boris Groys describes as the “flow of time”: destruction from weathering and use.70 Therefore residents can appreciate the age value of the buildings. The point-clouds do retain visual

marks of inhabitation and decay, but these are now immunized against the

power of time, unable to decay further. Accordingly, 3D scanning encounters

a problem with ideals of authenticity, and age value believed to reside in physical materials.

69 Glendinning, p. 119. 70 Boris Groys, In the Flow (London: Verso, 2018).

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FIGURE 2.5 Digital reconstruction of building ruin on Luossavaara, Kiruna. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 2.6 Digital reconstruction of Kaptensspelet, mining elevator, Malmberget. Produced by author, 2021.

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FIGURE 2.7 Digital reconstruction of early company building, Kiruna. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 2.8 Digital reconstruction of Ortdrivaren neighbourhood, Kiruna. Produced by author, 2021.

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However, it would be reductive to simply compare the visual similarity

of the digital reconstruction to reality. The point-clouds are distinct from

Deleuze’s theoretical simulacrum that “copies the real so completely and

exactly as to nullify the distinction between the two.”71 As Michael Young,

Architect and Assistant Professor at the Cooper Union, reminds us, “the

question is not which one is closer to the ‘real’, but how these models [of

digital reconstruction] alter human and nonhuman engagement with the

world.”72 The digital reconstructions are a valuable mode of preservation

not only because they look like the physical world, but also because they can

be combined, altered, and analysed to understand and narrate Norrbotten’s cultural history in new ways.

3D scanning could theoretically allow a diverse range of buildings to be preserved, more closely related to the residents’ personal stories than the narrow range prioritised by the existing strategy. Currently, the relocated

buildings are mostly wooden. This is not by chance; they are cheaper and easier to move compared to masonry or concrete buildings. The buildings

also explicitly relate to LKAB’s early history. Once relocated, the buildings

are prominent and visible expressions of a civic identity that celebrates this

early period. Yet, social structures have radically changed. Johanna Overud, Professor at Umeå University’s Centre for Gender Studies, identifies that more marginalized groups, in particular the Sámi, have their stories side-

lined in favour of nostalgia for the “mythical Model City.”73 Decisions made on what to preserve and how were conducted by LKAB in closed meetings

without architect consultation or public involvement.74 3D scanning through photogrammetry is highly accessible, only requiring a camera and limited

processing to perform. Residents could assemble a collection of digital reconstructions of their own choice: a form of participatory preservation.

71 Bianca Bosker, Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013), p. 23. 72 Michael Young, ‘In the Shadow of Information’, in Perspecta 53: Onus, The Yale Architectural Journal (Yale: MIT Press, 2020). 73 Overud, p. 120. 74 Interview_2 (see Table 01).

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Creative studios are increasingly experimenting with the emerging potential

of participatory digital preservation. ScanLAB’s project in collaboration with Royal Holloway University Your Scans, Your Stories, Your Heritage (2020), sent

3D scanning equipment to young people in the British Overseas Territories

to enable them to “curat[e] their own visions of some of the most politically contested lands under British sovereignty.”75 In all previous projects, specialists

within ScanLAB would scan the site, frame the view, and ultimately direct the narrative. In an interview with the Project Director, he described the project’s

significance in moving ScanLAB away from the potentially exploitative notion

of “capturing” a site in future works.76 This practice offers conservation officers

a new approach with the potential to assert an equality of buildings, spaces, time, and memories.

It is important to note that relocating buildings has also emerged as a practical response to limited building resources and urban growth that prioritised

the extraction of resources. When settlements developed around extractive industries became no longer profitable, “people moved on and the settlements

were dismantled as buildings were moved elsewhere.”77 Semi-transhumant

Sámi designed structures which could be moved easily. Conical structures, called “lávvu,” were ideal for the nomadic pattern of reindeer migrations as

they use replaceable wooden poles.78 Kiruna’s moved buildings will provide

homes during a housing shortage, something digital reconstructions cannot.

3D scanning should be considered a tool to complement, not replace, a relocation practice that stems from a positive concern for material reuse.

75 ‘Your Scans. Your Stories. Your Heritage.’, StoryFutures <https://www.storyfutures. com/showcase/your-scans-your-stories-your-heritage> [accessed 15 October 2021]. 76 Interview_3 (see Table 01). 77 Sjöholm, ‘Reassembled’, p. 237. 78 Hugh Beach, ‘About the Hearth’, in The Devitalization and Revitalization of Sámi Dwellings in Sweden (Oxford: Berghahn, 2013), pp. 80–102 (p. 81).

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.9 Study of empty clearings after the relocation of buildings, Kiruna. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 2.10

Gabion walls marking demolished buildings, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

Demolished buildings have a distinct spatial legacy on the landscape within which the digital reconstructions would operate. Spaces where buildings once stood have been converted into “Mine City Parks”.79 These vast spaces act as

both a buffer between the city and the mining area and as an important civic

space. 80 As shown in Figure 2.10, the old building outlines have been retained

through platforms or more explicit gabion walls. These intentional ruins form a memorial space for the lost landscape. Susan Stewart, English Professor

at Princeton, describes how ruins “invite quiet contemplation as much as

response, and they immerse the viewer-listener in association and reverie.” 81

The Mine City Park provides a vital space for residents to contemplate

the future of the city and the process of forgetting. Digital reconstructions could dilute the powerful absence of the lost buildings. For that reason, it is

important to consider the relationship between the digital reconstructions and the ruins.

To serve as vehicles of recollection, designers are required to find new

forms of curation and immersion to present the digital reconstructions to the residents. At present, a finite number of relocated buildings are embedded in the residents’ everyday routines. In contrast, an archive of

digital reconstructions would require the deliberate design of displays and exhibitions to be seen. The archive would encounter the same struggle as contemporary museums: unable to curate an ever-growing range of objects

which are at risk of being forgotten because they are unable to be accessed. Groys suggests contemporary museums overcome this by “morph[ing] from spaces for permanent collections into stages for temporary curatorial

projects.”82 This restages hidden artefacts as new theatrical events, thus, “the

museum turns the documentation of an old event into an element of a new event.”83 In the same way that Skansen presented historic buildings through

theatrics, designers must restage the digital reconstructions.

79 ‘Mine City Parks’, Urban Transformation - LKAB, 2016 <https://samhallsomvandling. lkab.com/en/kiruna/we-are-moving-a-town/mine-city-parks/> [accessed 2 November 2021]. 80 ‘Observation Notes from Kiruna 23-25 August 2021’. 81 Susan Stewart, The Ruins Lesson: Meaning and Material in Western Culture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), p. 20. 82 Boris Groys, ‘Entering the Flow: Museum between Archive and Gesamtkunstwerk’, E-Flux, 50, 2013, p. 6 <https://www.e-flux.com/journal/50/59974/entering-the-flowmuseum-between-archive-and-gesamtkunstwerk/> [accessed 17 March 2021]. 83 Groys, ‘Entering the Flow’, p. 11.

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FIGURE 2.11 Speculative design to transform an area of the Mine City Park into a space where digital reconstructions can be viewed. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 2.12 VR equipment and immersive film displays allow residents to access the digital archive of demolished buildings. Produced by author, 2021.

Speculative design studies (Figures 2.11-12) explore the friction between the permanence of digital reconstructions and the evocative ruin of Kiruna’s

Mine City Park. The design imagines transforming an area of the park into a space where digital reconstructions of the lost city can be viewed.

Surrounded by a low bench that marks the perimeter of the cleared building plot, VR equipment and immersive film displays allow residents to access

the digital archive of demolished buildings. The digital archive is formed by the residents themselves, revealing the commonalities and differences of

buildings believed to be of significance when allowed to curate their own

visions. As a collection of objects, the tables, seats and pools evoke a scaled version of the overall lost landscape, provoking an interchange between the architecture and the recorded memory. As the subsidence draws closer to the city, the objects can be moved to the safety of new clearings.

3D scanning can enrich the relocation strategies of Norrbotten’s extractive cities. Yet to be constructive, it is important to understand how the digital

reconstructions are presented to the residents and the nature of their relationship to the landscape. The act of relocating buildings generates continuity between the old and new cities through the activation of memory. However, this is limited to memories related to the early model city. 3D

scanning could allow a wider range of buildings to be preserved, more

closely related to that which the resident’s value, where potentially they can participate. ScanLAB has already shown that digital reconstructions can

challenge the necessity and relevance of physical preservation, but their work does not consider how this could operate within an urban context. The speculative design studies move beyond pure visualisation or isolated

exhibits to suggest the architectural potential of theatrical forms of curation and immersion.

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.13

2.2 DISASSEMBLY

Sami duodji wooden door handles at Kristallen entrance, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

Norrbotten’s extractive cities have developed highly symbolic strategies to

FIGURE 2.14 Iron clock tower relocated to Kristallen, Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

transplant, and reuse fragments of buildings demolished due to the land deformation. Before Kiruna’s critically acclaimed town hall was demolished

in 2019, wooden door handles (Figure 2.13), considered “exceptional […]

Sami duodji” (Indigenous traditional handicraft), and a wrought iron clock

tower (Figure 2.14) were carefully moved and integrated into Kiruna’s new

town hall.84 Like whole buildings, building fragments can act as analogues

of memory. This practice can be traced to 4th century AD Rome where parts

FIGURE 2.15

of venerated older buildings were displayed as “spolia” (spoils) on new

Building demolition witnessed during tour of Kiruna. Photograph by author, 2021.

ideological purposes, forming an “interplay between protection and active

buildings.85 The “spolia were freely doctored where required” to fit with new

destruction [that continues] into the modern age.”86 In Kiruna, the limited

spolia support LKAB’s control of the city’s image: creating a fantasy regarding the transformation and the future of the city.

Building fragments are also reused for their practical function. Yet, as buildings have not been designed for disassembly, this is often challenging. In 1972,

when the demolition of buildings started to occur in Malmberget, workers

were able to remove window frames and furnishings so that “they could be installed in houses and cabins.”87 At the core of White Arkitekter’s Kiruna

Forever proposal was the “Kiruna Portal”: a recycling facility where materials from the demolished buildings could be repurposed.88 However, this was

never implemented. During a tour of Kiruna led by journalist, photographer, and resident Kjell Törmä, we visited a building near the mine in the process

of being demolished (Figure 2.15).89 The concrete structure is unsalvageable,

showing the complex reality of disassembling contemporary buildings. 3D

scanning is not constrained by the same parameters: it is as easy to create a digital reconstruction of a large concrete fragment as a wooden post. This generates a new way to consider this process.

84 Carrasco, p. 32. 85 Glendinning, p. 15. 86 Glendinning, p. 17. 87 Viklund and others, p. 162. 88 Martin Johnson, Krister Lindstedt, and Erik Stenman, ‘Moving a City, Notes from the First Steps of a Relocation’, in Kiruna Forever (Stockholm: Arkitektur Förlag, 2020), pp. 144–45 (p. 145). 89 ‘Observation Notes from Kiruna 23-25 August 2021’.

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.16 LiDAR 3D scanning, Kistefos. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects.

3D scanning introduces an unprecedented capacity to collect, store and process fragments of historic buildings virtually. Amid fieldwork, I was

employed through ScanLAB to aid the production of the French artist Pierre Huyghe’s recent site-specific artwork at Kistefos (contemporary art sculpture

park, Norway) which serves as a case study.90 At a recent Serpentine Gallery

exhibition, Huyghe’s practice was summarised as finding “ways to bring human visitors within a set of systems that include biological communities

as well as technologies, transforming normally static exhibitions into living organisms.”91 At Kistefos, Huyghe is using an island to host a series of

condensed natural phenomena: decaying deer and mink, rare mushrooms,

anthills and a sculpted beehive with an active colony. Each could be found in the Norwegian landscape but would never be experienced as one. ScanLAB were commissioned to create digital replicas of the forested island and

Huyghe’s interventions. The elements and spaces are highly temporal, some

only lasting the time it took to survey them. Only through combining the digital replicas into a single digital model can they be witnessed together in 3D.

90 ‘Observation Notes from Kistefos 2-11 July 2021’. 91 Pierre Huyghe at the Serpentine, ed. by Rebecca Lewin, Natalia Grabowska, and Melissa Larner (London: Koenig Books, 2019), p. 4.

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Huyghe’s work is interesting because it plays with the plasticity of scale

and the synchronisation of timelines afforded by digital reconstructions. Once complete, visitors will walk on the island and view a hybrid of physical artefacts and digital reconstructions presented through a film displayed on

large screens. The digital camera will be in constant motion, flying from micro details to the scale of the island. This practice has the potential to manifest materially in architecture, presenting designers with the opportunity to

play with collaging and extreme sampling of different scales, periods and

geographical locations in one space. The relevance to Norrbotten’s context would be to generate diverse modes of expression in the urban environment in opposition to the conformity presented by LKAB, allowing residents to reassert control over their own image and history.

Similar ideas in sampling fragments of older buildings have been explored within Postmodern Architecture practice and theory from the late 1970s.

Postmodern architects introduced historic forms into buildings ranging

from replication, playful scaling, ornament, critical reinventions, and ironic

references. Known precedents were blended and distorted to create uncanny spaces. Certain aspects of the movement are directly related to the

preservation or reimagination of heritage, having developed in parallel to a broader shift towards context and history. As architectural historian Mario Carpo argues, “Architectural Postmodernism posited that architectural signs may refer to meanings outside architecture proper, either through visual

similarity (iconicity) or cultural associations (symbolism),” which is “what most Western monuments with a commemorative value were traditionally meant to do.”92 Farrell describes architects rediscovering Postmodernism

“born-again Postmodernists”: these designers are equipped with new digital tools which have “transformed the potential to express and indulge.”93

92 Mario Carpo, ‘The Postmodern Cult of Monuments’, Future Anterior, 4.2 (2007), 51 (p. 52). 93 Terry Farrell, ‘We Are All Postmodernists Now’, in Revisiting Postmodernism, ed. by Terry Farrell and Adam Nathaniel Furman (Newcastle: RIBA Publishing, 2019), p. 69.

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FIGURE 2.17 Internal view of residential space incorporating fragments of Kiruna’s demolished buildings. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 2.18 Waste rock from Luossavaara’s former mining scar is salvaged and sculpted using robotic milling arms. Produced by author, 2021.

Figure 2.17 examines the productive potential of generating an architectural language through sampling fragments of Kiruna’s demolished buildings that have been retained through digital reconstructions. Showing a speculative

internal view of a new home, everyday domestic life is combined with symbolic volumes of significance chosen by the resident. This example focuses specifically on Wickman’s architecture. In the centre left of the

image, the distinct tiling from the wooden Fire Station (1910) is sampled,

while on the right, the columns from Gravkapell Church are visible. The sampled elements condense the threatened urban scale into a single room, suggesting a new form of architectural disassembly. To source the building’s

materials, waste rock from Luossavaara’s former mining scar is salvaged

then sculpted using robotic milling arms to translate the digital model into a tangible object (Figure 2.18). As a reference to the idea that digital replication simplifies unmanageable material build-ups into a singular digital reading, all the internal elements are painted in the distinct Falun red.

Reuse is driven by functional and sustainable concerns. However, the complex reality of disassembling means that it is often reserved for highly symbolic

objects, preserved for ideological purposes. 3D scanning introduces an unprecedented capacity to collect, store and process fragments of historic

buildings. Informed by postmodern architectural tendencies, the speculative study suggests that this could inform a highly personal mode of architectural expression significant for residents wanting to assert control over their image and history.

N 7536039 E 713953

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800

Skala 1:20 000, SWEREF 99 TM, RH 2000.

1600

2400 m

E 721953 N 7530779

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FIGURE 2.19

2.3 INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES

Terrain map of Kiruna’s industrial landscape. Lantmäteriet, 2022.

This section examines the use of 3D scanning at the scale of industrial

FIGURE 2.20

Norrbotten’s authorities. Since the beginning of the twentieth century,

Spoil hills sculpted form the huge quantities of mining waste product extracted from beneath Kiruna’s surface. Photograph by author, 2021.

landscapes in response to the evolving priorities and challenges faced by Swedish elites, inspired by the National Romantic Movement, preserved industrial sites to emphasize the “deep historical tradition of the Swedish steel

industry.”94 As the Movement grew, the scale of protected heritage increased.

Since the 1980s Kiruna’s “entire town, including the iron-ore mountains”, has been designated an area of national interest.95 Yet the economic value of

these sites and their inherent working nature means that they can rarely be meaningfully protected.

The central paradox of planning laws and policies designed to preserve Norrbotten’s industrial heritage is that they are in direct opposition to the

continued development of industrial processes that have created the valued landscape. Encompassing such a large scale, the legislation which protects the industrial landscapes often conflicts with other national interests. Ultimately, mining is prioritised resulting in efforts to preserve fragments. As posited

by Jennie Sjöholm, Conservation Specialist and Luleå University lecturer, there is still an unresolved question as to whether these fragments alone are sufficient to retain the city’s overall heritage value.96

The municipality’s compromise reflects the complexity and pitfalls of

designating such a vast area as a heritage site, an obstacle that is seen globally. In Koolhaas’ provocative Preservation is Overtaking Us lectures, he identifies

that the scale of preservation is escalating relentlessly to the point that “everything we inhabit is potentially susceptible to preservation.”97 Imagining

the theoretical result of this phenomenon, Koolhaas describes a proposal

to preserve the entire centre of Beijing by barcoding every single object. To

build new parts, old bands of the city would then either be preserved forever or systematically scraped.98 This provocation illustrates that, in the realm

of expansive protection, preservation becomes a clear design challenge of negotiation between the old and the new. Since Koolhaas’ claim, 3D scanning has developed to the point where preserving an entire city or landscape as a digital reconstruction is not an abstract idea. Moreover, this is something that already occurs in Norrbotten’s extractive cities.

94 Roberts and Avango, p. 129. 95 Sjöholm, ‘Reassembled’, p. 238. 96 Sjöholm, ‘Reassembled’, p. 251. 97 Rem Koolhaas, Preservation Is Overtaking Us (New York: GSAPP Books, 2014), p. 10. 98 Koolhaas, p. 13.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

The industrial landscape which surrounds Norrbotten’s extractive cities is

frequently 3D scanned to aid the production, analysis, and the decision-

making process of mining. In Kiruna, LKAB have used LiDAR scanning to

monitor the landscape and the extensive tunnelling which reaches over a kilometre beneath the surface.99 LiDAR is a highly precise form of 3D scanning

originally conceived in the 1960s for use in “fields of geomatics engineering, atmospheric physics, archaeology and the military.”100 LiDAR’s use in

Norrbotten is currently limited to a tool that aids the extraction process, but the same data opens up new experiential fields for creative preservation.

LiDAR scanning has been studied as a tool of large-scale urban preservation in the context of earthquake-prone heritage villages in Chile. As part of her

PhD thesis, Bernadette Devilat comprehensively LiDAR scanned multiple

heritage villages after major earthquakes had occurred.101 Devilat’s research

focused on LiDAR scanning as a tool of reconstruction and documentation,

comparing traditional drawn survey methods to point-clouds. Both faster and more accurate, the scans included cracks and distortions which the human

eye would have ordinarily missed.102 She posited that 3D scanning could be

used to inform how a selected portion of the ruins could be rebuilt, akin to Koolhaas’ idea of generating a tool to choose which parts to save and which to scrap.

99 ‘LKAB Kiruna Seismic Event Inspections’ (Emesent, 2020) <https://www.emesent. io/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/LKAB-case-study-Mining-1.pdf> [accessed 27 December 2020]. 100 Shaw and Trossell, p. 23. 101 Bernadette Devilat, ‘Recording of Heritage Buildings’, in Drawing Futures, ed. by Laura Allen and Pearson Luke (London: UCL Press, 2016), pp. 236–40. 102 Devilat, p. 238.

Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.21 Panoramic device to display digital reconstructions generated from LiDAR scanners. Produced by author, 2021.

However, there would be limited value in adopting Devilat’s idea of selective

reconstruction in the context of Norrbotten’s industrial landscapes. These

vast landscapes are powerful and valued because of their sublime quality.

For example, people have long been fascinated with the abstract geometries of Kiruna’s spoil hills which are the most visible aspect of Kiruna’s industrial

legacy. LKAB has formed these artificial hills by sculpting the huge quantities

of mining waste product extracted from beneath the city’s surface (Figure 2.20). An American Geography Professor visiting Kiruna in 1950 reflected that the landscape “resembles some of the great terraced mountains of the

Orient.”103 Residents and visitors experience the hills optically as physical

access is blocked by fences due to their dangerous nature.104 To preserve these spoil hills, it is more productive to explore how the illusion and spectacle of viewing the hills can be reconstructed.

There are few precedents for an architecture specifically designed to construct

spectacles from LiDAR scans. However, similar ideas have been explored in the design of dioramas and panoramas that attempt to offer illusionistic representations of landscapes.105 The design proposal shown in Figure

2.21 imagines representing Kiruna’s spoil hills in a panoramic device that

sits somewhere between a planar representation and a spatial object. The purpose of the design is to give residents and visitors access to views of the

landscape at specific points in time that are no longer available, generating a

hybrid of the old and new landscape. The lightweight frame is designed to be disassembled and reconstructed at specific points in the landscape.

103 Lucile Carlson, ‘The Mining District of Kiruna Stad, Sweden’, Scientific Monthly, 74.2 (1952), 76–83 (p. 76). 104 ‘Observation Notes from Kiruna 23-25 August 2021’. 105 Claudia Kamcke and Rainer Hutterer, ‘History of Dioramas’, in Natural History Dioramas, ed. by Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Annette Scheersoi (Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2015), pp. 7–21.

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Reconstruction

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.22 Digital reconstruction of woodland, Epping Forest. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021.

The digital reconstruction on display would never be a complete representation of reality. To further understand the use and limitations of LiDAR scanning within Norrbotten’s extractive cities I conducted a test in a 100m2 area of

woodland in Epping Forest (Figure 2.22).106 This proxy site was chosen for

its abundant formal complexity in the absence of being able to source the LiDAR equipment in Norrbotten. The study required two people to scan over one day and a further day to process the data into a usable digital model. The result is highly precise but there are visible blind zones or “shadows” in the point-cloud where no data has been collected.107 Dark circles indicate the

position of the scanners, areas further away from the scanner position are not visible. Before the site is 3D scanned a series of targets, either black and

white checkerboards or spherical balls, need to be placed in the landscape and are used to align the scans together. These targets become present in

the resulting digital replica of the wood, acting as traces of the physical act of scanning. The noise, errors and equipment would generate fictional spaces

within the digital reconstruction of any landscape chosen to be preserved. This is significant because if the digital reconstructions are used for the activation of memory, the memory created will be distorted.

106 ‘Observation Notes from Epping Forest LiDAR Scanning 27 February 2021’. 107 Michael Young.

PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.23 Digital reconstruction of figure, Epping Forest. Missing squares signify mirror placement. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021.

The scanner’s laser behaves differently depending on the material it

encounters. Certain materials absorb or reflect the laser to create untrustworthy readings. Figure 2.23 shows the imperfections caused by mirrored surfaces. The laser sent from the scanner is reflected leaving empty squares of missing

data where the mirrors are positioned, relocating fragments to elsewhere in the scene. The program which processes the 3D scan attempts to find and then define these errors as noise. Noise can then be deleted, but this risks

removing true readings. Accordingly, digital reconstructions are always an

illusion of perfection: precise measurements of the physical world are layered with unexpected and uncanny geometries.

There is the potential to present the existing digital reconstructions of

Norrbotten’s industrial landscape through panoramic devices to preserve the landscape through evocative displays. However, practical tests highlighted

the limitations of the technique in the representation of reality. This study is significant to Norrbotten’s authorities who struggle to protect vast industrial

landscapes which are designated of national interest. Existing strategies have attempted to distil the immense landscapes into fragments. Yet, the

limitations of this technique become clear when artefacts such as Kiruna’s spoil hills are considered. Similarly, Devilat’s use of LiDAR scanning as a tool

of selective reconstruction is of limited value in the context of Norrbotten’s

industrial landscapes. Although provocative, the design response suggested here is grounded in real tools available to Norrbotten at this present moment. In this way, it moves beyond Koolhaas’ thought experiment.

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.24

2.4 EPHEMERAL LANDSCAPES

Forest, Gällivare. Photograph by author, 2021.

Certain qualities of Norrbotten’s threatened landscapes are inherently

ephemeral, posing a challenge to preservation. Any attempt to preserve an

ephemeral object is paradoxical as the original impermanence can never fully be reconstituted.108 Nonetheless, traces of ephemeral landscapes can

be recorded through photographic, filmic, and written techniques. The

most avant-garde use of 3D scanning extends this to include time-based

three-dimensional recordings. When considered in Norrbotten’s context, time-based digital reconstructions can offer a new way to consider how

the ephemeral qualities of threatened landscapes can be visualised and preserved.

Interestingly, there are existing strategies to safeguard living ecology which

act to preserve fragments of the ephemeral landscape. This is the focus of

A Place Disappearing; an art film that follows 22 living trees being relocated from an ancient forest as a consequence of a copper mine’s expansion.109 The

transplanted fragments are used by The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences for research, but the film explores the idea that the process has a

broader function to aid the movement of the people being displaced. As part of Kiruna’s transformation, White Arkitekter are moving vegetation from the

deformation zone to the new city centre.110 This decision is primarily driven by

concerns for sustainability within a climate of slow growth. However, it serves

as an example of directly integrating preserved ephemeral cultural heritage into the new urban plan. Yet the scale and extent of threatened ecological

heritage are beyond that which could be simply moved, presenting a relevant space in which time-based digital reconstruction can operate.

108 Alex Potts, ‘The Enduringly Ephemeral’, Tate Papers, No.8, 2007. 109 ‘A Place Dissappearing’, Rat & Dragon <https://ratdragonproduction.se/ norrakollektivet/en-plats-f%C3%B6rsvinnande.html> [accessed 11 November 2021]. 110 Johnson, Lindstedt, and Stenman, p. 145.

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.25 Still from Framerate showing Norfolk cliffs. ScanLAB Projects, 2020.

Time-based digital reconstruction has emerged from recent advancements in

the ability to record, store, align and then visualise an object over time. During my work with ScanLAB Projects, I contributed to Framerate; a pioneering

research project which documents environmental change by following landscapes subject to destruction, extraction, construction, harvesting,

growth and erosion over an entire year. LiDAR scans are usually viewed as on-off freeze frames. Framerate is unique because the data is collected at

the sites each day and then layered together to visualise a three-dimensional

timelapse.111 The time-based visualisation was able to represent patterns that had never been scrutinized with this level of precision before. Recording the cliffs of Norfolk revealed sequences of shifting sand, the liquidity of the cliff’s

gradual collapse and the exposure and movement of beach rocks (Figure

2.25). The data is stunning and has scientific value for the British Geological Survey.

Framerate demonstrates the value of using time-based digital reconstruction

to preserve the ephemeral qualities of a landscape. This could be applied in Norrbotten’s context and be presented to residents by extending the idea

of the panoramic spectacle to include film. This would extend the ideas that ScanLAB have developed in Framerate to operate within an architectural and urban context.

111 Sheil, p. 8.

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2.5 HUMAN ACTS

FIGURE 2.26

Material artefacts are only one aspect of Norrbotten’s cultural heritage

Microsoft Kinect motion capture device with blue screen. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects

threatened by the urban transformations: the ephemeral qualities of human experiences, performances and bodily routines also face oblivion. These

practices are recognised as “intangible cultural heritage”, a term which extends the concept of heritage beyond physical objects.112 In A Photograph

is Not Always Enough, Sjöholm concludes that efforts in Kiruna to move

houses or document the city cannot replace intangible qualities such as “the

experience of moving across town.”113 This critique is extended by architect and Associate Professor Ana Monrabal-Cook who argues that Kiruna’s preservation authorities should shift value towards “the intangible aspects of

community living accumulated over time.”114 These arguments are supported

by the social anthropologist Paul Connerton when he suggests collective

memory is “conveyed and sustained by (more or less ritual) performances” which can have more significance than material objects.115 Accordingly, digital

reconstruction should address a means to preserve intangible qualities that the residents value.

There is growing recognition from international organisations that look to

promote, study and define heritage of the need preserve intangible human

qualities. This broadened the concept of heritage has emerged within a

postcolonial critique of heritage practices which were seen to represent a

limited number of interests.116 However, preserving intangible heritage is far

more complex than protecting physical assets and has less precedent. For this reason, it remains less investigated in Norrbotten’s context.

112 UNESCO, Basic Texts of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Paris: UNESCO, 2020), p. 5. 113 Jennie Sjöholm, ‘A Photograph Is Not Always Enough’, in Kiruna Forever (Stockholm: ArkDes & Arkitektur Förlag, 2020), pp. 201–9 (p. 209). 114 Ana Monrabal-Cook and Cameron Overy, ‘The Local Monument and the Commemorative Act’, in P.E.A.R. No. 8 Global/Local, ed. by Ana Betancour and others (London: P.E.A.R Magazine, 2020), pp. 16–29 (p. 20). 115 Paul Connerton, How Societies Remember (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 4. 116 Rodney Harrison, Heritage: Critical Approaches (London: Routledge, 2012), p. 115.

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PROPOSITIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY

FIGURE 2.27 Motion capture set of Adult Children, Donmar Warehouse. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects

FIGURE 2.28 Motion capture set of Adult Children, Donmar Warehouse. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects

FIGURE 2.29 Time-based digital reconstruction preview for Adult Children, Donmar Warehouse. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects

Reconstruction

Time-based 3D scanning operating on a human scale offers one way to aid

the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. This is achieved through the

adaption of motion-sensor technology, extending the same ideas of Framerate to include actions that last for minutes or seconds. The most commercially

available motion-sensor technology is in Microsoft’s Kinect (Figure 2.26). This has been creatively appropriated by designers and architects to be used for

time-based 3D scanning. The important distinction between the Kinect and the Framerate mode of scanning is that the Kinect records at a rate close to

25 fps (perceived as real-time when played back) and is limited to distances of around five meters. This makes it perfect for recording the qualities of human motion.

The ability to digitally record three-dimensional human motion opens up

a freedom of experimentation beyond what is afforded by photography and film. My observations come from working on the production of Adult

Children (2021) which is a virtual reality play produced by Donmar Warehouse in association with the English Touring Theatre, Scanlab Projects and Trial and

Error Studio.117 For the play, each performer was three-dimensionally recorded by multiple Kinect sensors in a green screen space (Figures 2.27-29), built to

mirror the real space that had been previously LiDAR scanned. The digital

reconstructions of the performers were then inserted into a virtual world

made up of static LiDAR scans. The audience would have the ability to follow the story from their own chosen perspective by moving around the scene, unsettling conventional scenography. An interesting, currently unexplored,

potential emerges to preserve Norrbotten’s threatened intangible heritage by recording selected performances and routines of value to the residents.

117 ‘Adult Children’, Donmar Warehouse <https://www.donmarwarehouse.com/adultchildren/> [accessed 15 November 2021].

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Reconstruction

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.30 Motion captured through slow life LiDAR 3D scan. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021.

FIGURE 2.31 Panoramic image of slow life scan. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021.

FIGURE 2.32 Traditions exhibit at the Nordiska Museet, Stockholm. Photograph by author, 2021.

There are other attempts to preserve human motion using 3D scanning

which are more abstract. During the Epping Forest LiDAR scanning test, I experimented with a technique developed by ScanLAB called ‘slow life

scanning’ which captures motion through single LiDAR scans. As a single scan takes minutes to complete, any movements during this process are recorded as 3D distortions (Figures 2.30-31). This effect has been utilised in

creative works such as Collapse, where the dancers’ movements are captured during a performance, offering an experimental way of viewing time.118 As a form of preservation, slow life scanning offers a more fragmentary and poetic way to recall memories.

How the digital reconstructions of performances and routines can be

displayed to residents and their potential role within architecture requires experimentation. Most physical attempts to represent ephemeral actions observed during fieldwork distil the action into a single moment. For example,

the exhibition Traditions at the Nordiska Museet (The Nordic Museum, Stockholm) tells the story of holiday celebrations through meticulously

recreating historic scenes. A partially eaten cake, a girl looking out of the window and a bouquet are all suspended in a highly orchestrated scene

(Figure 2.32). Statues in Kiruna which monumentalise industrial workers are more playful: rather than accurately depicting frozen actions, movement is evoked through how the statues are sculpted and materialised.

118 ‘Collapse’, ScanLAB Projects [accessed 23 March 2021].

<https://scanlabprojects.co.uk/work/collapse/>

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.33 3D printed joints preserving human motion through ornamental architectural language. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 2.34 Sculpting reconstructions in snow. Produced by author, 2021.

Design experiments, shown in Figure 2.33, attempt to tease out the

architectural potential of the time-based reconstructions. The 3D printed joints synthesise together a series of frames, approaching the preservation

of ephemeral actions through an ornamental architectural language. The temporal qualities of the subject matter can also be symbolised by using materials specifically designed to be short-lasting. For example, Figure 2.34

explores carving the reconstructions from snow, allowing the representation to gradually melt away over time. As an artefact designed to both evoke memories and decay, it fits into what Adrian Forty, Professor of the History of Architecture, has theorised as an “ephemeral monument.”119 Forty suggests

ephemeral monuments are used to forget what society no longer wishes to remember, or as a “momentary confirmation of what everyone within

the culture already knows.”120 Ultimately, these experimental design studies represent a few playful approaches, the true potential of time-based digital

reconstruction to preserve intangible heritage will only become apparent after more designers have attempted to utilise the technology.

119 Adrian Forty, ‘Introduction’, in The Art of Forgetting, ed. by Susanne Küchler and Adrian Forty (Oxford: Berg, 1999), pp. 1–18 (p. 4). 120 Forty, p. 5.

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Reconstruction

FIGURE 2.35

2.6 CONCLUSION

3D printed joints preserving human motion through ornamental architectural language. Produced by author, 2021.

The incorporation of 3D scanning into architectural preservation and design practice can act as a mediator between the continued habitation and collapse of Norrbotten’s landscape. Understanding the desire to preserve

a range of tangible and intangible artefacts at a varied range of scales, the use of 3D scanning was shown as complex and varied. Rather than critiquing

the fundamental desire of the residents to preserve anything (Koolhaas), or

suggesting that certain things should be prioritised over others (Connerton, Monrabal-Cook), this chapter has focused on layering the existing persuasions of the residents and current forms of 3D scanning to generate

new architectural novelties. Focusing on the architectural implication of the technology, the speculative provocations have provided a means to be explicit about how it could manifest in the urban context.

3D scanning can support the existing relocation strategy and preserve

buildings better aligned with resident’s values and the desire to assert control over their image and history. This emerges from the potential to exhibit a variety of buildings of aesthetic and ideological difference. Yet, the relocation of individual buildings alone may not be enough to preserve the identity

of the place. Rather, sublime landscape qualities and cultural practices that

may normally be overlooked can be also considered through the lens of 3D

scanning. The architect’s role is to experiment with how the residents can engage and be immersed in this enriched definition of cultural heritage.

Additional research is needed to consider the outcome of adopting these ideas

at an urban or territorial scale. The final chapter, Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary,

further imagines how these approaches could complement each other and how these experiences can be extended into the residents’ everyday lives.

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FIGURE 3.1 The balloon immediately after landing on the ice floe. Nils Strindberg, 1897.

In 1897, a team led by the Swedish explorer Salomon Andrée set off with the

FIGURE 3.2

soon crashed, and the explorers vanished. Photographs discovered thirty-

Message from Andrée. Joachim Koester, 2005.

intention of circumnavigating the North Pole in a balloon. Yet, their balloon

two years later revealed a partial trace of the expedition (Figure 3.1). Joachim Koester, a conceptual photographer, used what remained of the images, full of ghostly flaws, in the installation Message from Andrée (2005) to evoke and elaborate on the dreams of the exploration (Figure 3.2).121 Koester’s work is

part of a number of artists concerned with the “spatialization of time,” who

revisit and reinvent historic events to create new works.122 When considered

as a mode of preservation, reinvention goes beyond simply protecting original images from material destruction. Rather, the creation of a new event instrumentalises the images and creates a platform for discoveries.

The following chapter explores how modes of architectural reinvention can

investigate, interpret, and preserve historic scenes witnessed in Norrbotten’s extractive cities.

In the previous chapter, the examples of 3D scanning were reliant on an existing three-dimensional object or action to generate a digital reconstruction. 3D scanning cannot be performed retrospectively, making it of little use in the

preservation of valued objects or actions that are already lost or destroyed. In contrast, the basis of the reinventions will be images of past events. This takes shape through a series of design-research investigations which re-visit

both real and fictional historical scenes in Norrbotten. The investigations

do not attempt to directly replicate the scenes, rather, through the process

of reinvention, the historic scenes can be re-staged to reveal qualities that otherwise might go unnoticed.

Preservation through reinvention can be considered as a method of

architectural design. Rodney Harrison, Professor of Heritage Studies at

UCL, argues that the practice of preservation is done primarily for future generations, therefore, these practices are “intimately concerned with

assembling, building and designing future worlds.”123 Though this argument

is clear, it is rare to explicitly frame preservation in this way. The reinventions are tools to better understand the past but also act to design a future.

121 Nicolas Bourriaud, The Radicant, trans. by James Gussen and Lili Porten (New York: Lukas & Sternberg Press, 2009), p. 125. 122 Bourriaud, p. 122. 123 Rodney Harrison and others, Heritage Futures (London: UCL Press, 2020), p. 4.

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FIGURE 3.3

3.1 REINVENTING PHOTOGRAPHS

Relocating Ingenjörsvillan, Kiruna. Jessica Nildén, 2017

The first design-research investigation considers Jessica Nildén’s widely

FIGURE 3.4

in 2017 to be saved from Kiruna’s land deformation (Figure 3.3). Designed

Reinvention of Nildén’s image. Produced by author, 2021.

represents Lundbohm’s model city design ambitions.124 The reinvention

published image of Ingenjörsvillan (The Engineers House) being transported by Wickman in 1900, Ingenjörsvillan is one of Kiruna’s oldest buildings and

aims to preserve the unusual performative and ephemeral qualities of the building’s relocation unique to the moment the photograph was taken.

Developed through layering publicly available spatial evidence, Figure 3.4 shows a 3D digital scene generated from Nildén’s image. Ingenjörsvillan itself was recreated through assessing the original architectural drawings while

other parts of the scene are more openly interpreted. This method is informed

by the work of research agencies, such as Forensic Architecture, Territorial Agency and Unknown Fields Division, which use the spatialisation of past

events as an investigative tool. Often the agencies will unravel complex data and present the information through provocative visualisations as a form of storytelling, narration, and advocacy. Forensic Architecture is the most wellknown, their founder Eyal Weizman uses the term ‘forensics’ to describe their

methodology. Forensics turns “architecture into an investigative practice” and offers a “mode of enquiring about the present through its spatial materialization.”125

Its agency, as a digital reinvention, becomes an instrument to witness and resee the scene from a new perspective. Penelope Haralambidou, Professor of Architecture and Spatial Culture at UCL, argues for the productive potential of interrogating two-dimensional images through the manifestation of spatial

models. Employing a similar process in the creation of Déjà vu (2009), an architectural research project which aimed to offer a critical reading of Alain Resnais’s film Last Year at Marienbad (1961), Haralambidou restaged the film

onto an architectural model.126 For Haralambidou, reinventions can be seen

as architectural drawings and therefore couple as a propositional technique in architectural design.127 The reinvention of Nildén’s image generates a novel

reading by recovery of the lost spatial dimensions creating its own spatial narrative, which could operate in a propositional manner.

124 ‘Byggnadsdokumentation: B 39, Kv. Fjällklockan, Hjalmar Lundbohmsvägen 29, Kiruna’ (LKAB & Historiska Hus i Norr AB, 2017). 125 Eyal Weizman, Forensic Architecture (New York: Zone Books, 2017), p. 11. 126 Penelope Haralambidou, Déjà Vu, Bartlett Design Research Folios (London: UCL, 2014). 127 Penelope Haralambidou, ‘The Architectural Essay Film’, Arq, 19.3 (2015), 234–48 (p. 235).

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FIGURE 3.5

The second photographic investigation explores a contested reading of On

On the Doorstep of the LKAB Company Hotel, Kiruna. Borg Mesch, 1902.

FIGURE 3.6 Reinvention of Mesch’s photograph. Produced by author, 2021.

the Doorstep of the LKAB Company Hotel (1902), shot by the famous local

photographer Borg Mesch (Figure 3.5). Many residents associate the image

with “displaying the growth and rise of Kiruna,” and regard it as one of the city’s most significant early depictions.128 In the image Kiruna’s Committee

stands with the Sámi Committee in front of Bolagshotellet (the company hotel), originally built in 1900 and demolished in 2019 as part of Kiruna’s

urban transformation. This image was erected on a large concrete block in

Kiruna’s memorial park, symbolising a positive coalition between Kiruna’s authorities and the Sámi community. However, Overud argues that Mesch’s

image is “connected to colonial, racialised and gendered space during the early days of industrial colonialism.”129 By erecting the image as a memorial,

the municipality is producing a fantasised memory of Kiruna’s origins which

neglects the negative aspects of the past colonising authority. The reinvention aims to consider how an audience can explore this critical reading of Mesch’s image which would likely be overlooked when the photograph is viewed alone.

Shown in Figure 3.6, the reinvention of Mesch’s image builds on the first experiment to collaborate with creative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The figures in the photograph are translated into three-dimensional volumes

using a state-of-the-art technique that can create 3D reconstructions of humans from a single image.130 A separate AI tool is used to estimate the

colourisation.131 These tools work by analysing patterns within large datasets

of pre-existing examples to generate a prediction. The resulting scene is full of glitches and misinterpretations that offer an unexpected reading of the original image.

128 Overud, p. 113. 129 Overud, p. 104. 130 Shunsuke Saito and others, ‘PIFuHD’, 2020. 131 ‘Runway’, Runway <https://app.runwayml.com> [accessed 5 March 2021].

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FIGURE 3.7

In embracing the misinterpretations of the AI systems, the reinvention has

Staged reinvention of Mesch’s photograph. Produced by author, 2021.

the potential to change how Mesch’s image is perceived. Pearce draws on this premise in Jakob K. Der Neue Mensch: a work of set design and artistic

performance that reinvents an elusive dance by Bauhaus choreographer Jakob Klenke. Pearce plays with generating a variation of digital readings to

articulate the many “possible versions of historical ‘truth’.”132 The resulting

space is “co-inhabited by overlapping and often conflicting versions of

events” which generate, from their contradictions, different versions of the original subject.133 In the reinvention of Mesch’s image, the opposing views

are echoed by the logic of the AI predictions- incomplete forms that suggest the inability to completely control the image.

Pearce’s work highlights the propositional nature of reinvention through the production of physical artefacts he created for the performance. Inspired by

this, Figure 3.7 imagines staging the digital reinvention of Mesch’s image

as a physical object that residents can discover. In doing so the method moves beyond mere representation towards an architectural provocation. Residents experience the sense of cohabiting the historic scene, creating a new mediator for the contested image to be remembered.

132 Pearce, p. 3. 133 Pearce, p. 1.

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3.2 REINVENTING PAINTINGS

FIGURE 3.8

This methodology can be extended to reinvent paintings. Kiruna has a wealth

AI interpretations of paintings depicting Kiruna’s landscape. Produced by author, 2021.

of artistic heritage as Lundbohm commissioned some of Sweden’s most

distinctive artists to produce work to represent the beauty of the landscape and the success of its growth. Inspired by the utopian socialist Robert Owen,

FIGURE 3.9

educational values.134 Workers were able to visit specially arranged “exhibitions

AI interpretations used for architectural aesthetic. Produced by author, 2021.

Lundbohm’s broader ambition was for Kiruna to be built around artistic and of modern art […], listen to lectures, or go to a concert.”135 Kiruna was remote

and unstable, the paintings were part of an effort to create imagery of a mythical future to persuade people to inhabit this uncertain environment.

The collection of paintings was originally hung in Kiruna’s critically acclaimed City Hall (1963) but are no longer on display after the building was

demolished in 2019. The building served as the city’s “living room”, with large walls that allowed the paintings to be displayed.136 During a tour of the new

City Hall, a Gallery Assistant at Konstmuseet i Norr (Norrbotten’s County Art Museum) described how the metal cladding and curved language meant that the paintings are now confined to storage.137 The following study uses the

process of reinvention to generate a novel way of displaying the paintings to the residents through their use as a source of architecture.

134 Johan Sandström and Curt Persson, ‘Corporate Paternalism on the Rocks’, Management & Organizational History, 2021, 1–21 (p. 10). 135 Ahnlund and Brunnstrom, p. 94. 136 Tomas Lewan and Lars Gezelius, ‘Kiruna City Hall’, Nordic Journal of Settlement History and Built Heritage, 62, 2011, 91–94 (p. 92). 137 ‘Observation Notes from Kiruna 23-25 August 2021’.

FIGURE 3.10 AI interpretations used for architectural aesthetic. Produced by author, 2021.

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Figure 3.8 shows AI interpretations of paintings of Kiruna’s landscape produced during its early formation. The images are the result of the program attempting to categorise the painting’s features into distinct types (sky, mountain, water)

and then rebuild the image using a pre-existing photographic dataset. Lev Manovich, a professor and theorist in digital culture, argues that images like the ones in Figure 3.8 are perceived as successful because modern

art has allowed us to tolerate and enjoy an aesthetic of randomness and imprecision.138 These blurred and illusionary scenes have a dreamlike quality

which corresponds, yet is distinct, to the original paintings. Figures 3.9-10 further imagine using these machine visualisations as a playful basis for an

architectural aesthetic. This directly frames reinvention as a creative agent in architectural design.

By combining the paintings of a historic era with a contemporary aesthetic, the design reinterprets the original fantastical imagery in the form of a building. Using architecture as a tool to communicate the paintings is a

way to generate a newfound excitement. Curators at the V&A argue that reproductions are significant drivers for people to see the original artefacts.139

When the architectural aesthetic generated from the paintings is embedded

in public architecture, it serves as an access point to Kiruna’s cultural heritage. More broadly, returning to Kiruna’s early history to inform a contemporary design practice can be seen as a form of resistance to the tide of loss and degradation prevalent in the landscape.

138 Lev Manovich, AI Aesthetics (Moscow: Strelka Press, 2019), p. 9. 139 Aguerre and Cormier, p. 20.

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3.3 PERFORMING REINVENTION

FIGURE 3.11

The final reinvention investigates the use of the body as a device of re-

Performative Reinvention, Kiruna. Produced by author, 2021.

play an important role in preservation and memory. As Connerton posits,

FIGURE 3.12

created from “transient structures of spatial movement.”140 For example, in a

Performative Reinvention. Produced by author, 2021.

In turn, this performance both relates to and produces a specific architectural

FIGURE 3.13

enactment. This expands on the idea that performance and bodily routine although we often think of memorials as static, memorial places can also be funeral ceremony, people move in a specific way to remember a loved one. form.

The reinvention, shown in Figures 3.11-15, tells the story of Kiruna’s urban transformation through a performance in which people collectively

rebuild and disassemble fragments of Kiruna’s lost landscape. Translucent fabric wrapped around steel scaffolding functions as an adaptable volume

through which remnants of the lost buildings are formed. The performers wear white suits which blends together the reading of the structure and

people. This performance was enacted across different sites visited during

fieldwork (Stockholm, Kiruna, Malmberget). At each site, an alternative

fragment was built. With no permanent object left in the landscape after the performance, memory is sustained through bodily action and the subsequent documentation.

Similarly to the previous experiments, the performative-reinvention draws

directly from Kiruna’s history as a catalyst to create new architectural possibilities. In doing so, it forms a playful approach to preservation. The performance acts as what architectural researcher Matthew Butcher describes

as an “architecture of slowness”: deliberately fostering a relationship to

the past which decelerates the continuing time pressures of the context, allowing space for reflection.141 The investigation could be extended further

by interpreting the traces of the performance (drawings, photographs, and films) as the basis of more permanent architecture.

140 Paul Connerton, How Modernity Forgets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 13. 141 Matthew Butcher, ‘Architectures of Slowness’, in Expanding Fields of Architectural Discourse and Practice, ed. by Matthew Butcher and Megan O’Shea (London: UCL Press, 2020), pp. 160–91 (p. 185).

Performative Reinvention. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 3.14 Performative Reinvention. Produced by author, 2021.

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FIGURE 3.15

3.4 CONCLUSION

Performative Reinvention, Stockholm. Produced by author, 2021.

This chapter has investigated three distinct design methodologies, which by

reinventing historic scenes witnessed in Norrbotten’s extractive cities, have

demonstrated novel approaches to preservation. Each method of reinvention

acts as an exploratory device, ultimately leading to a new architectural provocation. Together the experiments suggest a new relationship between Norrbotten’s contemporary architecture and past that is enmeshed and

entwined. In doing so, the experiments cultivate a space of contemplation and critical reflection within a landscape of instability and uncertainty.

Reinventing photographs revealed how an approach informed by Forensic

Architecture can tease out aspects of historic scenes which are normally overlooked. This strategy provides a means for people to assert a new control

over their history, as the reinvention can act as a device to direct the narrative of the photograph. Accordingly, the strategy would benefit most from further collaboration with experts and residents. The incorporation of creative AI tools potentially reduces the level of control people have. Consequently, it is important to establish a precise understanding of how the tools work

before they are integrated. This is less of a concern in the reinvention of the paintings as the digital techniques are used in a more speculative manner.

The results are purposefully open-ended and exploratory. In the performative reinvention, fragments of Kiruna’s demolished buildings are presented as temporal volumes. This approach places performance at the centre of

preservation. In a context where the historical narrative has been carefully controlled, offering the public the chance to actively participate allows an important space to rethink how the value of cultural artefacts is determined.

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Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary

FIGURE 3.16 Internal view of Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary. Produced by author, 2021.

FIGURE 3.17 Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary. Produced by author, 2021.

Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary is a design provocation that speculates on integrating several of the themes and ideas explored in this thesis into a

housing scheme situated in Kiruna. This new approach to Kiruna’s urban transformation imagines a new form of domestic architectural space that

provides a sanctuary for residents during periods of displacement and redesigns the existing architectural preservation strategy. Mnemonic devices

embedded in the architecture evoke the rich architectural heritage, sublime

landscape qualities, and cultural practices that are threatened. Acting as a testbed for the region, the proposal aims to stabilise and repair a landscape at risk of ruin.

The Sanctuary reawakens Luossavaara, one of the mountains surrounding

Kiruna that was formerly mined. A large scar runs down the centre and spoil piles contour the eastern face making a large portion of the mountain uninhabitable. By situating the scheme on the spoil piles, the design rebuilds

the landscape and pivots future development away from further expansion onto Sámi land.

Central is the aim to challenge and enrich traditional strategies of

preservation through the adoption of new digital technologies. These tools offer new experimental fields for architectural design within systems that fail to accommodate the diverse aesthetic and ideological differences of

the community. By opposing the fixation upon moving entire structures,

the fundamental conception of Kiruna’s cultural heritage is broadened. Preservation acts as a vehicle to accelerate fluidity and as a strong visual sign reassuring residents in this unstable landscape.

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Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary

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Conclusion The exceptional conditions of Norrbotten’s extractive cities confront designers with the need to reinterpret architecture’s traditional relationship to historic

artefacts, landscapes, and cultural practices to preserve the vulnerable identity

of the place. This thesis argues that the integration of 3D scanning and other advanced digital tools into the design practice can challenge and cultivate the existing modes of preservation. In doing so, the thesis presents a series of inquisitive design studies that suggest a complex non-linear approach to

time - methodologies that reconfigure the intrinsic qualities of past events

towards a future-oriented architectural design process. Preservation has

been approached as an experimental form of creative expression. In this capacity, the research feeds into a broader debate surrounding the future of preservation in the architectural discipline, its relationship to digital technology and its manifestation in sites of forced and non-forced migration.

Historical analysis has shown that urban design in Norrbotten requires long term planning to achieve social, economic, and environmental resilience. Significant disruption could have been avoided through clear strategies to

prioritize the permanence and stability of the residents. However, this same

stability would oppose the Indigenous community’s claim to land rights and control. The characteristics of the region which make the cities vulnerable,

such as the harsh climate, sparse population, and the dependency on mining,

have paradoxically been a catalyst for celebrated architectural design.

Architects ought to be seen as vital collaborators in the early stages of future policy and development briefs to help establish a balance.

Incorporating 3D scanning into architectural design can enrich the inherited notion that buildings can imbue historic meaning to achieve a sense of

continuity and wonder. This notion can be mobilised to enforce existing power structures. However, the architecture presented in this thesis suggests

that it can be used to assert control over collective image and history. The technology opens up experimental possibilities to reconstruct sublime

landscape qualities and intangible cultural practices that are often overlooked. This process is extended in the reinvention of historic scenes which further

establish a new relationship between Norrbotten’s contemporary architecture and past that is enmeshed and entwined. To fully utilise the agency of digital

technology, architecture practices must further cultivate a hybrid discipline

where surveyors, historians and computational designers are central to the design process.

134

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135

The proposal, Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary, is significant in imagining how residents can meaningfully engage in these mnemonic devices through their

literal architectural manifestation. As well as providing housing facilities,

the building choreographs narratives drawn from the disappearing cultural

heritage in a way that is both playful and surreal. Further research can explore these ideas at a territorial and material scale, in collaboration with residents,

and aided by additional analysis of domestic architecture in Norrbotten. Like the Roman god Janus that looked two ways simultaneously (to the past

and the future) the proposal operates at the threshold between collapse/ development and instability/permanence in order to reimagine the present.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 0.1. Produced by author, 2021, used previously in Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 2, 2021) Figure 0.2. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 0.3. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 1.1. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.2. Drawing attributed to William Hogarth, Laponia, in (Aubry de La Mottraye’s “Travels throughout Europe, Asia and into Part of Africa...,” London, 1724, pl. 312) <https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/ search/399378> [accessed 13 January 2022] Figure 1.3. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.4. Produced by author, 2021, used previously in Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 2, 2021) Figure 1.5. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.6. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.7. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.8. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.9. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.10. Photograph by author, 2021, used previously in Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary (Essay 4, 2021) Figure 1.11. Produced by author, 2021, adapted from Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary (Essay 4, 2021) Figure 1.12. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 1.13. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 1.14. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.1. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.2. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.3. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.4. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.5. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.6. Produced by author, 2021, used previously in Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary (Essay 4, 2021) Figure 2.7. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.8. Produced by author, 2021, used previously in Norrland’s Ore Sanctuary (Essay 4, 2021)

136

137

Figure 2.9. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.10. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.11. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.12. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.13. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.14. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.15. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.16. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects Figure 2.17. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.18. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.19. Printed by author from Lantmäteriet, <https://minkarta.lantmateriet. se/> [accessed 13 January 2022] Figure 2.20. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.21. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.22. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021, used previously in Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 2, 2021) and Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 3, 2021) Figure 2.23. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021, used previously in Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 3, 2021) Figure 2.24. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.25. Still from Framerate, ScanLAB Projects, 2020 Figure 2.26. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects Figure 2.27. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects Figure 2.28. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects Figure 2.29. Photograph by author, 2021, during work done in collaboration with ScanLAB Projects Figure 2.30. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021, used previously in Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 2, 2021) and Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 3, 2021) Figure 2.31. Produced by author in collaboration with Camille Dunlop, 2021, used previously in Reconstructing Kiruna (Essay 2, 2021) Figure 2.32. Photograph by author, 2021 Figure 2.33. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.34. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 2.35. Produced by author, 2021

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Figure 3.1. Image by Nils Strindberg, 1897, and John Hertzberg, 1931-1932, <https://digitaltmuseum.se/021016299841/ornen-omedelbart-efterlandningen-pa-isflaket-den-14-juli-1897-framtagning> [accessed 13 January 2022] Figure 3.2. Image by Joachim Koester, Message from Andrée, 2005, <https://www. modernamuseet.se/malmo/en/exhibitions/written-in-light/> [accessed 13 January 2022] Figure 3.3. Photograph by Jessica Nildén, Moving Kiruna, 2017, <https://arkdes.se/ en/utstallning/kiruna-forever/> [accessed 13 January 2022] Figure 3.4. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.5. Photograph by Borg Mesch, On the Doorstep of the LKAB Company Hotel, 1902, sourced from Overud, Johanna, ‘Memory-Making in Kiruna’, Culture Unbound, 11.1 (2019) Figure 3.6. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.7. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.8. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.9. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.10. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.11. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.12. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.13. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.14. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.15. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.16. Produced by author, 2021 Figure 3.17. Produced by author, 2021

OBSERVATION NOTES

Observation Notes from Epping Forest LiDAR Scanning 27 February 2021 Observation Notes from Kistefos 2-11 July 2021 Observation Notes from Malmberget/Gällivare 26-28 August 2021 Observation Notes from Kiruna 23-25 August 2021

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