IRREGULARITIES
Threadworks of home, house and Landscape in Sandviken.
Topography Settlement section between sea and mountain(not in scale).
IRREGULARITIES
Investigating threadworks of home, house and Landscape in Sandviken Introduction In this diploma I will investigate threadworks of home, house, community, identity and landscape in Sandviken. The irregular structures of the preenlightenment period is a complex of spaces and zonings, private and public atmospheres always intriguing and affecting each other. They seemed to grow “naturally” dense, based upon a complex layering phenomena. Presumably these where “democratic” structures, in the sense that, as structures, they resulted from local negotiations and micro scale decisioning. Because irregularities are so hard to control, in the modern era, the spatial qualities of this architecture has been lost. As a model of new urban development , by mapping and exploring architecturally the potentiality of plots and spaces in Sandviken, Bergen, this diploma seeks to re-negotiate qualities of dense urban living in irregular, organic structures. As a landscape is subject to spatial conditions of different times, by exploring Sandviken as place, the intention is to work out a new architectural languague negotiating contemporary architectural language with those from time immemorial, as a supplementary reminder that the world was once different. In the diploma I will develop an argument along the existential lines, that architecture is the largest physical expression of human conditions and ideals, and an expression of values in our society in general. Looking at place as landscape, the memories of what used to be, being in a contemporaneous environment, the continual now.
Programmapic introduction, diploma project of Henning Wenaas Ribe, Bergen School of Architecture 2013.
HOME IS THE PLACE WHERE OUR HOUSE IS : An antropological exploration into the architectural understanding of the uninitiated
Sections . x Prelude pp 3 Sandviken : adaptation or contrast?
Threadworks The landscape is threaded in a complex, unrepetitive pattern. Yet some tendencies can be looked upon. In this complex situation, is it possible to develop tools for adding homes, seeing Sandviken as a place with a distinct character, topography and identity?
Sandviken
. 1 Introduction / Pre-conceptions / Professional Mysteries pp 4 Specialisationism.
the belt of Houses between the water and the ridge Its not a city. Complexity is to low It´s dominated by homes It houses aprox 3500 people It has one big, and several small roads It has several building patterns it has some industry edging on the water It has highly valued settlements It´s very own constitution
. 2 Proper living Space, Bodily Reactions pp 5 Mans perception of space; territoriality . 3 Home is not only a House, its a Place pp 6 The cosmology of Place : Architecture of Home : Continuous Space .4 Real or Rational Space : Local or Global Identity pp 7 Modern Ideal Space / Architecture of Memory .5 Architecture of the Uninitiated / Expression of Values pp 9 The case of Sandviken : Consclusions
Diploma I´d like to investigate spatial language of Sandviken I´d like to investigate patterns I´d like to investigate house and community typology I´d like to see how new homes add to a place, working with the genius loci By subjective artistical and pragmatical means, invigorating a complex situation
. x Prelude Sandviken : the discussion of adaptation or contrast
Why does a proposed modern addition to the range of historical buildings in Sandviken evokes rage, anger and debate? The refrain of the oppositors to this project claim that it doesn ́t fit in, its ugly in general, it looks like something else(a computer screen, lego brick, a houseboat), that these are environments worth conservation, it ruins the pittoresque of the image, that its in itself nice, but doesnt fit in etc, while on the other hand the arguments for rests on critiquing the old, whats wrong with the contemporary, a fresh breath of air, the mix of old and new is good, this is a place where I want to live. In total of 200 posts, 192 where negative to the architectural proposal and 7 positive. How can it be that such a “simple thing” as a form contrast can spark of a debate with so much feelings and engagement?
Typologies. Typologies of dwellings are articulated on a complex of processes in the time they where built, social, spatial, political etc.
Articulation Bodies of building structures express scale, connectivity and relations to kosmos.
.1 Introduction / Pre-conceptions / Professional Mysteries Specialisationism.
Sandviken, a bay of strands is a west facing mountain wall just north of Bergen city center, Vågen. In Sandviken lies a body of buildings stretching in time from some 200 years ago until present day. New architecture projects here usually endure resitstance and critique in local media and forums, especially architectural projects that does not seem to fit in. In this work, I will with the perspectives of social anthropology to go in and dissertate a little bit in this situation to provide more insight into what is going on, who are the actors here and what are thee bearing motives for ther positioning in the debate over the future of Sandviken. When ever a new architectural project in Sandviken appears, usually through the local media of Bergens Tidende and Bergensavisen, it often recieves the critique that it does not fit in, and that it isn ́t in harmony with its surroundings. How it looks, meaning, what are the colour, size, material, roof shape in relation to its surroundings seem the be valued as important qualities. Although some object its so nice to have something new happening, the overall opinion seem the be focused on the issue that it should fit in. That arcitecture today should fit in, is not a common argument among professionals, where contrast, expression of time and singular identity of building plus many more are higher valued. It is believed that these more nuanced points of understanding is more important than the common notion of harmony. What is at stake her is the definition of place. Who are the players who get to define place and how. And how can a place be discussed. In newspaper debates anger and apathy rules the common tone, and it seems that people are discouraged to engage in architectural disussions, as they know that decisions are made in an office far from their reach, and that their position usually gets objected into categories irreleveant to modern arcitecture and planning. This quadrant of arcitectural actors, meaning landlords, arcitects, entrepeneurs and municipality are professionalising the process of building place, and it seems that this is creating an apathying distance to the public. Professional motives gain more weight in the planning process and hence the distance to the people living in a place gets larger. In modern architecture, it seems that professional discourses are more important to arcitects and other building professionals than to develop and form space for the inhabitants of a place. In this work I will look upon how place can be read as home for people, how landscape and arcitecture form a basic immediacy, history and identity for people and how modern ideologies, professional cultures intervene in and oppose this landscape.
.2 Proper living Space, Bodily Reactions Mans perception of space; territoriality
.3 Home is not only a House, its a Place The cosmology of Place : Architecture of Home : Continuous Space
In the work “Home as modern folk culture”, Marianne Gullestad investigates the phenomena of home and the different meanings it has to people in different parts of the society. Seeing three categories of people; “ordinary people”, mainly working class, academics and the directors, she very finds them to emphazise different qualities and aspects of the home, how it looks, is represented, is functional, traditional and that the home is an expression for a creative effort, (Gullestad 1989) a kind of existential relation the for the subject when constituting a meaningful world.1(Friedman 1992) This meaningful world invokes in a sense the subjects cosmology, “meaning the notions and attitudes towards man, in relation to nature and in relation to society in general. Cosmology expresses in myths and tales, but also in moral rules, rituals and practise of everyday life.... Mental barriers are formed into physical barriers, walls, doors, spatial practices and objects”(Gullestad 1989). The environment we inhabit, is basically an expression for the possibilities of our cosmology. To begin to understand architecture and place we have to understand these human perspectives underlying our actions and the invisible borders of what we allow ourselves to do and what not. Gullestad talks about home as an expression of a barrier between the public and the private. The door, the lock, the nametag on the wall, can all be seen as symbolic marks and a concretized expression of a basic biological need for protection and safety. Within the home the individual is the sovereign. It (almost) undisputed sets the rules and regulations for the house and property. Gullestad argues that the concept of home brings together both idea of place and the idea of a community attached to this place. Home means the warm, the safe, the cozy, and perhaps also the boring, while one on the other hands talks about going out, to a party, on the city, on travel etc, which stands for the more exciting, dangerous and hard. Home stands in relation and in contrast to this out. Also Gullestad holds, that the home today has become a source for deeper meanings, and is, in a secular notion becoming something sacred.(Gullestad 1989) Within this lies a freedom for the subject to express and form their life without the negotiation of the other. A sort of love unconditional. This sort of protectionism and love is essential to see when we now go on to talk about place. In an extended perspective, place is like home. To whomever sees oneself inhabiting a place, it is the immediate reality accessible to experience, the source for memories, symbols of community and and values of higher individual meaning. That Sandviken and Bergen and the whatever unclear the content of these concepts are, it is very clear that they are valued in multiple ways, where different notions of space and place exist in a continuum. As mans time on earth is by far exceeded by space, in this temporal process of continuous space, every stone will be turned and every argument spent for man to put a mark on earth.
.4 Real or Rational Space : Local or Global Identity Modern Ideal Space / Architecture of Memory
(Diagram from Friedman 1992) The debate over the modern seahouse in Sandviken, brings to view some authorative positions2 in the discussion about place. The definition of nice and not nice is, or maybe good and not so good. In Sandviken many people seem to have a common understanding of what is nice, and only a few oppose it. The new building is not only new, it is modern, and to some degree it seems that its the modernity of the building that they oppose. Why? Social antropologist Jonathan Friedman offer some very interesting theories on how identity, space and authority is connected. He makes a landscape of two opposing authorative assumptions about the world, in relation to the subjects feeling or claim to identity. In general, what he defines as the western world, has claimed its ancestery to the greek sivilization some 2500 years ago. Modern ideas and scientism still do. The basic assumptions of the world more or less lies within the discourse led within academic environments, tracing back to, or building their authorative knowledge about the world. We know this as the discussion of the evolving world. The evolving world contains within it, the idea of a continous developing human world etc. Hence to Friedman we can fairly categorize this as the modern world, or life world, the world from which within the scientific subject(i.e. the one who knows) lives his life. Antropologically we must see this as the evolution of a scientific culture, built on values of idealism, objectivity, truth, rationality, etc. In short we name this the modernist intellectual approach. “Modernism embodies a strategy of distantation from both nature and culture, from both primitive or biologically based drives and what are conceived of as superstituous beliefs.”(Friedman 1992). On the other hand, Friedman introduces “traditionalism...opposes the alienated freedom of modernity and attempts to reinstate the values and cultural fixity of a supposedly lost world.” (Friedman 1992) Outside scientific discourse lies a whole other world of people and ideas, that outflourish the general notions coming from scientism. Outside science lies what anthropologist refer to as supposedly authentic culture, if that is a possibility. The authenticity is in a way what antropology seeks to point at or define, and they do this from the point of view as outside observers, yet self proclaiming neutrality and objectivity towards the subjects investigated. At times “modernism tends to extremes of rationalism and developmentalism”, and “traditionalism can be associated with the early reaction...to classical evolutionism.”(Friedman 1992) “Traditionalism is best expressed in the form of the value-laden relativism that emphasizes the special merit of cultural difference and defends the latter against the homogenizing power of modernity.” (Friedman 1992) Clearly being a large discussion, I will focus on emphasizing these points from Friedman, and coining them towards the discussion of a building in Sandviken, Bergen might seem like a leap, but still I would claim the validity of these stories in the ongoing debate on the question; How should future Sandviken look? As this debate is clearly about the look of things, not developmental, functional, economical, trafical, constructional etc or other more pragmatic values involved the making of architecture. The look of the building expresses values clearly modern, as its design is very rational when it comes to placing, using abstract circles, also the shape of the circle gives the  outer boundary of the building. Geometry as a basic formgiver, clearly states a more abstract and rational approach towards design, not going into dialogue with the landscape or architecture, but rather giving architecure form through the discourse of the modernist carried, out on the values of progress, objectivity, neutrality and truth, not being particual interested in the local, which it categorises in the shelf of irrational or superstitious.
.5 Architecture of the Uninitiated / Myths of Modernism Culture, History, Identity :The case of Sandviken, Conclusions
Friedman closes his work citing another anthropologist, Sahlins saying “culture is precisely the organization of the current situation in terms of the past”(Friedman 1992) and that is so because subjects in the present fashion to do so. The history that every subject define, that effects the present is in Friedmans terms the actual practice of mythmaking. The modern so-called scientific constructions of other peoples’ pasts, is of no higher value than any other. “”Objective” history in this discussion is just as much a social construct as any other history”(Friedman 1992) History is itself the discourse of constructing identity, and this is a recurrent source of conflicting, sometimes deadly perspectives upon the world. That the building form, language, expression, in this context, how it looks, is a continual source of debate and it will probably continue for as long as human are human, in the sense that we are meaningful creatures and that when one is constructing the future, one is doing so in relation to that “constructing the past is an act of self-identification and must be interpreted in its authenticity, that is, in terms of the existensial relation between subjects and the constitution of a meaningful world” (Friedman 1992). When people are agonized by certain architectural projects expressing a totally different cosmology and set of values, even values seeking to devaluate their own, they feel naturally threathened and speaks aout, reacts against it with their bodies, their instinctual, real and authentic reactions towards the other. What they love might be under subtle attack, they feel it, but they don ́t necessarily know the reason why. “The constitution of identity is an elaborate and deadly serious game of mirrors. It is a complex temporal interaction of multiple practices of identification external and internal to a population.” (Friedman 1992:855), and “the idea that culture can be negotiated and that invention is a question of sign substitution, a kind of cognitive experience in pure textual creativity, are linked to a structure of self and of culture that is perhaps specific to capitalist modernity” (Friedman 1992:855). “Real” culture is far more complex and an temporal expression of a population, that it ́s relativity is mainly available to the theoretical modern eye. Its a battlefield, and architects are all in. Architecture remains existentially a specialized, yet entangled discipline, at same time distanced and near, sometimes academic, sometimes personal and involved. For the general public to be updated on the newest knowledge in the discipline is impossible. The architect creates a space to work in, but also a distantation to the public in general, be it the one or the other group. This the architect should keep in mind when constructing communities and places for people. Who am I doing this project for? What are the values I want to communicate? What part of history does my project belong to? Is it the entrepeneur, the other architects, myself, the common public, the municipality, an individual etc. Within this, values and acknowledgements will be served. Not positioning a project is impossible. It will always stand in relation to the other his or hers values. Accordingly, there is no such thing as neutral architecture.
Composition Place is composed by architectural elements. What are elements of Sandviken typological language?
The shape of a plaza
“When men build buildings they are making statements which communicate with the users of the buildings...When man structures his space, he also structures his life in a very special way” (Hall:1963) These statements is to be seen in relation to the human animal. Living organisms structure micro-space, the personal space is around them, and these are deeply connected to the nerveous system. The way an individual organises and structures are seldom consciously aware to him(Hall:1963). One might add, that when man structures his space, its a continuation of the nervous system into physical space. “The restrictions are not so much in the buildings as they are in man himself” (Hall:1963). Hediger, a zookeeper mentions that the “first property any organism has, is the space it occupies”(Hall:1963). Territory is the place an animal or group defends for covering their needs for food, for mating and for breeding their youngsters. This knowledge suggests, that man as an animal, have these very basic needs for space, personal space creating boundaries towards the outside, the other. Home ground means basic safety. Hall ́s notion of quality in architecture is “when buildings are created which communicate man`s own indigenously patterned ways of handling space. A particular pattern should not be imposed intellectually even on people within our own culture, for we have learned that people will respond to identical surroundings in different ways depending on how long they have lived there” (Hall:1963). Man, as an animal is organizing its surroundings, and the structuring of space is an ongoing process, it relates to different actors and aspects of life. Space and arcitecture forms the foundations for human thought and existence, the very space for in which the body moves. Discussing the qualities of the space is arcitecture. The argument of dr. Edward Hall clearly demonstrates that arcitecture is something that involves all human being, conscious or not, and that the organisation of territory and space serves as fundamental relational processes on organism level. This implies an arcitecture engaging actively with the place it works.
Surrounding space Mapping of space surrounding houses, seeing different qualities. (This study is from Santiago de Compostella, Spain)
CV Henning Wenaas Ribe Nattland Studentby K73 5081 Bergen Født 15. mars 1984 Epost hribers@gmail.com
Work experience
juni 2010- juli 2010: Omviser i Agatunet, Hardanger og Voss Museum, Ullensvang juni 2009- aug 2009: Omviser i Agatunet, Hardanger og Voss Museum, Ullensvang nov 2009-: Støttekontakt for voksen mann, Bergen nov 2008-: Miljøarbeider, Stiftelsen Virksomheten Helgeseter, Bergen juni 2008- sept 2008: Nygård Sykehjem, Sandefjord Kommune jan 2007- sept 2007: Elektriker, Sandefjord Elektro jan 2007- sept 2007: Nygård Sykehjem, Sandefjord Kommune feb 2006- nov 2006: vaktmester, Byggvedlikehold, Bergen Kommune aug 2004- aug 2005: elektrikerlærling, Modahl Elektriske, Kolbotn juni 2002- aug 2004: elektrikerlærling Sandefjord Elektro, Sandefjordv mai 2001- juni 2001: butikkmedarbeider deltid, Fotograf Jørgensen, Sandefjord
Education
sep 2011 – jun 2013: aug 2009 - juni2010: sept 2007- juni 2011: aug 2005- des 2006: juni 2005: juni 2004:
Organisations
sept 2001- aug 2003: aug 2005- mai 2006: mai 2006- des 2006: 2007 -> 2008 ->
Master of Architecture, Bergen School of Architecture Kunsthistorie og Filosofi ved UiB Bachelor i Arkitektur, Bergen Arkitekt Skole Idéhistorie ved Universitetet i Bergen Fagprøve elektrikerfaget Examen Artium ved Horten VGS leder Sandefjord Unge Høyre, og arbeidsutvalget i Vestfold Unge Høyre. lydtekniker/økonomiansvarlig i Kraftetaten, Det Akademiske Kvarter leder for Kraftetaten, Det Akademiske Kvarter medlem av Norske Arkitekters Landsforbund medlem av Fortidsminneforeningen
Interests
Historie, Filosofi, kunnskapsformidling, kulturlandskap, musikk, litteratur, fotografi
PORTOFOLIO
2011, fall, master course Complex Context, Bergen School of Architecture
Spatial typologies A study model that continuosly investigate typologies of space, scale and body, between regular and irregularity.
DISPOSITION
The course involved how to build in a complex context. The theme for this fall was, especially the discussion around Renzo Pianos nun cloister addition to the site of LeCorbusier´s Haute Ronchamp. To invigorate in this discussion architecturally, we studied the works of several modern architects, such as LeCorbusier, Herzog & deMeuron, Peter Zumthor, Sigurd Lewerentz etc. Traveling through central Europe from Cologne, Germany, to Switzerland by train, then ending the trip with a week stay at LeCorbusier´s Couvent Santa Maria La Tourette, where we did several studies, and finally ended with a new architectural proposal dealing with the conditions of the site.
Program
Teachers: Arild Wåge, Kalle Grude, Andre Fontés (Braga, Pt.),
2012, spring, master course Think Tank Bergen, Bergen School of Architecture
Portofolio Research / Placing discussion / Developing Concepts Expanding and elaborating the discussion on Sandviken identity, by models,
drawings, text, performance, collections(), etc Investigating phenomena of Sandviken both qualitative and (maybe) quantitative DAV excercises showing discussion
Think Tank Bergen, was a mastercourse investigating future urban development in Arna, a valley, provincial place and community north of Bergen. Expected population growth the next fifty years, is about 100’000, and somehow the city needs to deal with this. As Arna have suffered from the lack of planning, its structure has grown as sparse suburban spread of singlehousing. Collaborating with two fellow students, our project approached a new way of thinking Arna focusing on the large landscape, the cultural connection to the inner fjords, the settlement patterns and an abolished railway connecting the valley, breaking the way for a new urban / rural scal thinking about, place, density, connectivity, sustainablity, community and identity.
Finding site / Developing project
Teachers: Jonathan Woodroffe, Jerome Picquard (S333, London), Thomas Wiesner (prof. DAV), Harald N. Røstvik (prof. Sustainability), Christian Mong(landscape ecologist), Sixten Rahlff (3RW, Bergen)
make visual models 1:1000, 1:500, 1:200, 1:100, (1:50?)
DAV excercises clearifying discussion
GGapril25/26 nearly finished project
2012, fall, master course Complex Context, Bergen School of Architecture
Complex Context fall 2012, was investigating the phenomenon of pilgrimage and albergue (a place to sleep on the way and at arrival) in the context of northern Spain, Galicia. For about eight hundred years people have pilegrimed to Santiago de Compostela. The course explored this by walking the final part (ca 120km), and residing in the medieval city of Santiago. The task then became, how to bring new dynamics to this complex of historical and spatial culture. Our project investigates how looking at the city, can find a spatial language, so that new interventions in the complex, does not compete, but rather complement the existing on all levels, programme, formal, spatial and social. Teachers: Arild Wåge, Kalle Grude, Andre Fontés (Braga, Pt.),
Final Project
one month clearifying drawings, architectural suggestions in models, scale drawings, preparing material for exhibition, supportive drawings
Exhibition / Communicate
Topography and Place Sandviken is a landscape. It´s the body carrying the settlements. The landscape is the outermost border of a space. Sandviken is between the visual border of the mountain top, the sea floor and the opposing wall to the west; Askøyna. The landscape body holds the settlements. Finding different articulations through time, the settlement patterns have evolved during time, presenting itself to the eye, and showing itself as the place identified as Sandviken.
articulation of spatial structures in Sandviken The formal change in building clusters the last 150 years in Sandviken, show a very clear development from more irregular to reuglar patterns, Why did we grow so regular? What happened to this small scale space defining culture. Modern development in ideas and architecture shure has removed the environment for a certain kind of spatiality. Is it possible today, to aknowledge that we might forgot something in our modern progress towards the future? Can irregularities again be obtained as an architectural ideal?
Regular
Regular-irregular
Irregular
2000 1950 1910 1880 1850
IRREGULARITIES
Threadworks of home, house and Landscape in Sandviken.
Future
Sandviken as a place is in between present, past and future conditions. As the world is moving ahead, Sandvikens character and atmosphere is bound to change, but how? A future condition for home, identity and continuity is what this diploma will architecturally explore. In this diploma, exploring the topographical conditions will form the basic understanding of how to understand Sandviken as place, identity and home. Then assumtions from these lead to spatial speculations about adding to the situation.