Seahouse unstad lofoten norway
Bachelor thesis
Faculty of Arts & Architecture Technical University in Liberec Czech Republic, EU Field of study: Architecture 2012/2013
Atelier of prof. Ing. arch. Zdeňek Fránek and Ing. arch. Radek Suchánek, Ph.D. Elaborated by Jan Vranovský
Introduction
The project task, vaguely named "Seahouse Unstad, Lofoten" is quite broad and brings up not only architectural challenges, but also need for clarification of the whole direction of seahouse future developement. Before any designing, we, students, had to come up with our own visions of what could or should the place become one day. Current seahouse actually consists of three buildings standing in a small fjord, MÌrvoll bay, on a little separate spit of land. This specific site layout is called sydspissen in Norwegian. The whole place is located close to northwest coast of Vestvügøy, one of the largest of Lofoten islands. Historicaly (since 1959 to 1974) the Unstad sydspissen was used as a small fish processing factory together with fishermen lodging house. The place still holds it's light industrial atmosphere, main seahouse building has different scale than other local houses. There are relics of the previous purpose scattered all around the site. Thanks to it's size, the seahouse is one of the local landmarks, being visible from long distance. Today, the main building is being used as a budget accommodation for local tourists, offering basic but pleasant and authentic experience. However, the other two buildings aren't probably utilized to their full potential. Technical state of all three sydspissen objects isn't at it's best, too. The owner is spontaneously, without any architectural project, renovating the interiors by himself. He opened a small grocery store for the hotel guests recently, and he's also planning to open a restaurant or a bar inside one of the objects (there is no such place in the whole bay).
This is a study of one possible developement scenario: theoretical future intention of the owner to change the place into higher price level hotel. My objective is to design a hotel combined with a small shipyard (place for small ship / boat maintenance and storage), semi-public pier, small grocery store for both locals and hotel guests, restaurant and hotel administrator's or owner's house. Another objective is to create a new landmark, building attractive enough to draw attention of tourists visiting Lofoten and help the hotel / restaurant business this way. Finally, one of the main and most important objectives is to create authentic, Norwegian or even "Lofotian" structure, search for inspiration at the site, work with local tradition and use it in a new way. Result should be deeply Norwegian and Scandinavian building, but different to most of the contemporary architecture built in the area at the same time. It should go deeper to the local past and tradition, as well as to the current, industrial genius loci, and make the best use of both of it.
Site localization: Lofoten, Norway
The site is situated in Unstad, Mærvoll bay, north shore of Vestvågøy island of Lofoten. Lofoten are the northernmost part of Nordland, one of the 19 Norwegian counties. Whole Lofoten is situated above the arctic circle.
There are several transport connections between Vestvågøy and the rest of the Norway: ferries are operated from Bodø to several towns in Lofoten, there is flight connection between Bodø and Leknes. All Lofoten islands are interconnected by a single road, King Olaf's Way (E10), which runs to the mainland and Evenes Narvik / Harstad airport, which offers direct flights to Oslo and other larger cities.
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Lofoten
Vestvågøy
Map of Norway, it's counties (fylker) and municipalities (kommuner). Flag of Kingdom of Norway, designed by Fredrik Meltzer in 1821.
Site localization: Vestvågøy
Vestvågøy is both an island and a most populous municipality in Lofoten (over 10.800 inhabitants). Largest city in the area is Leknes, the municipality capital. Unstad seahouse is in Mærvoll bay, connected to the E10 main road by smaller Saupstadveien road. Car ride from the seahouse to Leknes takes about 15 to 20 minutes.
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Sjøhus Unstad Borg
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Leknes Stamsund
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Map of Vestvågøy with largest towns and marked seahouse site. Crest of Vestvågøy Kommune. Crest of Nordland Fylke, Norwegian county Lofoten belongs to.
Site localization: MĂŚrvoll Bay
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Scale 1 : 20.000, contour lines every 30 meters with 0 at sea level, current seahouse depicted in black.
Vestvågøy climate
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Although Lofoten are situated above the arctic circle, local climate is very different from the one in other places of similar geografic longitude. Thanks to the Gulf stream winters are surprisingly warm (around +2 and -2°C) with some snow. Falls are rainy, summers are pleasant with temperatures up to +15°C. However, local wind and bad weather can be extreme: two of ten world deadliest recorded storms happend at Lofoten.
Thanks to it's arctic location, polar day and polar night are part of the annual reality in Vestvågøy. Sun doesn't go down since May 25th to July 7th and there's no sun at all since December 12th to January 4th.
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Average maximal and minimal temperatures from January to December, in Celsius degrees. (Source: met.no/klimastatistikk/eklima) Precipitation totals from January to December in mm. (Source: met.no/klimastatistikk/eklima) Polar day and polar night. Predominant directions of the wind in Mærvoll bay. (Sours: locals)
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Local environment and context: Vestvügøy
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Kremmervika Rorbuer, Ballstad. Typical simple linear layout and perpendicular orientation to the shore, building is overhanging to the sea. Piers often form whole networks, connecting the houses together. Leknes, main street. Banality of the Lofoten capital stands in contrast to overwhelming beauty of the surrounding nature and landscape. Urban design of the city makes it somewhat similar to towns of American Midwest.
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Line of cod dryers near to Gravdal. Right level of humidity, low temperatures and strong winds make whole Lofoten perfect place for dried fish production. Lofotr, excavation site and museum of Viking culture in Borg. 93 meters wide longhouse is replica of original Viking building, found during the excavations. It is the largest known wooden structure built by Vikings in whole Scandinavia. Ballstad, sea shore. Fishing boat stored outside on a rail.
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Ballstad. Another example of typical local structures: linear and simple, with no attempt to build any kind of private space in their vicinity.
Local environment and context: Mærvoll, Unstad
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Turn on E10 leading to Mærvoll a Unstad. Closest larger village is Borg, Leknes is about 15 to 20 minutes by car. Small details tells a lot about local environment. Piece of wood completely bleached by salt and wind and surprisingly diverse sea life. Mærvoll bay, E-W view available right after driving through the Saupstadveien tunnel. Off in the distance, current seahouse is already visible.
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Fish drying barn, about 400 meters to west from the seahouse. Melting snow and ice together with the low tide creates small streams of water running down the sea. Small structures in the bay: storage of fishing equipment. View of the bay from the opposite side with seahouse being easily visible.
Seahouse in history & today
Current sydspissen is formed by pier and three buildings: the main seahouse and two other, smaller houses. Age of the buildings varies: oldest one is from the end of 19. century, youngest one is the seahouse, built in 1959. This building, as well as the other two, was used by local fisherman cooperation, MĂŚrvoll Produksjonslag, even though the land still belonged to the original owner, Johan L. Unstad. The whole site was continualy changing in order to fulfill the changing requirements. After the Produksjonslag was closed and
last fisherman left the place(1974), son of the original owner, Knut Unstad, started to use the the whole sydspissen as an budget accommodation facility (similar to hostel). Small store has been opened in one of the houses recently. Other than that, no bigger changes has been made since opening of the sjøhus.
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Construction of the houses is mostly wooden, seahouse, however, has reinforced concrete frame. Also the pier is partially concrete, partially wooden. Most of the timber used for construction comes from Trøndelag in central Norway, region rich especialy on spruce forrests.
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Site in the year 1961, short after the seahouse was built. Back then, southern part of the eastern house was only singlestoried. There also used to be a large, single-storey space for fish processing, which has been removed later. Site plan, state in 1961, scale 1 : 5.000 Current state (November 2012) Site plan, current state, scale 1 : 5.000
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Current seahouse. 1st floor is used as workshop, warehouse and ship storage facility. 2nd and 3rd floor are the accommodation facilites. Local still life: gravel, mountains, rust and sea. Good illustration of the ambivalent nature of genius loci. Pier: detail. The seahouse entrance. There is no vestibul or space separating the interior from the door: everything is kept simple.
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Main corridor with rooms on the sides and window at far end, facing the entrance. 1st floor with the workshop and stored boats and ship isn't accessible for hotel guests. 2nd floor, part which is not renewed yet. Revealed outer wall construction is being gradually covered with spruce battens (visible on the right).
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Detail of the external wall and cladding construction. Gate is kept closed by nautical rope. Typical seahouse guest room interior: beds gradually turning into sitting benches, window facing the entrance door, small table beneath. Social facilites and kitchen are shared: no unnecessary luxury for anyone.
Conceptual basis & genesis of the architectural form
Fundamental principle is line, linear layout. Lofoten are long and linear, connected by one single road. Many local houses are linear, consisting of a single central corridor with rooms on sides, similar to ships. Most significant local landmark is Lofotr longhous, longest Viking structure ever discovered in Scandinavia. Travel in Lofoten is always somewhat linear compare to other places: from point A to point B and back, no detours, no roundabouts, no loops. Distances are rather long, but they are part of the local atmosphere.
38 There are three theoretical approaches to the future developement of the seahouse in general. First possible approach is maximal preservation of the current state of the objects: renovation together with only subtle interventions into the whole system. This would also preserve current state of functionality and level of services. Second possible approach is about performing larger interventions: preserving some of the original buildings and functions, but also adding new ones and changing the layout structure moderately. And finally the third possible approach is to build a completely new structure without leaving the original ones part of the whole layout and function system. I decided to base my design on study of the third, most radical option - creating a completely new structure, replacing the original seahouse. I believe such an approach would make sense in case there is an intention to transform the current seahouse into hotel of higher price range. This would imply need of high investments, but also possibility of high profitability and opportunity to make possitive change to the local environment and even local life. From architect's point of view, this also offers opportunity to work more deliberately with specific local atmosphere and context, study and use local architectural tradition and principles and re-think the site in much wider way than a reconstruction would allow. First, I must define the new building purpose and function: a hotel offering unique, "lofotian" experience to the guest, a hotel that combines roughness and certain industriality together with comfort and good design (primarily). Secondarily, it would be a shipyard and semi-public pier serving the hotel-owned ship and boat fleet designated to supply the hotel and to serve the guests as transportation and recreational vessels. Tertiary, I'm adding additional fucntions connected with the hotel and the site: small grocery store with fresh seafood for the hotel guests, tourists passing by and locals, hotel-bound restaurant / cafeteria, bar and hotel administrator's house. Thanks to the large public lobby, the place could also work as a meeting place for locals (function related to the restaurant and bar). Konceptual basis, besides solving the functional and technical challenges, would be based on local context. I will define it in these tags: Linearity, light and shadow, scale of a human vs. scale of a ship, modularity, being natural part of the environment, low emphasis on private space as reaction to sparce population. The following graphic scheme roughly depicts genesis of both the concept and the actual building shape and layout.
38 Graphic depiction of the shape and layout genesis
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Form, basic shape and orientation is based on typical local structures: gable roof resists bad weather and heavy rains well and is easy to build even with timber. The north-south orientation makes the building work as connection between the road and the sea, both philosophically and practically: the whole structure works as a crane capable of freight transportation between road and sea (truck and ship) and vice versa.
Current seahouse deals with the two functions - accommodation and ship storage & maintenance space in a simple but somwhat unattractive way: ships are stored in the 1st floor, rest is in the 2nd and 3rd floor. I'm turning this principle upside down (literally): ships are being lifted up, hotel rooms are on the ground level. This way the ships are co-creating the interior and whole experience, they are now part of the architecture. Scale of central cargo corridor is large, scale of hotel rooms is small and cosy: both exists under one roof.
Issue of the strongly linear layout with central corridor is that the northern part of corridor can get dark. I take inspiration from the eastern building of current seahouse and create comb-like system of rooflights, getting gradually larger to the north. These rooflights are heading south, bringing enough sunlight to the space and creating interesting play of light and shadows.
From the ground level of current sydspissen buildings, the surrounding terrain rises 5,5 m up to the road (northern direction). Considering the lenght of the designed object and it's orientation, the northern half of the new seahouse has to respond to this elevation. With the previously mentioned Lofotr longhouse in mind, I'm organically bending the seahouse up to 10째 slant, making it's profile copy the terrain profile. This also defines the warped planes of the roof panels: their bases and ridges have different angles.
The modular, timber structure (with exception of the northern concrete inner house) allows for high level of layout customizability. One of the interesting things about current seahouse is the way it changes and developes in time: it was rebuilt, repaired and modified many times. It was my intention to design the new building as a fixed frame with static basic layout scheme (main corridor + rooms on the sides) which will maintain the basic building functionality, but to leave the rest up to the owner as much as possible. All the lower
rooms can be made larger or smaller (in longitudinal direction), they can be added or taken away, leaving more space for the lobbies. Room interior designs can be changed easily as well. I believe this feature makes the architectural design much more versatile and adaptable.
Site
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Site plan 1 : 5.000
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Blue outline depicts the current seahouse, black area is the new design. Cardinal orientation of the new building is the same as the current easternmost sydspissen house. Contour lines are every 30 m with 0 at sea level.
More detailed site plan. Contour lines are every 0,5 meters with 0 at sea level.
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Layout design
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Architectural layout is based on a single central corridor (ground level for human movement, freight/cargo manipulation space and shipyard above) with hotel rooms and other facilities on the sides. This structure minimizes amount of secondary corridors and interspaces and makes the building operation linear and simple. The main corridor opens into two larger spaces – halls (lobbies), creating naturally centric areas. The whole corridor, including halls, has no thermal insulation or heating system; it only protects from wind and
rain. This minimizes heating costs and intensifies the contrast between cosiness of the smaller rooms and certain industrial rawness of the corridor and lobbies. Major part of the building consists of wooden supporting structure with modular inner walls.
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Northernmost segment of the building is "the bridge": threestoried, mostly concrete structure which contains the hotel operating facilities, administrator's house, grocery store and northern entrance. Facilites requiring direct sunlight are atop of this section, technical facilities are beneath the ground. Lobby is the central space of the hotel. It contains main entrance, reception with rest area, cafeteria (restaurant) and bar.
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Third and largest layout segment is the area with hotel rooms. It also contains open kitchen for hotel guests, laundry room and restrooms. This part of the seahouse is highly modifiable, rooms can be merged, added or changed, as far as the basic construction system module is maintained. Final interior segment of the building itself is the polyfunctional second lobby. As it progresses to the south, the space changes into workshop and shipyard. This part contains ship
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gate and three standard entrances (southern, western and eastern). Last structure segment (exterior only) is the pier. It's designated for the anchored ships as well as guest recreation and fishing.
Ground plan: 1st floor 1:150
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Entrance lobby Reception Bar Restauration / hotel cafeteria Corridor Rest room - wheelchair accessible Rest room - unisex Hotel room - wheelchair accessible
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Loundry room Hotel room* Kitchen for hotel guests (public) Southern lobby Southern lobby & ship entrance space Workshop Administration, receptionist's facility Luggage room
Corridor - facility (non-public) Employee lockers Rest room and shower for employees Restaurant and hotel kitchen (non-public) Warehouse Staircase - administrator's house entrance Staircase - grocery store facility entrance Boiler room
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Technical room Cargo elevator
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Current design of hotel rooms contains 32 beds in total. This capacity may be raised, but shoudn't exceed 50 beds (due to hotel cafeteria capacity).
All hotel rooms have unified surface area of 20 m (215,3 ft) and with exception of the wheelchair accessible room, all have the same type of bathroom. Between every bathroom and hotel room is an atypical wardrobe closet, accessible both from the room and from the bathroom. Other hotel room elements are variable: there is possibility of double bed, single beds, combination of both. Bunk beds may be added as well, in that case the room capacity may be raised to 4, 6 or 8 beds.
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Ground plan: 2nd floor 1:150
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Corridor Administrator's house - living-room Administrator's house - kitchenette Administrator's house - entrance Administrator's house - bathroom Administrator's house - storeroom Grocery store - retail zone Grocery store - warehouse and facilities
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Cargo elevator
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Ground plan - 3rd floor 1:150
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Corridor, entrance, cargo gate Norhtern entrance Staircase to grocery store facility Administrator's house - bedroom
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Longitudinal section 1:150
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Technical space underneath the main floor intended to contain electrical wiring, plumbing, heating pipes and other technical instalations.
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Transverse sections 1:150
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Southern lobby - ship entrance Hotel room Northern lobby - main hotel entrance Secondary staircase - the bridge
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Technical space underneath the main floor intended to contain electrical wiring, plumbing, heating pipes and other technical instalations.
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W-E view 1:200
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E-W view 1:200
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N-S view, open gate N-S view, closed gate S-N view
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Visualization
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North view from the main road: seahouse with open northern gate. White house to the right is the current seahouse owner's place and reception.
Visualization
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The bay with a new landmark: east view. With it's ascendant profile, seahouse follows the terrain.
Visualization
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East view from a little gulf next to the sydspissen. Probably the most characteristic sight of the seahouse.
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South view from the sea: different face of the seahouse.
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Visualization
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West view. Borderline between the darker and ligher rock shows how far the high tide reaches.
Visualization
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Panoramatical view over the gulf, north view. Houses in the foreground are the hamlet of Sortland.
Visualization
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Interior, north view of the southern glazed seahouse front with boat hanging from the rail beneath the roof. Southern seahouse segment offers beautiful view of the see and mountains.
Visualization
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The seemingly uninterrupted corridor, north view.
Visualization
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Northern lobby, south view. Gables of the administrator's house and grocery store are visible in the foreground.
Visualization
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Lobby, south view, cafeteria. Tables, bar stools and sitting stools are designed directly for the seahouse. Their construction is simple, linear proportions are similar to the house itself and legs refer to the supporting structure's diagonal bracings.
Visualization
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East view of one of the hotel rooms. Beds and their transition to the benches are direct reference to the original seahouse room design.
Visualization
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Hotel room, double bed type, view from the interior (northern). Window shutters are operated electrically from the rooms. They are perforated and allow very limited amount of sunlight to enter the room. Their main purpose is to limit direct sunlight durign the 52 polar days each summer in MĂŚrvoll.
Inspiration & references
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Hotel room design and layout strongly refers to the rooms of current seahouse. Wall facing the entry door is finished by a large window, beds turns into sitting benches (working as stairs making it easier to reach the bed as well), seahouse curtains are replaced by massive perforated wind shutters. In some versions of the room, table is at the same place as in the seahouse.
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The basic spatial idea is similar to the Lofotr longhouse. Distinctive gables of the current two outer seahouse buildings are being quoted in the new building design interior: two monumental concrete gables are the main architectural element of northern lobby. The main central corridor of the new building is based on the original seahouse layout in many ways. The original corridor starts with entrance and ends with a window, bringing sunlight
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into the otherwise stark space, very similar principle to the one used in the new design. With exception of the windows, the hotel exterior is completely clad in wooden facade dyed and impregnated by wooden tar. This traditional local technique is usualy being used for ships and houses, especially wooden churches, since mediaval times.
Operation scheme: boat movement inside the building
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One of the main purposes of the building (besides being a hotel) is a shipyard: a space and equipment for boat and ship maintenance, repairment and storage - both short and long-term. This space purposely blends with the hotel so all the ship-connected work, as well as the stored ships themselves, are visible for guests and visitors and become part of the whole experience.
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Depiction of ship maintenance, repairment and short-term storage. (A) is position for maintanance. In need of short-term storage, the ship is moved south (B). In this position the cargo entrance and crane isn't being blocked and may be used for other needs normaly. (C) Depiction of ships being stored for longer periods of time (for winter, for example).
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Depiction of fixation used when ships / boats are being stored. After the ships are pulled in, they are equiped with fixation ropes, hanging freely from the deck (D). After the ship is moved to it's designated spot, ropes are tied to anchoring hooks mounted into the supporting structure on the sides of the corridor (E). The corridor ground level isn't being blocked in any way and ships are prevented from swinging in any diraction (which could happen due to light breeze or vibration).
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Operation scheme: supplying
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The "spinal" rail isn't designed only for boat / ship manipulation but also for cargo and goods transportation between the sea (ship) and hotel kitchen, warehouse and shop. During long-term periods of multiple boats being stored inside the seahouse, supplying would be provided by ground only (car / van).
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Depiction of how fresh seafood (ungutted) is being transported from a ship to kitchen and store storage facility: cargo is lifted from the ship by a crane, gutted at the pier, placed into new container and transported to the storage rooms. Depiction of prepared (gutted) seafood and goods transportation from a ship to the storage facilites.
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Depiction of hotel supplying done by a van or car.
Accesibility restriction layout
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Hotel interior space can be divided into four categories based on level of accesibility restrictions. There are publicly accesible premises with no restrictions, premises accesible to hotel guests and staff (hotel rooms), premises accesible only to the hotel staff and finaly premises accesible only to the hotel administrator (owner).
Publicly accesible premises - premises accesible without any restrictions
Premises accesible to staff only - hotel, restaurant and store operational and technical facilites
Premises accesible to hotel guests - hotel rooms
Premises accesible to administrator only - administrator's house
Vizualization
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Roof truss visualization
Roof truss
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Roof and the roof truss are building's most distinctive architectural elements and also the most complex ones. Southern part of the truss and roof is less complicated: principal rafters support the roof directly and, with help of the collar beams, also hold the main purlin (which is in fact a huge suspended longitudinal beam connecting the rafters together, not supporting them in any way). From roughly the central part of the building rooflights start to emerge. These are formed by height (timber lenght) differences between the principal
rafters and smaller secondary rafters, each of them being sized differently. This creates differences in longitudinal geometry by the wall beam and by the roof ridge, which leads into specific warped planes of each roof segment. Roofing is also specific: custom designed wooden tar shingles of anthracite color and specific smell.
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Roof truss axonometry. Southern part of the roof is straight, with no rooflights. As the main purlin (longitudinal ridge beam) slowly tilts itself and ascends to the north, rooflights emerge, gradually increasing their size. The whole roof truss is made of timber, only the rail, angle irons and connecting elements are steel.
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Principal rafter 160/240 (mm) Secondary rafter 80/80 (mm) Main purlin (suspended) 220/800 (mm) Rail - IP 200/360 (mm) Collar beam 100/240 (mm) Sheathing ď&#x;¸ 50 (mm) Window glass (rooflight) Roofing (waterproofing + tar shingle)
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Axonometry of of the northen part of roof truss with rooflight cascade. Perspective detail: roof segments are in fact slightly warped planes. Roof truss (northern segment). Roof truss (southern segment) with detailed scheme of connection between the suspended main purlin and the rafters.
Lath 40/60 (mm) Post 80/80 (mm) Window (rooflight) casing Angle iron
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Typography
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Part of the architectural design is also appropriate and corresponding visual identity, based mainly on specific typeface. This typeface is designed to be used in wayfinding and navigation system for both the interior and exterior of the seahouse, as well as for various hotel-related printed application headlines, poster typesetting etc.
This corporate typeface, operationally named "Lofotype Bold", is designed exclusively for this project. It’s caps-only, geometric bold font, fully localized in Nordic languages including Norwegian. It’s style is based on visual expression similar to the architectural design; substance is simple, inspired by typefaces used in Norwegian harbours and ships, elaborated into clean and contemporary form.
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Typeface sample. Full typeface specimen list, containing Czech, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic characters.
Visual identity
Visual identity consists of typesetting rules, corporate typeface, color key (based on materials used in the seahouse design) and specific bevel of the lower edge of some stationary, corresponding to the bevel of the building itself. The identity is both a complement of the architectural design and promotional tool for the seahouse as an enterprise.
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Canvas bag for the seahouse grocery store. A little extreme example of possibilites of the identity system: packaging of fresh seafood offered in the seahouse store. Poster - bulletin board. Grocery store exterior: application of the identity system into the architectural space. Black van for a black seahouse
Key facts summary
Building
Site
Built-up area (excl. pier): 1.235 m (13.293 ft) Gross surface area of 1st (ground) floor: 1.235 m (13.293 ft) Gross surface area of 2nd floor: 186,5 m (2.007,5 ft) Gross surface area of 3rd floor: 55 m (592,02 ft) Longitudinal lenght of the building (excl. pier): 95 m (311,7 ft) Longitudinal lenght of the building (incl. pier): 132,5 m (434,7 ft) Transverse length of the building: 13 m (42,65 ft) Highest point (zero point in 1st floor): +15,38 m (+50,46 ft)
Geographic coordinates: 68°14'44.02"N, 13°36'12.07"W Country: Norway County (fylke): Nordland Municipality (kommune): Vestvågøy Township (post office): Sortland, Steinfjorden (factually), Mærvoll (practically used address)
Hotel capacity Designed hotel room bed capacity: 32 Maximal recommended hotel room bed capacity: 50 Designed restaurant seat capacity: 50 + 5