05 TYPOLOGIES
Karianne Fonn Jårvik & Erlend Espenæs
N ybye n The settlement was founded in 1946-47 for the miners of ”mine 2B”. Today its character reflects that of Svalbard’s more mixed economy (tourism, research and mining) with two guesthouses (Guesthouse 102 and Spitsbergen Guesthouse) utilising the former miners’ barracks, as well as being home to the Svalbard Art Gallery & Craft Centre, and nearby is the Huset restaurant, club and cinema. Most students at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) live in six renovated mining barracks in Nybyen. Nybyen is situated in the upper part of Longyeardalen (Longyear Valley), about 2.5 kilometres uphill from the centre of Longyearbyen, at an altitude of around 100 metres. The two-story buildings are all alike and built parallel to each other, following the direction of the valley. One of the buildings, black with bright yellow window sills. This new residential barracks were designed by A3 architects in 2005 and has the same shape, volume and roof pitch like the other residential barracks.
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Lia The characteristic ”pointed houses” has become a hallmark of Longyearbyen. The nickname coming off the pointed roof pitch and the contiguous rows of gables. The use of color is striking, and these residential houses were the first to be painted in the early 1980s, after what became the color plan for the entire settlement of Longyearbyen. The plan was developed by Grete Smedal from Bergen, on the initiative of Director Ingvar Ohm in Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani. The ”pointed houses” are house units produced by Moelven, drawn by their own architect Hans Grinde. They were sent up north by train and boat and assembled in the summer months in 1976 and 1977. The 38 houses were linked together in rows connected by annexes with entrance hall and additional storage.
SOURCE MATERIAL: FOTO, GRETE SMEDAL
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Th e tow n c e n t r e The town centre is an area visited daily by most people in Longyearbyen. The cafes, bank, post office, commercial buildings and super market are all in this area, accompanied by a kindergarten, the hospital, Lokalstyret, tourist information and two hotels. The area has a great variety in architectural expressions, but the buildings are all big, built of wood and coloured in whitish colours.
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Tauba n es e n t ra l e n Cableway Central in Longyearbyen is a part of the transport system that led coal from mines in Longyeardalen and Adventdalen to the harbour. It was designed by German engineers and built on a ridge west of the city in which three cableways meet. The construction consists of a low and narrow building with several arms. Floor surfaces are concave and the building rests on a high steel construction. The airy installation has clear sculptural qualities. From a distance, it reminds a large insect. Both the location and the expressive shape of the building, is solely determined by purely functional considerations. The building itself is erected as a protective shell around technical fittings. Main cables from three different directions led carts with coal through each arm to a central core of the building. Here carts hanging under the roof brought together and directed in a line that led out through a fourth arm of the building. Powerful diagonal stays underneath the building counteract the strong horizontal forces.
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UN I S Cableway Central in Longyearbyen is a part of the transport system that led coal from mines in Longyeardalen and Adventdalen to the harbour. It was designed by German engineers and built on a ridge west of the city in which three cableways meet. The construction consists of a low and narrow building with several arms. Floor surfaces are concave and the building rests on a high steel construction. The airy installation has clear sculptural qualities. From a distance, it reminds a large insect. Both the location and the expressive shape of the building, is solely determined by purely functional considerations. The building itself is erected as a protective shell around technical fittings. Main cables from three different directions led carts with coal through each arm to a central core of the building. Here carts hanging under the roof brought together and directed in a line that led out through a fourth arm of the building. Powerful diagonal stays underneath the building counteract the strong horizontal forces.
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