In Search of a fluid space DALE NKD VILLA FAGERHEIM Lovisa Wallgren BAS master course spring 2014 / 29 may
This booklet include the work during a master course in architecture at Bergen School of Architecture, spring 2014. The subject of the course is a villa 1970 designed by Peder Ritesund for the couple Oddleif and Thora Nitter Fagerheim. It is located at the west coast of Norway in the village Dale, 108 km north of Bergen. Part 1: Collecting material and documenting the villa. A more fully documentation can be read in the booklet The Fluid Space (1 april 2014). Part 2: Deeper into the understanding of the villa and possibilities of transforming it. A more fully documentation can be read in the booklet The Fluid Space (1 april 2014). Part 3: The design process and the final design proposal for transforming the villa into something new. An earlier compilation is the booklet Capturing the Fluid Space (2 may 2014).
part 1 documentation of the villa The initial work consisted of collecting material and documenting the villa. Here will follow some parts of that work. A more fully documentation can be read in the booklet The Fluid Space (1 april 2014).
HISTORY At the west coast of Norway in the village Dale can you
Oddleif Fagerheim was a politician and a teacher who was
find the Villa Fagerheim. The villa was designed by Peder
very active in the area. Thora Nitter Fagerheim came from a
Ritesund 1968 for the couple Oddleif and Thora Nitter
wealthy family, originally from Berlin. They had a school in
Fagerheim. The villa was completed 1970.
the village which they sold and they built the villa Fagerheim for the money.
The couple’s original idea was to open a boarding school at the property and the design of the villa includes teachers’
But they had problems realize the idea of the boarding
accommodation, facilities for the boarding school and
school and the villa was only used as a residency for
housing for themselves.
themselves before they donated the villa and the area to the Nordic Council of Ministers 1976.
In 1998 the Nordic Artists’ Centre Dale opened at the property. The area had been supplemented with several buildings and the intention was to include the villa Fagerheim in the facilities. But the villa has been shut down some years ago due to leakage problem and the detection of moulds.
NYFJELLET
CONTEXT Dale is a small village 108 km north of Bergen and part of
JARSTADHEIA
FLøyEN
the municipality of Fjaler in Sogn og Fjordane County. The village is situated in a valley in a characteristic Norwegian west coast scenery with big mountains, valleys and fjords. Through this valley runs Dalsfjord. The villa is located on the edge of a hill, overlooking the village. The hill is situated to the east of Dale near the center.
VILLA FAGERHEIM DALSFJORDEN THE CENTER OF DALE
108 km DALE BERGEN
THE CHURCH
THE CENTER OF DALE FAGERHEIMS OLD LIVING SPACE
VILLA FAGERHEIM DALSFJORDEN
THE SCHOOL
NKD nordic ARTISTS’ CENTRE DALE
NYFJELLET
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THE FACADES, MATERIALS AND WINDOWS Part of the facades seems like heavy, white, solid, massive
and openings are located at this walls. But the wood is dark
walls. Some walls have the appearance of thick natural
and old and the lightness does not allways appear.
stones walls and are sometimes a wall of the building and sometimes a wall in the nature.
There are windows in different sizes. Large windows spanning from the floor to the ceiling, areas with window
The intention with the dark painted wooden walls seems to
bands and some places with windows high up. The doors are
be that they should appear lighter. Almost all the windows
made of wood, some have windows.
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THE ROOMS The inside consists of many rooms. The building feels large, but the most of the rooms feels quite small. The living room which are meant to be the big warm area are big, empty and cold. The windows are only facing northwest and northeast. The small rooms facing south feels warm but the long corridor leading to the rooms are claustrophobic with windows only high up.
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part 2 analyzing the space To get deeper into the understanding of the villa and possibilities of transforming it, analyzes were made in different techniques. In common they are searching for order and rhythm in the villa and a way of demolishing it, break it a part, disassemble it or fragmentation of the space. A more fully documentation can be read in the booklet The Fluid Space (1 april 2014).
The rhythm lines lines, crossing lines the windows the pattern
Investigating the patterns and the rhythm in the villa by turning the angle, removing, adding, extracting and intensifying.
Windows, doors and stairs
The rhythm lines lines, crossing lines fragmentation
One direction of two
The inside the partitions
directions in the villa fragmentation of the space
Investigating the impact and possibilities of removing parts of the villa.
The facades are removed, only the characteristic walls appearing as massive and the interior walls remains to play with. In that way the inside and the outside are no longer important. The space emerge between and around the walls before it slips away.
part 3 the fluid space The design process and the final design proposal for transforming the villa into something new. An earlier compilation is the booklet Capturing the Fluid Space (2 may 2014).
sections of the impression of the low ceiling
The atmosphere of the villa It is an stifling space. One feel trapped inside. The ceiling is pushing one down. It is dark. There is a lot of walls and doors. The old villa is infected by mould. It is a dilapidated old house. It has never been used as it was meant to. It was built as a boarding school, instead it has been used for living. But it has always been too big and cold. It seems as if the idea of the villa is to be an open and fluid space. With windows all around and a low ceiling it seems as if the villa intend to let one focus on the views of the surrounding landscape. But all the walls and doors block the view. One don’t get the feeling of an open fluid space. If one says that space is fluid. Then all the walls and doors separates the liquid into small parts, too small to be called liquid. It becomes just damp spots that are vanishing fast. The villa is as a leaky bucket.
section of the perceived walls
plan of the perceived walls
The containers There is a need for containers to collect the seepage of fluid space and transform the villa into a place full of space. These are the containers.
sections or plans
sections or plans
The containers are different individuals but all of them are enclosing the light with less but more focused views facing the sky or selected parts of the surrounding. Inside one feels enclosed and is totally focused on oneself and the space inside the container.
The transform The mould and the infected parts will be removed. The new containers will grow from the wounds. They will punch through the roof and the facades. Then they might spread out in the surrounding landscape.
Searching for the arrangement The new containers will be inserted into the villa in a way so that they together form something more interesting and fascinating than only the villa or the containers could manage by it’s own.
The new being The containers are developed further and parts of the villa are removed. Together they form a new symbiosis and the villa has transformed into a new being.
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