Project: summer house Storfjord, architect: Jensen & Skodvin

«Summer House Storfjord» is built on pillars on a mountain ledge in the northern part of the Norwegian West Coast. The project is extraordinary both in terms of production process and architectural expression. Jensen & Skodvin are searching for working methods that allow them to escape the complexity of prevailing building practices, without returning to traditional roles and methods of planning. Rather, they harness the potential of digital technology to make processes easier and more efficient and cultivate the direct contacts between the craftsman and the architect.

«An architect plays on the given,» writes Åsmund Thorkildsen in his essay: «the site – a rocky ledge high up on a steep mountain side – has revealed itself to the architects in terms of geometry.» – The project is adapted to the site, exploring its unique spatial potenial, editing the view and directing the inside/outside experience. The architecture might be labeled expressive, and Thorkildsen traces the line of building/landscape ideas back to both the rational and the romantic imaginations of the 19th century.

Jensen & Skodvin are outstanding representatives of the post-Fehn genereation in Norwegian architecture. Many of their projects explore the relationship between architecture and landscape, culture and nature. This book documents «Summer House Storfjord» by presenting the total collection of the architect’s working drawings.

Åsmund Thorkildsen is Director of Drammens Museum.