It is not easy to immediately imagine a certain image of "polar architecture": cutting-edge Soviet projects for permafrost conditions are known, Canada showed at this year's Venice Biennale the 100-year history of buildings for its Far North, and so on, but all these are fragments that are not add up to the big picture. In addition, it is clear that it is more difficult to find a "context" for design: in addition to the harsh climate, polar night, low population density, scattered over vast spaces, the well-known "utilitarian" environment is added to the problems of the Arctic region, due to the frequent development of cities. the residual principle - as an addition to the resource-extracting industry or a military outpost, and, if we take the north of Norway, the legacy of the Second World War, when the settlements there were razed to the ground during heavy prolonged battles and rebuilt in difficult post-war conditions.
But, perhaps, it is the complexity and relevance of the tasks facing the designers here, and determines the fact that enough architects, landscape architects, urbanists live and work actively in the Scandinavian Arctic. They are ready to discuss the uniqueness of their working conditions, and therefore The Polar Particular was chosen as the theme of the Nordkalot 2014 symposium.
The symposium has been held periodically since 1982, and this time it was held after a particularly long break - at 18 years old. This irregularity is due to its non-governmental and non-profit nature: it was founded by architects for architects, and behind the official support of the Association of Architects of Northern Norway, the Union of Architects of Sweden and the northern divisions of the Finnish Architects' Association SAFA, there is the enthusiasm of concrete - and relatively few people. The initiator of the symposium was the architect Niels Mjoland, who took part in the event again, when landscape architect Anita Weiset took over the project management.
This approach is typical for the northernmost region of Europe: as in the past, today a lot depends on the initiative and energy of local residents. Of course, one cannot say that "the state has forgotten about them": in Norway there is even a special department - the Barents Secretariat - which deals with the problems of the region (now it is headed by a native of these places, Rune Rafaelsen, whose report was opened by Nordkalott-2014), but still for The “southerners” distance from Oslo to, for example, Kirkenes, a port on the Barents Sea 9 km from the Russian border, seems much more significant than it actually is (two hours of flight). Therefore, it is not surprising that in the North they are not particularly eager to ask the capital's officials for their opinion on every issue and have quite succeeded in self-government. International relations, which deserve a separate discussion, are built on the same principle of independence and contacts between specific people; Thus, a small conference held in the summer of 2013 at the Strelka Institute was devoted to the lively and varied ties between Kirkenes and the Russian cities of Nikel, Zapolyarny and Pechenga.
For centuries, the North Calotte region was perceived as a periphery. For this, many symposium participants half-seriously - half-jokingly blame Gerard Mercator, the author of the first modern world map, where the "Global North" is depicted as a strip along the upper edge: if the Arctic were placed in the center, history could have taken a different path. Such a "middle" position of the North Pole would also reflect the current situation, when the Arctic is attracting more and more attention of the major powers and transnational corporations. So, thanks to global warming, the Northern Sea Route is becoming the optimal route for merchant ships traveling from China to Europe and vice versa (despite the fact that 90% of China's foreign trade is carried out by sea transport), making the ports of the region more important than ever. transshipment points.
In addition, dwindling resources in the more southerly regions are forcing mining companies to move north. However, they are in no hurry to invest in the development of the region: for example, in the Norwegian Arctic, many mines are owned by Australians, who prefer compatriot employees working on a rotational basis, rather than local residents. The same is true for Norwegian companies, whose workers arrive in the North on Monday morning and rush to return home in the South on Friday evening.
But among architects, the opposite picture can be observed: among the professionals who successfully work here, you can find those who have moved from the south of Norway or Sweden to the north in search of noteworthy work due to the economic crisis of the early 1990s. Now migration has become international: at the symposium one could meet young architects from Canada and China who settled in polar Norway. The organizers would also like to see participants from the northern regions of Russia and plan to do this next time, but this year - for the first time in the history of the Nordklott symposium - Russian speakers were there: Anton Kalgaev (Strelka Institute) and Ivan Kuryachiy (
"Novaya Zemlya"), and about the phenomenon of northern twin cities - settlements separated by the state border - Ekaterina Mikhailova (HSE).
The specifics of their projects for the Arctic were described by employees of the Snøhetta and Wingårdh Arkitektkontor bureaus, as well as Sami Rintala, Rainer Mahlamäki (Lahdelma & Mahlamäki) and Bolle Tam (Tham & Videgård Arkitekter). However, the experience of the chief architects of the polar cities Hammerfest (Norway) Oyvind Sundqvist, Piteo (Sweden) Gudrun Oström and Levi (Finland) Eva Persson Puurula in creating a comfortable environment seems to be even more valuable: quite according to the European standard, but far from in Central European conditions. Particularly interesting is the example of Levi - the center of the ski resort area, which was created almost from scratch, where tourists come only for the Christmas and Easter holidays. Thanks to the "traditional" development in the spirit of new urbanism, defined by strict standards, now, 20 years after the start of the project, it has turned out to be attractive enough for recreation and life that there is no "dead season" there in principle (this was the task of the planners).
The symposium that began in Kirkenes ended in Vardø, which is considered the northernmost city in Europe. Local activist Svein Harald Holmen called this settlement on an island connected by a tunnel to the mainland "mini-Detroit". Its surroundings are extremely rich in fish, and the inhabitants traditionally engaged in fishing, but in the early 1990s, due to the confluence of economic and political circumstances, the fishing industry was in a deep crisis, about 700 people lost their jobs, and Vardø turned into a shrinking city.
As a result, especially valuable for this area, where most of the cities were razed to the ground during the war, old wooden houses, of which there are many, were abandoned. And even those dwellings that have not yet lost their owners are often not in the best condition: any renovation requires money that the owners do not have, and the state cannot fully finance such a project. Therefore, Holmen has taken on a mediating function, is negotiating with all interested parties, and the houses are still being restored - with the active participation of residents.
But for this participation, which implies the investment of significant forces and resources, it is necessary to somehow inspire the townspeople, make them believe that Vardø - and they, as its inhabitants - have a future; Various forms of street art serve this purpose. First of all, this is the graffiti that the famous Norwegian artist of this genre Pöbel puts on the houses left without owners. When there were enough of his works in the city, in 2012 the festival "Coma-fest" was held there: its name hints at the not the best state of the city today. Now the artist's plans are to place illuminated installations in the windows of empty shops on the main street in order to give it a more lively look, which is especially important during the polar night.
Another enthusiastic project for Vardø is a fusion of architecture and birdwatching ("birding"), invented by
Tormod Amundsen. This architect has created a whole program of activities to attract bird watching enthusiasts from all over the world, in particular from Britain, where this hobby is especially widespread, to the shores of the Varangerfjord, where Kirkenes and Vardø are located. This fjord is the only one in Norway facing east: the Gulf Stream turns there and waterfowl from Siberia, including very rare species, come to winter in large numbers. Thus, this is the most convenient and accessible place where a nature lover can see them and other polar birds, and excursions to the taiga and tundra of the Finnmark province, where the fauna is also very rich, are also possible. Amundsen designs and builds birdwatching shelters and has almost single-handedly managed to provide Varanger with an influx of tourists, which he sees as an environmentally friendly alternative to the mining industry.
Of course, Vardø also feels the support of the state: recently a new House of Culture was opened there, which, in terms of its size and quality of the project, would be quite suitable for a much larger city. But the most famous object of modern architecture there is the Steilneset Memorial, dedicated to the memory of women and men who were burned in Finnmark in the 17th century on charges of witchcraft (about this object
we have already written in detail). Its authors - Peter Zumthor and sculptor Louise Bourgeois - were commissioned as part of the National Tourist Routes program, which aims to attract people to picturesque corners of Norway with the help of original works of architecture. During the days of the symposium, Zumthor was invited to visit his creation again (the Swiss architect had not been to Vardø since its official opening on the summer solstice of 2011), gave the participants a tour of the memorial and gave a lecture about it.
In 2014, the Nordkalott symposium was in a sense "rebooted", having taken place again after almost 20 years of pause: its general topic allowed us to discuss the widest possible range of subjects, but now we can think about more specific questions, since the Arctic poses a lot of them before us. It is planned that the next symposium will take place in 2016 in Finland, where the participants-architects from the Russian North will be welcome.
