Modern love for nature - even for its most grandiose, nature, manifestations - has a patronizing connotation, its main message is that the environment must be protected, which, of course, is justified: human economic activity has acquired such proportions that it seems that only natural disasters are not affected. Glaciers are melting, the world's oceans are polluted, mountains are sometimes razed to ground level in the pursuit of minerals - the list goes on. In such conditions, a unique or simply picturesque landscape, untouched by human hands, often turns into a valuable tourist attraction, however, with all caution. The necessary infrastructure is modest in form, merges with the terrain or even hidden underground, and a person plays the role of a responsible, albeit enthusiastic, observer, reducing his influence on the environment in all possible ways.
Against the background of this emphatically careful approach, structures unexpectedly look
"National Tourist Routes" covering western Norway and part of its northern coast. Observation decks, recreation areas, bridges, art objects challenge the landscape, as if the time of romanticism is still going on, and the goal of any traveler is to conquer, not admire. Even these buildings themselves resemble the “wanderer over the sea of fog” from the painting of the same name by Caspar David Friedrich - for example, the panoramic platform over the Trollstigen road, a corten steel structure by the architect Reiulf Ramstad. The similarity is aggravated by the fact that the grandiose Rumsdalen Valley beneath it is just as often obscured by fog as the Elbe Mountains in Frederick's painting.
However, this method does not seem old-fashioned, on the contrary, this is the only way out for the authors of the projects: only a powerful architectural gesture allows these buildings not to get lost in the titanic scale of the Norwegian landscapes. In this landscape there is no sense of anthropogenicity, which is so characteristic of a large part of Europe, where the endless labor of man has tamed the hills and valleys. In the mountains and fjords of Norway, on the other hand, time has stood still: they look almost the same as a century or a millennium ago. And, as in the past, architecture in such an environment is a challenge to the beautiful, but harsh nature.
The scale of Norwegian landscapes is such that even bright and large buildings, for example, the Stegastein viewpoint above the Aurlandfjord, an offshoot of the Sognefjord, cannot change their surroundings. The curved shape of light wood, designed by Todd Saunders, looks like it should be visible from afar - however, as you go down the slope, it disappears among the pine trees.
Therefore, the "National Tourist Routes", inviting Norwegian and foreign architects to cooperate, often give them carte blanche: even the most daring building will not be able to shake the status quo - the absolute dominance of the landscape.
This
the architectural program began over 20 years ago. It was initiated by the State Roads Authority, which decided to use the highway network that spans the whole of Norway to lure tourists to the most picturesque corners of the country. For this, not so much was needed, only to provide the roads with a convenient infrastructure, and the first generation of buildings was rather modest. However, the success of the project gave rise to a desire for experiment, and so a variety of structures appeared - from the "golden" toilet designed by Tupelo Arkitektur on the coast of Ersfjordstrand to the works of Peter Zumthor. One of them, the memorial to the burned witches in Vardø on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, opened back in 2010–2011, the second, the museum complex at the historic Almannayuvet mines on the Ryfylke route, last month.
Of course, not all constructions of the program are deliberately "iconic". The hotel in Turtagrø (architects JVA - Jarmund / Vigsnæs) continues the tradition of Norwegian red wooden houses, and more specifically - hotels that appeared here in the 19th century. The rich color makes both old and new structures in the valley stand out - as a sign of human presence and a landmark for returning climbers and hikers (Turtagrö is a popular starting point for many routes). Another large but discreet building is the Sognefjellhütt summer ski resort, which runs from Easter, when the mountain roads are finally cleared of snow, until July and even later. This wood and glass structure was designed by Jensen & Skodvin.
There are also chamber, poetic objects that enrich human contact with the natural environment. Among them - "Mefjelle", the brutal arch of the sculptor Knut Wold, which allows you to "frame" the no less severe alpine landscape behind it, and a completely different glass "telescope" designed by the architect Carl-Viggo Hömlebakk on the natural observation point Nedre-Oskarshaug: he "Explains" what kind of peaks surround the viewer.
There are many more utilitarian and therefore restrained objects among the buildings of the program, although all of them are distinguished by a very high quality of architecture. Among them is the Liasannen recreation area designed by Jensen & Skodvin: at the place where travelers have rested for centuries, concrete furniture is placed in a pine forest near the river, and tree trunks are carefully wrapped with ropes to protect them from possible damage from cars.
Norwegian architects are not inclined to retrospective, they rarely make references to the past, and at the level of symbols, not quotations. Therefore, the buildings of the "National Tourist Routes" are immediately recognized as works of the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, however, even the "defiant" modernity still retreats in the end before the dictates of nature: from November to April, many of these routes - and other mountain roads - are also impassable, like centuries ago.
