The exhibition shows the artistic process of designing. The house will be located on the grounds of painter Edward Munch’s former house and workshop in western Oslo, the sculptural proposal has prompted discussion over how it honors the legacy of one of Norway’s most famous artists.

Organized by Snøhetta and artist, Bjarne Melgaard, with Selvaag Art Collection, the exhibition shows the result of an 8 year collaborative process between Snøhetta and Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard, “A House to Die In,” is now on display at a new exhibition Tjuvholmen in Oslo, Norway.

For the last 28 years of his life, the artist Edvard Munch lived in a villa in a hilly, forested area that was then on the outskirts of this city. He completed hundreds of paintings and drawings there, and the estate, Ekely, has become a pilgrimage site for fans of his art. Although Munch’s villa was demolished in 1960, and an artists’ colony now exists on the site, his enclosed winter studio remains, and visitors can walk among the nearby trees to discover the surroundings that inspired many of his later works.
 
“In collaboration with Selvaag Art Collection we want to tell a different story of how a building comes about. It is an exhibition about plunging into documents, models and drawings to understand the scope of an immensely interesting transdisciplinary collaboration that, in many ways, reflects our inner values as a firm,” says founding partner of Snøhetta, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen in statement.
 

Description of project by Snøhetta

It all starts in 2011 when the Norwegian artist, Bjarne Melgaard, reaches out to Olav and Frederik Selvaag with the idea of making a sculpture that would double as a house. Having a long tradition of supporting Norwegian artists, the Selvaag brothers adhere to the idea. Shortly after, Snøhetta gets involved in the project, and since then the artist and the architects have exchanged thoughts, drawings, 3D models and documents to design a house that will function as Melgaard’s private residence and atelier.

The Selvaag brothers suggest Kikkut, a plot that has been owned by the Selvaag family for decades on the west side of Oslo, as a good location for the Melgaard house. The choice of the plot comes naturally as the area is already an artistic hub thanks to its proximity to the art colony Ekely and Edvard Munch’s former home and atelier. Nothing has been built on the plot since the villa that used to adorn the plot was demolished in 1989. The Selvaag brothers see a good opportunity to realize an ambitious art project on behalf of an artist that they have followed for a long time.

The collaboration between Melgaard and Snøhetta stretches over several years. Through intense workshops and dialogue, the artist and architects exchange reflections about form and materiality. Melgaard draws hand sketches and hands them over to the architects who transform his two-dimensional, analogue drawings into digital models. The ambition is to imagine what hides “behind” the drawings, to interpret which three-dimensional forms could be found behind the physical piece of paper. With digital tools, the 3D models are shaped like a sculpture. The exercise of successfully translating art into architecture has officially begun.

Converting Melgaard’s art into architecture is a meticulous digital process. The work consists of shaping digital models consisting of a small-scaled triangular pattern. Snøhetta models selected Melgaard drawings before initiating a reduction process of the models to achieve buildable shapes. A large number of the triangles are then digitally removed from the 3D model, creating a rougher and more geometrical pattern. The façades of the house take shape. The house has become a physical, triangular wooden house resting on poles of white animal-shaped sculptures. For the first time, Melgaard’s art describes an architectural space and expression.

Melgaard’s drawings are projected back onto the geometrical façades. The colors translate into imprints that are cast back onto the façades. While subtle and translucent colors provide a light imprint into the façades, saturated colors break through the material entirely, inviting light into the building. For the first time, the architecture describes an artistic expression.

On the inside of the building, Melgaard’s artistic universe and home concept complement each other perfectly. While one of the rooms could function both as swimming pool and dining room, another could function as workspace and spa. These untraditional pairings are a direct symbol of how conventions are prevented from influencing the building’s usage or design. The building is clad with black, burned oak, inspired by Japanese building traditions. The burnt oak will naturally erode over time so that the building gradually changes character throughout the years and seasons. A shallow water pond below the building creates an illusion of a «floating» building.

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Architect
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Snøhetta
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Artist author
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Bjarne Melgaard
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Venue
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Selvaag Art Collection. Tjuvholmen allé 25, 0252 Oslo, Norway
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Dates
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02.02 > 25.02.2018
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Client
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Sealbay AS
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Snøhetta is an integrated architecture, landscape, and interior design company based in Oslo, Norway, and New York City, formed in 1989 and led by principals Craig Dykers and Kjetil Thorsen. The firm, founded in 1989, which is named after one of Norway's highest mountain peaks, has approximately 100 staff members working on projects around the world. The practice pursues a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach, with people from multiple professions working together to explore diverse perspectives on each project.

Snøhetta has completed several critically acclaimed cultural projects, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt; the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Norway; and the Lillehammer Art Museum in Norway. Current projects include the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center site in New York.

In 2004 Snøhetta received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and in 2009 the firm was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for best cultural building, in 2002 for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and in 2008 for the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.

Snøhetta

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Bjarne Melgaard is a contemporary Norwegian artist working in sculptural assemblage. In installations that include paintings, videos, and mixed-media works, the artist explores themes of substance addiction, sexuality, and self-destruction. Often employing controversial and provocative imagery, he is perhaps best known for his notorious fiberglass sculpture Chair (2014), which depicts a black woman on her back while a white woman sits on the cushion of her thighs. When the work first appeared online, it ignited an outcry and drew accusations of racism, and the image was ultimately withdrawn.

Born on September 9, 1967, in Sydney, Australia to Norwegian parents he was raised in Oslo, Norway. In 1992, he graduated from the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts and went on to study at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht from 1992 to 1993. He has since had exhibitions at institutions around the world, including the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2006, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in New York in 2013, and the Whitney Biennial in 2014. He currently lives and works in New York, NY. Today, Melgaard’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, among others.
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Published on: February 6, 2018
Cite: "A House to Die In by Snøhetta and Bjarne Melgaard" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/a-house-die-snohetta-and-bjarne-melgaard> ISSN 1139-6415
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