SELJORD LOOKOUT POINT by Rintala Eggertsson Architects

The myth of the sea serpent in Lake Seljord propelled the population of Telemark to carry out a development program in the area. Rintala Eggertsson Architects were commissioned to design different viewpoints in the area to enhance the use and enjoyment of the lake and its surroundings.

Vista General. Mirador-Observatorio Seljord por Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Fotografia © Dag Jenssen

The myth about a sea serpent in the lake of Seljord has become an integral part of how the local people of Telemark conceive its majestic landscape. In 2008, the municipality of Seljord decided to use this mythical feature as a point of departure for a development programme for the area. Together with the curators Springer kulturstudio, they commissioned Rintala Eggertsson Architects to design different lookout points around the lake to ease the access for the local population and visitors to experience the lake at some important places.

The assignment was divided into two parts;

1º to design three small installations in the mid-and southeast section of the lake

2º to design the main viewpoint at the southwest end of the lake, close to the small town of Seljord.

The first part was organized as a building workshop with art- and architecture students and teachers from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arte and Politecnico in Milan and scenography students from the Norwegian Theatre Academy. The three installations are presented under the title “Into the Landscape”.

In this second part, we were faced with a site with two pine trees with large canopies. This became the landscape feature on which it felt natural to anchor. As the room programme listed a viewing platform and a small shelter for exhibitions, we decided to divide it in two and place the two functions on each side of the trees, with a connecting deck in between. The viewing platform was then given the form of a tower with the main space at the top overlooking the lake and two smaller spaces on the way to the top, one facing a nearby bird nesting area and the other one facing the crown of the two big pine trees. The platform was then given a connection to the nearby parking area with a narrow walkway designed by the collaborating landscape architects FesteGrenland.

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Overview. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssens.

view of the tower. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssen

Detail of the tower. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssen

Interior view of the stairs. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssen

View from inside. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssen Architects. Fotografia © Dag Jenssen

Panoramic view from the tower. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssen

General Plant. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

Southwest elevation. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

Northwest elevation. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

longitudinal Section. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

Cross Section. Seljord lookout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

Seljord lookMirador-Observatorio Seljord por Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Fotografia © Dag Jenssenout point by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Photography © Dag Jenssen Architects. Fotografia © Dag Jenssen

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More information

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Architects

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Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

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Project Architects

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Vibeke Jenssen, Dagur Eggertsson, Sami Rintala and Kaori.

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Collaborators

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Project Management.- Harriet Slaaen.
Curator.- Springer kulturstudio, Gunn-Marit Christenson Watanabe.
Landscape Architect.- Feste Grenland, Tone Telnes, Jan Feste and Jarle Svendsen.
Engineering.- Sweco Norge, Nils Petter Due and Geir Sageien

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Client

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Municipality of Seljord

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Location

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Bjørgeøyan, Seljord, Norway.

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Photography

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Dag Jenssen.

Sami Rintala, Dagur Eggertsson, Vibeke Jenssen. Rintala Eggertsson Architects

Rintala Eggertsson Architects. A Norway architecture studio, based in Oslo, founded by Sami Rintala and Dagur Eggertsson, in 2007, which bases its activities around furniture design, public art, architecture and urban planning. In 2008 Eggertsson and Rintala were joined by Vibeke Jenssen who is now a full partner in the company. All three studied under Juhani Pallasmaa in Helsinki, and are informed by his phenomenological and cross-disciplinary thinking. Since its establishment, Rintala Eggertsson Architects have developed projects around the world and their work has been exhibited at the Maxxi Museum in Rome, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the National Art Museum of China and with the special project “Corte Del Forte” at the 2018 Venice Biennale.

The company has received prestigious awards over the years such as The Global award for Sustainable Architecture, the Wan 21 for 21 Award, Architizer A+Award, Travel & Leisure Award, American Architecture Award, and the International Architecture Award. Their projects and texts have been published in architecture magazines such as Abitare, Area, METALOCUS, Architectural Review, A+U, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, D'A Magazine, AMC architecture, Detail, Domus, Topos, and Wallpaper as well as New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Eggertsson and Rintala have taught architecture in Europe, Australia, and North America and in 2019 as Gensler Visiting Professors at Cornell University in New York.

SAMI RINTALA

Sami Rintala was born in 1969.He is an architect and an artist, with a long merit list after finishing his architect studies in Helsinki Finland 1999. He established architect office Casagrande & Rintala 1998, which produced a series of acknowledged architectural installations around the world during the next five years until 2003. These works combine architecture with critical thinking of society, nature and the real tasks of an architect, all within a cross-over art field using space, light, materials and human body as tools of expression.

Rintala had his first wider recognition in 1999 with the project Landescape, three abandoned wooden barns were raised on 10 meter high.

In Venice Biennale 2000 Sixty Minute Man was realized; A ship sailed to Arsenal with a garden inside. The park was planted on sixty minutes of human waste from the city of Venice, becoming together with the old boat a three dimensional collage.

In 2008, Rintala started a new architect office with Icelandic architect Dagur Eggertsson, called Rintala Eggertsson Architects. The office is based in Oslo, South Norway and Bodø, North Norway.

Important part of Rintala’s work is teaching and lecturing in various art and architecture universities. Teaching takes place usually in form of workshops where the students often are challenged to participate the shaping of human environment on a realistic 1:1 situation.

DAGUR EGGERTSSON

Dagur Eggertsson was born in 1965.He is an architect with a professional background from a number of the most prominent offices in Oslo. After his professional degree from the Oslo School of Architecture in 1992, he started his collaboration with architect Vibeke Jenssen, as NOIS architects. In 1996 he finished a post-professional master’s degree at the Helsinki University of Technology, where he started experimentation with building full scale architectonic objects, under the supervision of Professor Juhani Pallasmaa.

Along with his professional practice, Eggertsson has taught architecture in Norway, Iceland and Sweden. He is currently a project examinator at the Oslo School of Architecture.

In 2007, Eggertsson started collaboration with architect Sami Rintala, which resulted in establishment of the office Rintala Eggertsson Architects. The office is based in Oslo and Bodø, Norway.