Supervisor:
Neven Mikac Fuchs
The herders follow the reindeer and stay in the areas where the reindeer naturally settled down.
The landscape is vast, rocky, and with sparse shrubs and short grasses for the reindeer to graze on. Two seasonal conditions create drastically different effects on the spatial experience of this northern setting near Alta. This is the theme of the project where I wanted to create harmony in the two seasons; midnight sun and polar night while keeping the reindeer herding in the center of it.
During the extreme condition of the summer season, the project creates darkness where there are none. Covering a need as well as creating balance for the herders. The project establishes a rhythm during the extreme summer Since the reindeer herders are nomadic people, and only live here during the summer - there is an opportunity for visitors to stay here and explore the unbalance that the winter season provides.
The farm space is defined by a long fence which the farm utilities and housing inhabit as a sequence along it. As you approach, the leading line of the fence becomes a trap for the herd, two circular corrals are arranged tangentially to the fence. As the fence continues on, it becomes a wall that hosts the killing, processing and cold-store areas in order toward the living spaces. Before it continues up to the mountains peak - where the observation plateau takes its traditional position. The fence continues around the site defining the reindeers large enclosure.
In the summer it is light 24 hours a day. When the siida are residents, the space is functional in its traditional sense. There is expansive fenced enclosures, corrals, a watch hut, utility buildings for killing, preparing and preserving reindeer, vehicle and tool storage, modest domestic spaces with sleeping quarters for each family, a shared indoor living space, and an outdoor courtyard (shared with both people and animals). The architecture is of stone, wire, light timber and textile construction. The base is heavy, like the mountain, and the structure is light like a tent. The blackout quality of the fabric making a possibility for an escape from the perpetual sense of light as a way to regulate the farming days.
In the winter, the site is dark and so too remain the spaces. Darkness is an atmosphere that eases spatial self-consciousness between strangers and, because of the modest-ness of the scheme, this architecture views it as an ideal spatial character for strangers to meet and stay together. Sámi have many developed and nuanced conceptions relating to darkness. The design uses the invisible nature of this lore as architectural and spatial techniques to bring visitors closer to the culture in a way that is not museum-like or pastiche. In Sámi, Tjahppahit means something that is dark in front of a brighter background - similar to a silhouette; Tjuovgadis is a room completely devoid of light; Idjalammpo mp is a night light; Sjuodnjat nj is light that seeps through cracks; and Bajttulahka g is a place where fire, the moon, or a focal light shines. With these ideas being the basis to the formulation of the spaces, it means even when Sámi are not present, the culture is.
Contact
Magnus Wickmann / MagnusWickmann@gmail.com