Page 55 - Building Journal - November 2017

OVERSEAS

n the sit e of Skj ervsfossen
(Skjervet waterfall), Fortunen
O have designed a small service
building consisting of two restrooms
and a small technical room, while the
landscape design is made by Østengen &
Bergo. The client, Nasjonale turistveger,
challenged architects and designers to
accentuate and enhance the experience
of the natural landscape, whilst not
competing with it. The overall aspiration
was to create a unique and surprising
experience. The main concept has been
to make the wild nature accessible
without hurting it.
The service building designed by
Fortunen AS is the winner of the World
Architecture News Small Spaces Award
2016. The wider context surrounding
the building is both breath-taking and
exciting. The river Storelvi flows from
a semi-open agricultural landscape,
into a narrow channel formed by rock,
finally dropping dramatically, creating
the impressive two-step waterfall. The
building itself sits within a larger open
landscape and takes advantage of wide
views towards the steep mountain walls,
and the moving valley. Rough, yet poetic
walking paths and steps, laid by a team
of Sherpas from Nepal, pass through the
landscape.
D uri ng t he anal ysi s of t he si t e,
Østengen & Bergo found several points
of cultural interest in the area around
Skjervsfossen. The terrain is steep and
was almost impossible to move through,
and a trail made of natural stone
became a central nerve of the project. It
connects the different experiences of the
waterfall and places of interest, creating
a meeting of nature and culture. The trail

The building is expressed as taking a piece out of the The outside is rough, covered with large pieces of local stone. The inside is warm,
rock and moving it to the opposite side of the river both in colour and material

Building Journal 53