Sverre Fehn
In NRK’s web archive there is a beautiful TV program called ‘Arkitektur i Norden - Rommet og lyset’, which translates to ‘Architecture in the Nordic countries - The room and the light’. It was produced in 1985, and deals with Sverre Fehn’s architectural observations while traveling to Morocco. It also gives the viewer clues about how these travels have affected his architectural practice and lectures. It is narrated in Norwegian, and unfortunately there are no subtitles available.
Fehn was a poetic man who made the most wonderful observations about the landscape and the buildings that surrounded him. He had a quite peculiar way of expressing himself, which was rather cryptic and genius at the same time. In ‘Arkitektur i Norden’, the viewer is allowed to slowly take in the impressions of the program. The pace is completely different from most of the productions nowadays. There are also strikingly beautiful images of many different kinds of landscapes in Morocco. Fehn went there on a study trip in 1951, and he invites us to experience some of the reflections that he made then. He connects such early reflections, with those of his experienced self when revisiting the same places in the mid-1980s.
We are shown clips of Fehn lecturing about the acoustics of the environment, and how fascinating it can be to experience the difference in the acoustics of the different seasons, such as when there is a layer of snow on top of the ground. He also speaks very sensitively about the excitement of seeing buildings that have been constructed out of the same material as the ground that they are built on. Moroccan desert houses are used as an example. Houses which are made of local sand and water that has been pressed together in a mould, and left to bake in the sun. As he says; "The sun will do the rest of the job".
Link: 'Arkitektur i Norden - Rommet og lyset'
Fehn was a poetic man who made the most wonderful observations about the landscape and the buildings that surrounded him. He had a quite peculiar way of expressing himself, which was rather cryptic and genius at the same time. In ‘Arkitektur i Norden’, the viewer is allowed to slowly take in the impressions of the program. The pace is completely different from most of the productions nowadays. There are also strikingly beautiful images of many different kinds of landscapes in Morocco. Fehn went there on a study trip in 1951, and he invites us to experience some of the reflections that he made then. He connects such early reflections, with those of his experienced self when revisiting the same places in the mid-1980s.
We are shown clips of Fehn lecturing about the acoustics of the environment, and how fascinating it can be to experience the difference in the acoustics of the different seasons, such as when there is a layer of snow on top of the ground. He also speaks very sensitively about the excitement of seeing buildings that have been constructed out of the same material as the ground that they are built on. Moroccan desert houses are used as an example. Houses which are made of local sand and water that has been pressed together in a mould, and left to bake in the sun. As he says; "The sun will do the rest of the job".
Link: 'Arkitektur i Norden - Rommet og lyset'
Screenshots from NRK
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