Groundwork - Part 2

This week, in preparation for my trips out into the wilderness to various hytter, I met with four people who know a lot about Norwegian cabin culture. You already heard from André Johansen, partner at the architecture firm Hamran/Johansen Architects, and Mette Habberstad, head of communications at the DNT. Below are some highlights from my other two meetings - with Trond Bjorli, historian and curator at the Norsk Folkemuseum, and Rikard Jaucis, architect at Snøhetta.

Trond Bjorli, Curator at the Norsk Folkemuseum

I met Trond at the Norsk Folkemuseum so he could show me two particular exhibits about Norwegian hytter. The first of these was a temporary exhibit called "Hytta - four walls around a dream." Various photographs of life in the hytte as well as common objects that accumulate there were on display. To give you a better idea of the spirit of the exhibit, here's the opening passage from the researchers that put it together:
"A hytte is a place to get away from everyday life, to live simply and reconnect with family and with nature. Around half of all Norwegians have access to one, and they are found across the country, from the arctic North to the islands off the South coast, by the sea, on island lakes, in the woods and hills. What makes a hytte is the people who stay in them, share them, own them, visit them, or inherit them. This exhibition asks what these buildings, and everything that is in them, can tell us about Norwegian families, memories, and dreams."
- Researchers: Marianne Lien and Simone Abram, University of Oslo

As you may be able to gather - this is very relevant to the research I will be doing in the next few months, and I was super excited to have the opportunity to see it! While this exhibit focused on private hytte and their function within Norwegian families, I will be looking at public hytte and what it means to house a whole range of different people over time.

Trond explained how the hytte actually has a longer life in Norwegian families than the primary home; people change homes and children move out and buy new homes, but the hytte is passed on for generations. The hytte represents an older way of life, and this is even reflected in the typical furniture and objects that accumulate there. Trond gave some examples: grandma's old hats, wooden board games, kitschy troll lamps, etc...  He explained that the hytte presents a "doorway to a simpler and easier life." As an object that gets passed on for generations, the question of who inherits the hytte is a big one for families in Norway. Another passage from the exhibit captures this best:
"Can you inherit a hytte by force of love? If you secretly carve your name into the bed with a craft knife? If you find the perfect fabric for new kitchen curtains and sew them in by hand? If you sand and paint the window frames over and over so they last forever? If your children's crayon drawings are eternalized in the hyttebook? If you people the woods with magical elves and battling trolls? If you stash your bed linen in the cupboard and leave the kids' toys under the bed? Could it be yours one day?"
- Researchers: Marianne Lien and Simone Abram, University of Oslo

Beautiful, powerful stuff...

Collections of hytte objects from "Hytta - four walls around a dream"

The second exhibit Trond took me too was an actual hytte that had been transported to the Norsk Folkmuseum as part of its open-air collection! The name of the hytte is forest cabin #2 and it was one of the first hytter of its type to be constructed by the  DNT (built in 1937). Trond was very happy with the placement of the hytte on the grounds; it's located at the furthest point of the museum's open air collection (over 100 full-scale historic buildings) on a hill that is actually the highest point of the Bygdøy Peninsula. Trond explained that the ritual of walking up to the hytte is an important part of the overall experience.

Once at the hytte, Trond gave me a brief history of the DNT. Established in 1868, they first focused on larger, full service cabins that were more remote - almost like hotels in the wilderness. This type of construction lasted for about 75 years. After World War I, the DNT realized most people couldn't afford this luxury, so to provide a more reasonable option they started building smaller, unserviced cabins that were closer to cities. This version of the DNT actually became the "Oslo Trekking Association" in the 1990s, but their cabins are still part of the larger DNT system.

Trond also told me a really interesting story about King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway. Apparently, the Queen is a huge fan of the DNT and loves hiking in the mountains. For the King and Queen's 35 year anniversary they actually had forest cabin #2 (which happens to be be built the same year both the King and Queen were born) and one of the new Skåpet cabins moved to the green in front of the Royal Palace in Oslo! Pictures of both cabins are below:

Forest Cabin #2 (photo credit - me!)

Skåpet (Photo courtesy of ut.no)

I really hope to stay in Skåpet before I leave Norway - it's located along the Lysefjord in the southwestern part of the country.

Trond thought the contrast of these two cabins was very interesting (back to the old vs. new debate!).  He explained that the old traditional cabins are about withdrawing from nature - being warm and dry and getting some sleep. They are austere and have small windows to keep the heat in. Trond contended that those cabins function as enablers of wilderness experiences. They are simply shelters along the path that allow you to get deeper and deeper into nature.

In contrast, Trond compared the new cabins - with their large panoramic windows - to "camera obscuras."  In these cabins, he explained, you look at nature like you are looking at a picture - not so different from looking at an image on the screen of your cell phone. Trond was not convinced of this new way of experiencing nature, arguing that nature is best experienced when you are out in it. He described these new cabins as being a small part of the larger "modern visual culture."

...and the debate goes on. Just wait til we hear from Rikard next! If you want to learn more about either of these exhibitions check out the Norsk Folkemuseum's website: norskfolkemuseum.no.

Also I made my first sketch!

Rikard Jaucis, Architect at Snøhetta

So for anyone that has an architecture background, Snøhetta needs no introduction. For those of you who don't know them, you should check out their website: snohetta.com/projects. The new Library of Alexandria in Egypt and the Olso Opera House are just a couple of projects in their impressive portfolio. They also happen to be working on three new DNT cabins right now, and Rikard is one of the architects that helped design one of those cabins - Mogen in the Telemark region.

The new Mogen is replacing an older cabin on the site that was in pretty bad shape. Rikard explained that it is part of Snøhetta's "powerhouse" initiative in which the cabin has been designed to produce more energy than it consumes. To calculate this, Snøhetta includes both the operational energy consumed by the building (day-to-day use) as well as the embodied energy - the energy involved in producing the construction materials and transporting them to the site. Rikard explained how this is quite challenging for a site that is so remote, and to help meet the demands they are having the materials delivered by boat rather than helicopter. The new cabin also incorporates PV panels and utilizes geothermal wells for heating. The cabin was meticulously sited on the mountain side to maximize its potential for solar exposure. Rikard explained that as technology evolves and we learn more about the environment, we need to adapt our definition of "architecture in nature." He argues that part of building a space that is about experiencing nature is working to preserve nature through sustainability initiatives. The design of the new cabin also has specific social aspects. Rikard says that one of the primary purposes of these places is to bring people together - and, specifically, to bring them together outdoors. For this reason, the rooms in the cabin are very small and humble, and a lot of the communal spaces are outdoors - places for eating or relaxing in hammocks.

Snøhetta rendering of the new Mogen (photo courtesy of mogen.dnt.no)

I talked to Rikard about the debate between traditional cabins architecture vs. new cabin architecture. In his view, the cabins that Snøhetta are designing are not a big departure from the traditional cabins of Norway's past. They have just evolved in certain ways to adapt to modern standards. The new cabins are not excessive - they all have small rooms and communal bathrooms that are shared by many. Rikard also talked about the primary material Snøhetta is using to construct the new cabins - CLT (cross laminated timber). To Rikard, CLT is a logical evolution from the stacked logged cabin construction of the past; it is made of stacked timber and comes in prefabricated modules (planar sheets) that are assembled to create a larger whole. Rikard questioned if there really was any conflict between what they were doing and old Norwegian ideals. He thinks that it may take some time, but the benefits of this new type of cabin architecture will grow on people.

For another example of a new DNT cabin (complex) being designed by Snøhetta, see the rendering of Tungestølen below:

Snøhetta rendering of the new Tungestølen cabin (photo courtesy of dnt.no)

Ahhhhh! It's killing me! I'm so excited to get out into the wilderness and experience both traditional and contemporary hytter firsthand!

Big thank you to André, Mette, Trond, and Rikard for their time!

LEARN NORWEGIAN (grammar):
hytte = cabin 
hytta = the cabin
hytter = cabins
(side note: obviously "cabin" is not an apples-to-apples translation because, as I am learning, there are so many cultural undertones and associations with the word "hytte" in Norwegian)