Tag Archives: Nordic

paperback of ‘Organic Design in 20th C Nordic Architecture’ Book

Arrived last week, I think the paperback version may be nicer to hold and read than the hardcover version! Definitely cheaper.. available in Australia or internationally.

Organic Design in Twentieth-Century Nordic Architecture presents a communicable and useful definition of organic architecture that reaches beyond constraints. The book focuses on the works and writings of architects in Nordic countries, such as Sigurd Lewerentz, Jørn Utzon, Sverre Fehn and the Aaltos (Aino, Elissa and Alvar), among others. It is structured around the ideas of organic design principles that influenced them and allowed their work to evolve from one building to another. Erik Champion argues organic architecture can be viewed as a concerted attempt to thematically unify the built environment through the allegorical expression of ongoing interaction between designer, architectural brief and building-as-process. With over 140 black and white images, this book is an intriguing read for architecture students and professionals alike.

Utzon has left the building

Today the Melbourne Age reported that Utzon had passed away on Saturday at the age of 90 in Denmark (I thought he had retired to Mallorca, but perhaps the tourists have taken it over)? Anyway, the article quotes Utzon on the Sydney Opera House, “together with the sun, the light and the clouds, it makes a living thing”. I wrote a thesis on Nordic Organic Architecture many years ago on the notion of dissolving architecture from the inside out but here is another twist on what is “organic”: the structure in moving light (the Opera house was designed to have blue tiles on its many roofs) created a living space. Ironically, today my wife pointed at a harbour city on TV and asked me if that was Auckland but when the Sydney Opera House swung into view immediately went “oh”. No wonder, Sky Tower is a direct rehash of Centrepoint, but Auckland has no Opera House and probably never will. Where is the public architecture at the edge of the world?

Utzon's Bagsvaerd Church

Bagsvaerd Church, Lygnby Denmark