BIENNIAL PROJECT
Long rows of boat houses, standing side by side with gabled roofs, are still a common sight in the Stockholm archipelago. They recall a time when this vast aquatic landscape was the home and work environment to farmers and fishermen. Construction was in wood throughout, locally sourced on the small forested islands. Timber, being a lightweight material, made it possible for two men to carry each building part from the boats to the site. As the houses were lightly placed directly onto the characteristic polished granite bedrock and on plinths of found stones, they could easily be dismantled and moved to another location. This also meant nature was left untouched if the houses disappeared. The archaic character of these vernacular constructions is the result of making maximum use of scarce local resources in the most direct and efficient way one could imagine. House Lagnö borrows its fundamental spatial organization from this configuration, but with a completely new and different logic to its construction. Entirely made in exposed in-situ-cast concrete, it appears as hollowed out from the grey bedrock.
BIO
Tham & Videgård Arkitekter is based in Stockholm, Sweden and directed by co-founders and chief architects, Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård. Founded in 1999, the practice has won several national and international architecture awards and has attracted attention for its experimental and innovative projects. Major completed works include the New School of Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, the Kalmar Museum of Art, the Moderna Museet Malmö (the Swedish Museum of Modern Art), the Västra Kajen housing, the Archipelago house, the House Lagnö, the Creek House, and the Mirrorcube for the Tree Hotel in Harads.
Tham and Videgård teach and lecture in Sweden and abroad. From 2014 to 2015, they were invited to be guest professors at the Peter Behrens School of Architecture in Düsseldorf, Germany. Recent exhibitions include the Venice Architecture Biennale; the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark; the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, UK; and a monographic exhibition at La Galerie d´Architecture in Paris.
