Norwegian Pavillion Expo Shanghai, Helen & Hard, photo John E. Kroll

Lecture/Debat/symposium | 01/03/12 20:00 - 22:00

How can architecture respond to today’s pressing social concerns? In this Architects Talk two renowned Scandinavian offices showed how notions like time, social cohesion and energy are addressed within their design practices. Bolle Tham from the Stockholm-based Tham & Videgård interprets architecture both as a tool and a catalyst in the search for solutions for social issues. He illustrated their design approach by presenting some projects like the design of a tree-hotel in Harads in Sweden, close to the Arctic Circle.
Reinhard Kropf from the Oslo-based practice Helen & Hard elaborated on their so-called ‘relational design practice’ that urges the creation of a mutual encounter with local conditions such as matter and energy properties, specific human resources and the environment. This was exemplified in several projects such as their design for the Norway Pavilion at the Expo Shanghai 2010. Their presentations were both followed by a discussion, moderated by Ole Bouman.



The travelling exhibition ‘Architecture of Consequence’ opens on March 9 2012 in Oslo. In collaboration with the National Museum Dept. of Architecture of Norway, Dutch and Norwegian Designs on the Future will be on display. The exhibition presents ten renowned Dutch architectural firms and their possible solutions our society’s challenges in the fields of food production, health care, energy, time management, space and social cohesion. In addition to the main NAi exhibition, the work and installation Ildsjeler (Ardent Spirits) by the Norwegian Architects Helen & Hard, will link these themes to conditions in Norway.

Reinhard Kropf
Reinhard Kropf is an Austrian architect and researcher. He studied at the University of Science in Graz and AHO. He has taught at AHO (Oslo), Bartlett School of Architecture (London), Ecole Speciale d'Architecture (Paris), Kansas State University, and University Hust (Wohan). In 1996, Kropf and Stangeland founded the architectural office Helen & Hard in Stavanger. Helen & Hard have received several awards for their work, including the The Norwegian Government’s Award for Good Practice in Design for the Pulpit Rock Mountain Lodge. They have exhibited widely, including at the Venice Biennale, the Lisbon Biennale and Manifesta 7. Helen & Hard have written, published and lectured extensively in Europe, North America and Asia about their research on sustainable practices and methods. In 2011, their model of the Geopark project was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Bolle Tham
Bolle Tham graduated in Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1997. After a post graduate study at the The Royal University College of Fine Arts he starts Tham & Videgård Arkitekter together with Martin Videgård in 1999. The practice has been awarded several prizes and nominations such as the Kasper Salin Prize in 2008 for best new architecture in Sweden and shortlisted for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2009. In 2007 they won the competition for the new School of Architecture and the new Campus Entrance at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, completion is planned for 2013. Work of Tham & Videgård has been exhibited at the Lisbon Triennale, the 12th International Venice Biennale and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Both Tham and Videgård teach and lecture at schools of architecture in Sweden and abroad.

This lecture was organized in collaboration with the Friends of the NAI

Tree Hotel in Harads, Tham & Videgård, photo: Åke E'son Lindman.

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