Abstract
Challenges in contemporary Sámi architecture are often met by using highly visual figures and symbols that represent a conception of Sámi culture. This chapter focuses on a subtler symbolic aspect, namely the materials used to construct and clad the buildings. Although the materials chosen follow Nordic and international architectural trends, the wood, stone, concrete and glass are ascribed a set of meanings to fit the Sámi context. The question is to what degree these materials mediate conventional and even stereotypical understandings of Sáminess or produce awareness of new Sámi architecture and identity.
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Notes
- 1.
Sápmi is the North Sámi word for what in English is traditionally called Lapland . As a geographical area, Sápmi encompasses the Sámi’s traditional habitats in the Arctic regions of Fennoscandia (i.e. the northern parts of Norway , Sweden , Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia ) as well as a fairly extensive tract that runs southwards in the border area between Norway and Sweden. In the Russian area of Sápmi, Sámi culture is scarcely reflected in public architecture. There are an estimated 70 000–100 000 Sámi (also known as Laplanders) in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, with the largest number, about 40 000, in Norway.
- 2.
Architectural competitions were held for the following projects mentioned here: the Norwegian Sámi Parliament Building in Karasjok , Norway (1996); the Eastern Sámi Museum in Neiden , Norway (2003); Diehtosiida in Kautokeino , Norway (a limited floor plan and design competition, 2004); the Swedish Sámi Parliament Building in Kiruna , Sweden (a two-phase European competition, 2005); Sajos , the Sámi Cultural Centre and home to the Finnish Sámi Parliament in Inari , Finland (a two-phase European competition held in 2008); Saemien Sijte in Snåsa , Norway (international competition, 2009); and Naturum Laponia at Stuor Muorkke (Stora Sjöfallet ) in Gällivare and Jokkmokk , Sweden (invited competition held in 2009).
- 3.
Most of what has been written about contemporary Sámi architecture has been published in either Norwegian or Swedish, sometimes also translated into Sámi. Most of these articles are from the Norwegian journal Arkitektur N (formerly Byggekunst ), the Swedish journal Arkitektur completion reports from the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property, and documents pertaining to architectural competitions. There are also a few texts on contemporary Sámi architecture in Finland published in both Finnish and English.
- 4.
This tendency can also be seen as an extension of the critical regionalism that focuses on the tactile rather than the scenographic qualities of architecture that is on presence rather than on representation. For contemporary architecture and Aboriginal identity in Australia, see, for example, Fantin (2003), Message (2006).
- 5.
The Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish authorities had each previously erected buildings in Sámi areas in order to further their national interests. In the Norwegian context, there was a deep-seated assimilation policy that favoured the Norwegian language, leading, for example, to the construction of boarding schools for Sámi born.
- 6.
The Sámi movement gained strength from the conflict with the Norwegian state concerning the damming of the Alta-Kautokeino River in the Sámi heartland. The dispute was a major catalyst for the Norwegian state revising its Sámi policy, and it sparked off a national conversation about a more environmentally friendly development of hydroelectric power and about Norwegian society’s relationship to its minorities.
- 7.
For an illustrated presentation of these buildings, see the online Architecture Guide to Northern Norway and Svalbard.
- 8.
The University of Tromsø (UiT), officially named ‘The Arctic University of Norway ’, is the world’s northernmost university and has a particular national mission to study Sámi language, culture and history. The Árdna pavilion is part of the Sámi centre at the University of Tromsø.
- 9.
The Eastern Sámi Museum was designed by Pir II Arkitektkontor in Trondheim .
- 10.
The chapel lies in the protected residential area Skoltebyen not far from the museum. The construction materials in the chapel have been replaced intermittently over the years, and studies suggest that the oldest beams still in use are around two hundred years old.
- 11.
The centre was designed by the Swedish architectural firm, Wingårdh Arkitektkontor .
- 12.
Sajos also houses several other institutions, such as the Sámi Archives, the Sámi Education Centre and the State Provincial Office of Lapland . The word Sajos, which stems from the endangered language Inari Sámi, means ‘the base’ or ‘the position of a place’.
- 13.
According to the competition programme, “It is not easy to define what is entailed by modern wooden architecture”. In the jury’s view, the aim is not that the buildings shall be designed by referring to traditional wooden architecture, but rather that their construction technique and structure shall use modern wood-building techniques, in both their load-bearing components and their frameworks and outer layers, “where this may benefit the project” (Statens fastighetsverk 2005: 3).
- 14.
The handrail was designed by four different artists, three of them with a background within duodji.
- 15.
Inari Sámi Museum was opened in 1963 and was the first independent Sámi Museum in the Nordic countries.
- 16.
Such assessments recurred when the various projects were evaluated: “The wood material is pleasant, but the unarticulated façade surfaces are monotonous. The appearance of the building in no way expresses the essence of the Sámi culture”; “Except for the impression created by the forest of columns, the entry makes no allusion to the distinctive features of the Sámi culture. …The architecture has no points of reference to the traditions of the Sámi culture, or the formal motifs and perceptual images of the Sámi lifestyle” (Sámi Cultural Centre: Architectural Competition. Minutes of the Competition: 10, 14, 16).
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Haugdal, E. (2018). “It’s Meant to Decay”: Contemporary Sámi Architecture and the Rhetoric of Materials. In: Grant, E., Greenop, K., Refiti, A., Glenn, D. (eds) The Handbook of Contemporary Indigenous Architecture. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6904-8_30
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