The Knut Hamsun Centre in Norway by Steven Holl

It has already been thirteen years since the Norwegian government approached architect Steven Holl to design a museum for Knut Hamsun, one of Norway's most significant writers and a Nobel Prize laureate in literature. The project was conceived, but it fell into disputes and debates among various interest groups. Eventually, on March 7, 2007, the Norwegian parliament definitively decided that Holl's project would indeed be realized. This decision was expedited, among other reasons, by the fact that 2009 marks 150 years since Hamsun's birth. The center is to be established above the Arctic Circle near the village of Presteid and will include exhibition rooms, a library with a reading room, a café, and a lecture room. According to Holl, the center is “an archetypal and intense condensation of spirit into space and light”, as he sought to transform Hamsun's artistic character into architecture. Holl named his concept “Building as Body: The Battlefield of Invisible Forces”. The grass-covered roof refers to the traditional way of roofing Norwegian houses. The tar-coated black wooden façade recalls the old churches found in the country. Construction is set to begin next year. Link>