The European Prize for Architecture Awards Tell a friend

Location: Røssvatnet Lake, Norway

Date: 2012

Architects: Marco Casagrande Laboratory

Work Shop Leaders: Marco Casagrande, Hans-petter Bjørnådal / Pimp Post Industrial Meditation Platform, and Jan Tyrpekl, Assistant / Liberec University Faculty of Architecture

Participants: A cross-disciplinary mix of environmental art, architecture, sociology students and professors from the environmental art masters class of the Aalto University in Finland, from Lund University Department of Sustainable Urban Design in Sweden, from Madrid European University Department of Architecture, from Bauhaus University Department of Fine Arts in Germany and from Université Libre de Bruxelles Faculté d'Architecture la Cambre–Horta in Belgium, and Mosjøen College / Construction

Supported by: Sæterstad Gård, Varntresk Community, Hattfjelldal Munincipality

Photographs: Nikta Wu

Project Description

Nomad City - Aurora Observatory was a two week workshop organized by Finnish architect held on top of the frozen Røssvatnet Lake in the Scandinavian mountains near Mo i Rana in Norway.

The 19 nationalities came together to create a mobile city for nomads that respect and are humbled by nature. The students were given a task to make a personal fishing shelter and collectively to build two communal focal points: a movable 'nomad sauna' on skies and an 'aurora observatory.

With the support from construction experts from Mosjøen in Norway and the Varntresk community, the students were able to construct the shelters at a 1:1 scale. The individuals experienced an experimental process midst the harsh weather conditions of the region. Over 200 people from the local media, government officials, and general public attended the opening of the city which consisted of a ribbon cutting, and native cuisine. Currently, the 'nomad sauna' is on skies during the winter and floats on the swimming beach during the summer. ice fishers use the 'aurora observatory' which contains a fireplace to prepare and cook their fresh catch of the day.