Greater Oslo Region
Determined, collaborative, creative and tenacious. Main objective is to create fabulous buildings that exude the finest aspects of a project team's collaboration in creating them and the pride of their owners/inhabitants.
Lead architect on Hemsedal Alpine Suites 14,000 m2 Skistar AB runs the Hemsedal ski resort. Having previously engaged DBC to deliver the first Alpine Lodge, we were asked in early 2014 to design a second ski lodge. Planning permission was acquired in December 2014. The building was completed in November 2017, ready for the 2017/18 ski season. I designed the building from concept stage and delivered it through the detailed design development. Working very closely with the main contractor PEAB and its delivery partners we managed to retain the key design features through a host of challenges to completion. Foremost amongst them was the application of prefabricated concrete technology to an irregular form. Several very creative structural solutions by the team were necessary to achieve the end result. The process of developing the structural frame between October 2015 and June 2016 could stand as an example of creative collaboration in the construction industry as the architect, structural engineer, main contractor and structural frame delivery partner Loe Betongelementer worked using a variety of digital techniques to achieve the final result. The outcome of that collaboration is a triumph. Mechanical services coordination was led by PEAB using Solibri and had many high points including getting the majority of the services coordinated into the prefabricated concrete components to reduce on-site drilling, etc. The entire building is clad in Kebony which will turn silvery grey. Carefully and precisely constructed over a period of 10 months, there are several delightful solutions created by the carpenter on site above and beyond what was drawn. As my first professional project in Norway, I am very proud of the final result and look forward to hearing what the forthcoming guests think.
The only way to really understand how hard it is to build something unusual is to do it by yourself. No main contractor. Just you and your wife´s wits and determination. We embarked on this journey many years ago. It was always our plan to move into a partially complete structure (phase 1) and finish it (phase 2) as funds became available. In order to manage the design and build, I took a sabbatical through phase 1; on site daily overseeing and contributing to the work, managing/closing out contracts and of course managing the design through the construction process. Holding meetings with each trade over Rhino models in broken Norwegian/English was at times hilarious but always productive. With very little direct experience of contract negotiation/management and cost plans I had to manage four different currencies as we procured materials and labour from Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK and Spain. Overcoming a frightfully strong NOK and Norwegian construction market (2012) against a weak GBP (our savings) we took advantage of a weak UK construction market to produce our timber and steel superstructure. Just one of the strategies we had to regularly employ to get phase 1 built. Although it isn't for everyone, living in a partially completed structure and taking time to complete the fitout allows you test ideas through the seasons. The light levels in Norway vary dramatically seasonally. 3D lighting models can only tell so much and certainly don´t provide the feeling of being in a space. So, you revise your preconceptions and make amendments to materials, geometry, etc. Technical specifications also come under further scrutiny as you understand a brand new construction market where many products and techniques vary considerably. Phase 2 continues but three things are for sure. 1. We will finish. 2. We will be much more satisfied with the final result than had we finished immediately. 3. The amount I have grown as an architect through this is extraordinary.