Nils Slaatto
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nils Slaatto | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Nils Slaatto |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Birth date | 23rd June 1923 |
| Birth place | Lillehammer, Norway |
| Date of death | 2002 |
| Place of death | Asker, Norway |
| Work | |
| Significant buildings | Asker Town Hall The Ål cabin |
Nils Slaatto (June 23, 1923 – 2002), was for more than two decades one of Norway's most prominent and influential architects, having a strong and distinctive impression on Norwegian architecture.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Nils Slaatto was born in the winter sport town of Lillehammer, Oppland, Norway, on June 23, 1923. His father Oddmund Eindride Slaatto, was a functionalist architect in Oslo in the years between the two world wars. His mother Anine Wollebæk, came from Lillehammer and was also an architect graduating from the University of Technology but never practised as an architect.
During 1938-39 Nils Slaatto took carpentry at the Technical School in Oslo before he enrolled into the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture were he graduated in 1947.
The post-war period offered numerous tasks; the most demanding was the rebuilding of northern Norway, where Nils Slaatto participated in the reconstruction of Finnmark as district architect in Vadsø and Tana from 1948 to 1950. Large parts of the area suffered major damage during the war because of the Germans' use of the scorched-earth tactic.
In 1949 he married Margit Bleken Trondheim, the sister of the Norwegian famous artist no:Håkon Bleken (born January 9, 1929). When they moved to Oslo Nils Slaatto started as the leader of the Farmers' Architectural Office in Oslo. Here he met fellow architect Kjell Lund (born June 18, 1927) also born in Lillehammer and a fellow graduate from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.
As youngsters, they had both wandered around Maihaugen, an open-air museum consisting of many different types of old wooden farm buildings and the Norwegian wood architecture was something they brought with them into the profession when they designed wooden houses in which age-old techniques are adapted to modern production demands. As an example see the, "Ål cabin" in the Hallingdal Valley that he designed in cooperation with Jon Haughas.
In 1957 Kjell Lund and Nils Slaatto were invited to take part in a limited competition for an extension to the Akershus County Agricultural College at Hvam. In 1958 after winning the competition they were able to start their architectural firm "Kjell Lund and Nils Slaatto", a partnership that lasted for three decades. In 1988 the company changed its name to Lund & Slaatto Arkitekter AS. Kjell Lund remained an architect/partner of Lund & Slaatto Arkitekter AS until autumn 2002.
[edit] Works
- 1964 Asker Town Hall — one of the most important building from the mid-1960s
- 1966 The Ål cabin — became both a commercial and professional success.
- 1971 Det Norske Studentersamfund - no:Chateau Neuf
Chateau Neuf
- 1976 Veritas I — Climax of Norwegian Structuralism.
[edit] Achievements
- 1962–63 Vice Chairman Oslo Architects' Association
- 1968–70 Vice-President National Federation of Norwegian Architects
- 1965–70 Member of editorial staff Bonytt
- 1968–70 Member of the board of the national Federation of Norwegian Applied Art
- 1965–68 Lecturer at the School of Architecture in Oslo
- 1965–68 Lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Norwegian University of Technology
- External examiner, lecturer and consultant for new appointments at the Architectural College
- Member of the jury for Norwegian and Scandinavian architecture competitions
- 1968 — Pispala district, Tammerfors, Finland
- 1980 — Music and Conference Centre, Bjørneborg, Finland
- 1985 — Copenhagen Harbour, Denmark
- 1988 — U.L.T. Newspaper/Publishing building, Vasterås, Sweden
[edit] Selected books on Lund & Slaatto's work
- Lund & Slaatto, by Ulf Grønvold, ISBN 82-00-02633-7
[edit] External links
- Official website (Norwegian)
