Sverre Fehn

Sverre Fehn
Born August 14, 1924(1924-08-14)
Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway
Died February 23, 2009 (aged 84)
Oslo, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Awards Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal
Pritzker Prize
Work
Buildings Norwegian Glacier Museum

Sverre Fehn (August 14, 1924 – February 23, 2009) was a Norwegian architect. The architect’s highest international honour came in 1997, when he was awarded both the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal.[1]

Contents

Life

Fehn was born in Kongsberg, Buskerud.[2] He received his architectural education shortly after World War II in Oslo, a crisis course that would later become an independent school under various names during the next decades, today known as the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. He quickly became the leading Norwegian architect of his generation.

In 1952–1953, during travels in Morocco, he discovered vernacular architecture, which was to deeply influence his future work. Later he moved to Paris, where he worked for two years in the studio of Jean Prouvé, and where he knew Le Corbusier. At his return in Norway, in 1954, he opened a studio of his own.

At the age of 34 Fehn gained international recognition for his design of the Norwegian Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Exhibition.[2] In the 1960s he produced two works that have remained highlights in his career: the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1962) and the Hedmark Museum in Hamar, Norway (1967–79). Fehn's other notable works include Schreiner House in Oslo (1963) and Busk House at Bamble (1990); however, few of his projects were effectively built.

He taught in Oslo's School of Architecture from 1971-1995[2] as a professor and principal from 1986-1989, as well as at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Projects

Fehn designed over 100 buildings,[3] however by the time he received the Pritzker in 1997 only 11 have been built.[2] Some of the most notable are:

References

  1. ^ "Norwegian architect, Sverre Fehn, dies at 84". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway). 4 March 2009. http://www.norway.org/culture/architecture/sverre+fehn.htm. Retrieved 5 March 2009. 
  2. ^ a b c d Grimes, William: Sverre Fehn, 84, Architect of Modern Nordic Forms, Dies, in The New York Times, February 27, 2009
  3. ^ Swedish Architecture Museum: Architect Sverre Fehn, retrieved 29 December 2011

Further reading

External links

Philip Johnson (1979) · Luis Barragán (1980) · James Stirling (1981) · Kevin Roche (1982) · I. M. Pei (1983) · Richard Meier (1984) · Hans Hollein (1985) · Gottfried Böhm (1986) · Kenzo Tange (1987) · Gordon Bunshaft and Oscar Niemeyer (1988) · Frank Gehry (1989) · Aldo Rossi (1990) · Robert Venturi (1991) · Álvaro Siza Vieira (1992) · Fumihiko Maki (1993) · Christian de Portzamparc (1994) · Tadao Ando (1995) · Rafael Moneo (1996) · Sverre Fehn (1997) · Renzo Piano (1998) · Norman Foster (1999) · Rem Koolhaas (2000) · Herzog & de Meuron (2001) · Glenn Murcutt (2002) · Jørn Utzon (2003) · Zaha Hadid (2004) · Thom Mayne (2005) · Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006) · Richard Rogers (2007) · Jean Nouvel (2008) · Peter Zumthor (2009) · Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA (2010) · Eduardo Souto de Moura (2011)
Awards
Preceded by
Liv Ullmann		 Recipient of the Norsk kulturråds ærespris
1998		 Succeeded by
Finn Carling