Donnie Reid
CONSTRUCTING ECOLOGIES
This project sets out to propose (and provide the infrastructure for) a new stone based build culture in the town of Vardø, a town built of timber in a landscape of no trees. It will do this by proposing the systematic reuse of a white elephant from the extractivist age (Svartnes Harbour breakwater) for the benefit and further self sufficiency of this town which has a complex and at times problematic history. The new use of stone in construction here aims to create a deeper local sense of establishment and right of existence while external geopolitical and economic forces apply more and more pressure on this place. This will allow the people here to enhance their collective identity regardless of their own ethnicity (Sami, Norwegian, Kven, or other).
The thesis critically engages with place, history, futures and theory to shape and explore how new infrastructures can unlock processes through the reframing and reordering of existing materials, resources and ways of life. It aims to utilise a pragmatic, unsentimental and holistic approach to design not burdened by romantic visions from the past or misguided future aspiration. It will question how future societies can begin to look inwards and reengage with with local ecologies in order to create a truly sustainable existence. The thesis is speculative and is carried out from the point of view of imagining what future could be brought about by the people of this place on a local level (not imposed from elsewhere).
The infrastructure takes the form of two seasonally distinct structures: Firstly a processing facility is constructed out of reclaimed timbers and components salvaged from the many abandoned post-war homes in the town. Set upon a breakwater at the centre of Vardø harbour, the linear form accepts harvested boulders at one end and releases cut and processed stone at the other. Following the activation of this process, Vardø’s first stone building is constructed at its foot. Here some of the processed stone is diverted to be crafted into decorative elements and sculpture by the citizens of Vardø. Over winter shelter can be found within its steadfast embrace and the meticulous task of stone craft can open doors to new cultural expression rooted in the town’s diverse inhabitants and their own stories.
The landscape here is defined by polarities; the vast inland plateau and the numerous coastal fishing communities. The plateau is a landscape shaped by traditional sami reindeer husbandry while the coastal communities are where the majority of the population live. The coast is dotted with villages and hamlets with Vardø being the most significant. The coastal towns and villages are spread along a single road, the E75. This road and the adjacent communications and electricity pylons are critical to nearly all supply lines and life along this coast.
Following the Nazi’s scorched earth retreat, Vardø (and Finnmark) was in ruins [1]. The socialist post-war government in Oslo set about a swift rebuild utilising standard designs and imported components. While successful in rehoming the people of Finnmark, this process is understood now as a further colonial effort. During de-industrialisation, depopulation has occurred leaving dozens of these homes abandoned. This thesis takes these houses as a viable local material supply to construct the infrastructure.
Svatnes Harbour is indicative of failed Neo-liberal decision making in this place and has come to represent the extracitivist forces at play in recent decades. Built in anticipation for an oil industry which never came, it now stands as a redundant white elephant. The boulders from the breakwater will form the basis for the proposed local material ecology.
1 processing hall 2 plant 3 wc 4 store (trap door) 5 rain water tank 6 quay 7 lockers/shower 8 accessible wc 9 staff kitchen/break room 10 boot room 11 lobby/refuge 12 stonemasonry workshop 13 accessible wc 14 plant room/stone store
