Swedish structure studio Konstantin Arkitekter has created a pavilion in Greenland named Qaammat, which is made up of two glass block partitions perched on the rocky terrain of a UNESCO World Heritage website.
Situated on a mountain climbing path within the municipality of Sarfannguit, Konstantin Arkitekter founder Konstantin Ikonomidis designed the construction as a landmark and gathering level that promotes the native tradition and heritage.
The design references a Greenlandic inussuk – a construction sometimes comprised of stone that’s utilized by Inuit communities to navigate and mark journey routes.
Ikonomidis labored with the Inuit neighborhood in Sarfannguit and the native UNESCO staff to find out the placement of the pavilion so as to create a construction that celebrates the pure atmosphere and cultural heritage of the positioning.
“In the course of the survey’s early levels, I had quite a few conversations with the village chairman, Aron Olsen, who shared tales and Greenlandic legends which are strongly associated to the locals’ bond with nature,” Ikonomidis advised Dezeen.
“Primarily based on this, I tried to assemble a sense of ambiance in a fictitious geometry that may convey a sensation of thriller as I comprehended his tales, and selected to work with glass to translate the reflection of the immense sense of energy on this pure panorama, that additionally reminds us of nature’s vulnerability,” he defined.
Qaammat’s translucent, curved partitions, which had been constructed from roughly 1,200 glass blocks glued collectively in a brick sample, create a blurred perspective of the encompassing panorama.
Two slender openings between the partitions create a linear path within the pavilion and information guests to a viewpoint overlooking a physique of water.
“The glass absorbs and fluctuates mild, and seen from a distance, it displays the colors of the environment, the seasons, the passing of time,” mentioned IIkonomidis.
“The Qaammat pavilion can concurrently alter the viewer’s perspective, merge, and even vanish into the encompassing topography.”
“The pavilion is designed as a poetic and aesthetic object, however most significantly as a symbolic gesture, acknowledging the pure website and wealthy historical past, the distinctiveness of the Greenlandic tradition, and the non secular sensibilities rooted in Sarfannguit,” IIkonomidis continued.
The pavilion is anchored to the rocky terrain by drilling holes into the bottom and putting in publish anchors – a technique that can also be used to assemble homes within the space.
A round metal bracket acts as the bottom for the glass blocks. It’s fastened atop poles that change in size to counteract the uneven floor.
The poles and anchors utilized in Qaammat’s construction had been custom-made by scaling up customary 15-millimetre parts utilized in native development to 40 millimetres so as to maintain nearly five-tonnes of glass blocks.
Settled alongside the south department of the Arctic Circle Path – a preferred seven-day mountain climbing route – the Qaammat pavilion directs hikers alongside the trail and acts as a begin or end marker for shorter trails.
It’s also used as a gathering place for guests, native residents and colleges, and might be seen from passing boats to point Sarfannguit’s location.
The venture has been shortlisted within the set up design class of Dezeen Awards 2022, alongside an set up in Belgium that explores financial and ecological justice and a sculpture of a pink home partially submerged within the River Avon in Tub.
The pictures is by Julien Lanoo.
