Here’s an interesting project that I will be visiting when I head back to Norway. This is the protective covering of the Hamar Cathedral. Built over top of the ruins of a 12th century cathedral, this beautiful glass and steel structure, for me, amplifies a few site conditions by drawing attention to a seemingly long time scale.
The necessity for the project alone draws attention to the idea of ‘weathering’. Frost and pollution over the years has deteriorated the original cathedral. Of course apart from its role as a protective covering, the project itself is likely to play allusions with the sky, seemingly reflective and protective. It makes an interesting addendum to my rant about making buildings anywhere, strong and durable to the exterior conditions, almost as if apathetic to the relationship between interior and exterior. The protective covering of the Hamar Cathedral takes that fortification to the opposite extremely and is so concerned with the refusal of exterior to the interior it only serves to amplify it more. i would imagine, and I hope to experience, to stand amongst the ruins on a rainy day would be a unique indication of the weather.
Going back to the discussion of how our inscriptions in the landscape reflect the contemporay viewpoint on our stance within the environment, this building is the largest single investment made by the Norwegian Environmental Ministry in the field of culture-preservation.
