Chart Architecture shines the spotlight on the hottest young Nordic talents

Chart Art Fair’s architectural initiative, Chart Architecture, is hosting a competition to attract hot young Nordic architects, and their fresh ideas around the issues of sustainable urbanisation and renewable resources.

Aiming to inspire experimentation between the realms of art and architecture, the challenge – open to students and graduates of Nordic schools as well as young architecture studios – was to design a pavilion to house the gastronomy partners and Space10, a research lab for wellbeing, which will be installed for the duration of the art fair in September.

Within the theme of ‘The Living City’, the brief encouraged entries to address the open source paradigm, as well as the relevance of upcycling and recycling materials. The five finalists selected showed interest in community engagement as well as innovation fabrication methods.

‘Stick Box’ by Miki Morita, Suguru Kobayashi and Keita Shishijima

Sustainable and recyclable materials were a key focus the projects. The ‘Stick Box’ makes use of leftover wood from lumbering and the ‘Paper Pavilion’ is designed to last a week for its purpose at Chart, while ‘Sunday Temple’ is constructed of repurposed blue IKEA bags.

Plant processes were a direct reference for two of the finalists. The ‘Algae Dome’ is a pavilion follows the design and function of a photo-bioreactor through filling a tubular system with algae, while ‘Adapt’ is a kinetic pavilion with a sensitive cooling system that naturally reacts to temperature like a plant.

The finalists will be judged by a star panel of professionals including Bjarke Ingels, architect and founder of BIG; Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, co-founder of SUPERFLEX; Claus Andersen, owner of Andersen’s Contemporary; Débora Mesa, architect and principal of Ensamble Studio; architect Dorte Foss; Klaus Kastbjerg, CEO and director of Union Holding A/S; and Simon Frommenwiler, architect and co-founder of HHF Architects. Announced during Chart in September 2017, the winner will received a professional mentorship from an architect, construction expert and a developer.