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Insularity Architectural Investigation of an Island in Dale spring 2016
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Insularity part I future plans for Wilhelmine About the future plans of the Dale community for the Wilhelmine island (former Vikaholem, or Teeth Island)
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nobody cares (map) The municipality of Dale doesn’t have any future plans for the Wilhelmine (Vikaholmen) Island. Therfore, there should be one developed.
61°22’57,51” N 5°24’30,44” E
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nobody cares (pictures) 03 June 2012 - We have received feedback that there was not worthy to extinguish Hitlists containing nothing of value there. No people or animals, only scrub, victory Emergency Sunday evening. - It is not dangerous to life, it extinguished all to himself, said he, which overlooks the island from where he cage. frida.no (translated by google) 61°22’57,51” N 5°24’30,44” E
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Insularity part II history Vikaholmen is extremely insignificant island, or so was believed until now. Every place seems to be very generic until we start to discover its personal history. The moment we start to learn all the little usually insignificant stories, this place is being carved into our memory and is growing in importance.
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Wilhelmine (portrait)
“I do not see what right any one would have to object to calling this part, after Americus who discovered it and who is a man of intelligence, Amerige, that is, the Land of Americus, or America: since both Europa and Asia got their names from women”. It is possible that Vespucci was not aware that Martin Waldseemüller had named the continent after him. ~ Wikipedia
Johanne Wilhelmine Barclay Nitter (20.4.1837 - 4.3.1909) is the first person ever recorded to stand on the land of the Teeth Island. She wasn’t the first one just like Amerigo Vespucci wasn’t the 61°22’57,51” N 5°24’30,44” E
first to step on the American land but later when it came to name the continent, Martin Waldseemüller decided to dedicate it to Amerigo, because he was the one who let the world know about this new continent through his letters. This is why this island oficially called Vikaholmen (nicknamed Teeth Island) is now called Wilhelmine, after the smiling lady visiting the island back in 1895.
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first steps This is the first actual picture of a person standing on the Vikaholmen (Wilhelmine) island. It is not only important to see the very first visitor of the island, but also to see the condition of it. There were obviously less trees then today.
61°22’57,51” N 5°24’30,44” E
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a
family Johanne Wilhelmine Barclay Nitter (a) wasn’t just anybody, her husbend Christian Uchermann Nitter (b) was born in Dale and has studied agronomy in Romedal (1857) and was hired as farm manager in Ambla i Sogn. Later he became an Utskiftningsformann for Dale. She had four sisters and two brothers, there are only pictures of Laura (c) and Helene (d)
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b
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c
d
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Wilhelmina Bay Other very good reason why to name the island Wilhelmine is the fact, that there are already 24 Vikaholmen islands in Norway which makes it confusing for visitors. There is no island called Wilhelmine on this planet, so it is a practical name. There is only Wilhelmina Bay in the Antarktis. It contains one big ship wreck and many whales whoch make it a very popular plase for whale watchers. Therefore it is also nicknamed Whalemina Bay.
64°38’59.96” S
62° 9’3.94” W
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Insularity part III spatial analysis Wilhelmine has about 100x200 meters. This analysis is trying to understand the potential spatial qualities, interior structures and living possibilities of the island. As a default element fot this analysis, the closest house in use was picked, which his the house from Fossevika.
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secrets Islands are naturally hiding their inside spaces. The outer layer of the island is working as a view barier and is preserving the guts. This makes many wrong asumptions about islands and as many islands are named just after being seen for the first time (not really visited), many have names that don’t really fit. Or sometimes, they used this special feature to confuse others. Just like Greenland, which has in summer green coast, but the inland is pretty white all year long. 61°22’57,51” N 5°24’30,44” E
“Erik the Red was very good at raiding and pillaging. Although history is somewhat sketchy, it is believed that he discovered Greenland after being sent away from Iceland in exile. This was rumored to have been his punishment for committing murder. He was able to settle in Greenland and survive there for several years. Finally, his exile was ended and he found that he wanted to settle the island more fully. For that, he needed to convince others to come with him. Erik the Red is believed to have lived from circa 950 to 1003CE.” ~ The Ancient Standard
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wireframe This feature of hiding its guts behind the front line of the island dissapears by creating a wireframe model. By seeing through the island it has to reveal all its secrets. view from: a: North b: East c: South d: West
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a
b
c
d
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harbor When a person navigates his boat around the Wilhelmine island, this is the place he pickes to anker his vessel. It is a small bay on the south-east side. It’s deep enough and provides a very good molo-like shaped stone, but most importantly - there is a tree very close to the water, so one can tie the boat even with a fairly short rope. It is also close to the center of the island so one doesn’t have to climb any rocks to get there.
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central point The very central point of the island must be where is the camp fireplace. People naturaly find the most sheltered space for their campfire. It would be probably the best place to start with the if anybody would design any building on the island. This camp fireplace is a very good example of such features. It is shed by a about 4 m high rock from the west where most of the winds come from (fjord direction) and also from the top by conifer trees from direct rain. It is also close to a tiny creek with fresh water. Not unimportant is also the distance from 61°22’57,51” N 5°24’30,44” E
the best ancering point in the southeast bay. It is actually very naturaly connected.
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forest There is only one compact forest on the island. It is not that the rest was completely tree-free, but they dont really build a compact mass. The forest is a mixture of typical norwegian birch and spruce. Strong humidity covers the trees with a thick layer of moss and lichen. A little stream winds through the forest, but it is not for sure whether its just a pond made by rain. It doesn’t look like there is a spring.
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a
c
view points Three major view points. (a) drirection to Fossvika nd Fløyen, (b) to the east direction of the fjord and (c) to the south-west - Dale. These places could be considered as attractive to build a house with a nice view but it is important to consider also the visual impact on the island itself. How would it look from the road, Fossvika or Dale. But in case of some kind of a small intervention, which doesnt make a negative impact on the panorama, it’s fine.
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b
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accesibility This diagram shows the possible points of approach to the island, but also the overall accesibility within the island. The placing of the camp fireplace is clearly a combination of being at a very accesible place but also very central.
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inaccessible These are the points the Island is inaccessible from. Steep rocks build the second line of defence against intruders (the first line of defence is the water of course). The most inaccessible point is actually from the north side of the island (a) where there is a few meters high rock wall going straight from the sea.
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a
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Wilhelmine - bold The starting point - a bold empty island.
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Wilhelmine - one house What does one small house with the spatiality of the island. This is a farm house from the closest inhabited place and a referenc building for Wilhelmine island.
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Wilhelmine - 181 houses You can fit 181 reference houses on the island. If one can accomodate 4 people, the island can host 724 people all together. The qualiti of this kind of living is questionable though.
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Wilhelmine - one house divided Each part of the island could serve as a different room in the house. a: b: c: d: e: f:
hall living room parents bedroom children bedroom bathroom guest room
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b
c
f
e
d a
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Wilhelmine - one house divided The island divided into rooms according to diferent functions and spatialities.
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Wilhelmine - one house divided If Wilhelmine was a typical norwegian house, this is how she would look like.
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An Allegory of Habitat We did the 120 student compettition with Sondre Bakken and Aki Markkanen. The task was: “You are requested to design a house. The house will be a place suitable for human scale. A primary space that is conceived through your own intimate, personal and critical vision of architecture.� Our proposal description: Human dwellings throughout the history are very diverse places shaped by cultures, climates and environments. They only share a few fundamental qualities – the ones that are principal to a hu-
man being. We tried to summarize these essential qualities into a sequence of four elementary spaces. These are: An open exposed space, an open collective, a protected collective and a private space. The first space is open and with unclear borders, yet defined by the other volumes. The second space is a sheltered open platform with water in the center. The third situation offers a protected gathering space with a fire in the middle. The last one is separated from the others by a long ramp, enhancing the privacy and solitude of all the secure spaces we find in human dwellings. It is the place where one has control. See, but not to be seen.
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An Allegory of Habitat on Wilhelmine This is a suggestion of implementing the 120 competition resault to Wilhelmine based on the data I have gathered during my visit of the island and after. It is an excercise about creating three fundamental spaces (open collective, protected collective and private) supplemented by the fourth one (open space), the island itself.
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Insularity part II Tycho de Brahe 14 December 1546 (Knutstorps slott) – 24 October 1601 (Prague) Tycho de Brahe was a Danish astronomer known for his peculiar life. He has chosen an island (Ven) as a place to build his own observatory, where he has done most of his measurments before he moved to Prague. Interesting is his behavior on the island, where this isolation led him to believ he is the king of the island and started to behave as an autocrat to the local population.
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My ancestor Tycho de Brahe Tycho de Brahe lived second part of his life in Prague, very close to a place where I grew up and since we are so similar in mind and from outside. It for sure, that he is my ancestor.
50° 5’23.21” N
14°23’54.00” E
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Early life of TDB Otte Brahe and Beate Bille promised to give Otte’s brother a child, because he couldnt have any children with his wife. Otte and Beate didn’t keep their peomise and so the uncle (Jørgen Thygesen Brahe) had to kidnapp young Tycho from their home when he was about 2 years old. Tycho’s parents never complained about that, as they felt very guilty. This wasn’t bad for Tycho at all, because Jørgen has later rescued the king Frederick II of Denmark (after which he died of pneumonia) and got a huge fortune from the king - fortune which was directly inherited by lucky Tycho who could use all that money to buy and 55°97’94” N 13°13’47” E
build many astronomical instruments and observatories. These stories are very typical for Tycho’s exotic life. a: b: c: d: e: f:
Tycho de brahe Otte Brahe Beate Bille Jørgen Thygesen Brahe Frederick II of Denmark money
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e
f
a
b
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Prosthaphaeresis Prosthaphaeresis is a mathematical formula Tycho was using to measure various distances and movements on the sky. He also claimed to discover this particular algorithm based on Pythagoras’ trigonometry and it is believed that this was actually the dispute he had with Manderup Parsberg during a wedding dance at professor Lucas Bachmeister’s house. Parsberg didn’t believe Tycho has invented this algorithm and they both decided to resolve this in a sword fight, where Tycho lost his nose. This whole misunderstanding was very unnecessary, becuase Nicholas Copernicus
mentions ‘prosthaphaeresis’ several times in his 1543 work De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. (Tycho de Brahe was born in 1546) Tycho has also claimed to wear a silver and gold artificial nose, but forensic investigation has found his claims false and discovered, that he was wearing only brass nose. a: Prosthaphaeresis b: Tycho’s nose
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a
b
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Ven Tycho was granted an estate on the island Ven in Öresund and got money to build an observatory compound Uraniborg (a) and later, becuase Uraniborg wasn’t steady enough Stjerneborg (b). There are many reports about his autocratic behaviour towards the local residents which had to turn their paper mill into Tycho’s private printer and print only his books.
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12°41’41.19” E
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a
b
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Bladder There are hundreds of stories and tales about Tycho’s vibrant life. Most of them involve lot of beer, wine, money and foolishness. So the one that represents his life the best is the last one, the one where he dies. He attended a banquet in Prague where he was drinking so much that he couldnt urinate ever since and died 7 days later. The myth is mentioning him attending a King’s dinner and he couldn’t leave the table to urinate (according to etiquette), so his bladder cracked. But it was only an attemp to make his silly death look less wasteful. 50° 5’23.21” N
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There was one more attemp to make his death look less vain, by mecury poisoning, but this theory was rejected after an investigation of Czech, Danish and German researches in 2010. Tycho de Brahe has made many important discoveries in mathematics and astronomy, but unfortunately he has spent too much of his wealth and education on parties. A nice evidence of this are his last words: “I hope it would not seem, that I have lived in vain.” a: Tycho’s bladder
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spectral parallax Tycho de Brahe has mastered the art of spectral parallax (measuring position of stars on the sky in different times of year and comparing the differences) like nobody else at his time, but he has managed to make very wrong interpretations of his measurments. He believed, that the stars are not changing their mutual distances, because the earth is in the center of the universe and the stars are on a globe rotating around earth. He was the last major astronomer without a telescope and therefore he didn’t know, the mutual position of stars is actually changing, but they are so far, one can not really see it without proper tools.
a: b: c: d:
stars Sun Earth (with moon) other planets
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d
b
a
Copernican Model
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d
b
c
a
Tychonic Model