Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture and Design – Norway
open, airy and bright, while simultaneously maintaining a certain level of discretion for its visitors. The climate of swimming pools poses another challenge. It is hot, damp, and with a lot of potential corrosion. This means that every little detail must be taken into consideration, all building materials must be top quality, and the technical facilities cleaning the air and water are extremely advanced. Jessheimbadet, with its perfectly round shape, is a striking construction and was nominated for the 2021 Arkitekturpris for Ullensaker kommune (Ullensaker municipality’s architecture award). 6,600 square metres large with a maximum capacity of nearly 500 visitors, the building offers seven pools, including a sports pool with eight lanes and accessible pools for training and rehabilitation. There is a Jacuzzi, saunas, a toddler pool, diving boards, a water slide, and a cafeteria serving both inside and outside of the pool area. A tower for the birdwatchers Another project Vindveggen has just finished is a very different kind of structure: a birdwatching tower. The wooden construction is located in the nature conservation area Nordre Øyeren, the largest inland river delta in the Nordics. Here, the rivers Glomma, Leira and Nitelva meet the lakes Svellet and Øyeren, creating a complex ecosystem that is home to a multitude of flora and fauna. The birdwatching tower was commissioned to allow safe and easy access to the area,
Diving into the pool at Jessheimbadet. Photo: Tove Lauluten - www.tovelauluten.no
which has been a popular destination for birdwatchers through the ages. The tower, designed in collaboration with Museene i Akershus (MIA), opened to the public in 2020. It is built from ore-pine, the heartwood of old-growth pine. This is the same kind of wood used to build the Scandinavian stave churches in the Middle Ages and can be used untreated thanks to its resin bleeding outwards and acting as natural impregnation. Environmentally friendly and gently placed in its surroundings, the tower benefits the birdwatchers while shielding the surrounding wildlife. “It has become a popular destination for both ornithologists and hikers,” Bærheim says. “Ornithologists often
Jessheimbadet building. Photo: Tove Lauluten - www.tovelauluten.no
have highly advanced equipment, requiring a very stable foundation, and we’ve taken that into consideration when designing the tower.” This is why, structurally, the tower consists of three separate constructions standing independently of each other. This makes it incredibly stable, despite people walking up and down the stairs. Built mainly by enthusiasts and volunteers, the project was nominated for the 2021 Lillestrøm kommunes arkitektur- og byggeskikkpris (Lillestrøm municipality’s architecture and vernacular architecture award). Access to the birdwatching tower is free for all. Web: www.vindveggen.no
Detail from Jessheimbadet. Photo: Tove Lauluten www.tovelauluten.no
November 2021 | Issue 136 | 29
