Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture Special – Norway
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Creating homes that reflect your identity Everything we wear, eat or drink reflects our individual identity. So why should the place we live not do the same? Arkitektkontoret STAV has embraced personalised homes and taken the term to a new level. While individual houses usually reflect the taste of the owner, the architecture firm has also made it possible in regards to blocks of flats – meaning that the days of rows of identical-looking buildings are numbered.
Thus you are unlikely to be able to point to a building and say it’s ‘typical us’. If anything, our trademark is that every building and project is different,” Eftestøl says.
By Helene Toftner | Photos: Arkitektkontoret STAV
You may be asking yourself how this is possible when working with blocks of flats, a type of project they work with extensively. “Our goal is for every architect at the firm to work on a private project per year, where they get close to the individual user and understand their needs, concerns and usability requirements. This is terribly helpful knowledge to bring into bigger professional projects, where the individual flat owners have very little say during the process,” Eftestøl explains. “By implementing these lessons we
Many an architecture firm claims to put the person or user first, but few take it to the same level as Arkitektkontoret STAV. Be it a block of flats or individual houses, the firm always attempts to incorporate the owners’ personalities along with the geographical characteristics into the building projects. “Every individual has different needs, determined by personality, physical ability, interests or other. Our aim is to make every single 50 | Issue 93 | October 2016
home reflect its owner,” says partner Evy Eftestøl.
Every project has its own stamp Eftestøl runs the Stavanger-based architecture firm together with partner Henning Bøe. They work predominantly with residential buildings and cabins, all places where the owner is meant to feel at home. “Because we focus on each individual, no project is the same.