Ságastallam/Dialogue

• Main Author: Stefansson, Emil
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Lunds universitet/Institutionen för arkitektur och byggd miljö 2021
• Subjects: Arts and Architecture; Sarek; Sarek National Park; sami
• Online Access: http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9063895

The hiker reaches out from the city, town, or village, intending to be alone. Away from sounds, away from paved roads and houses, away from streetlights and phones, away from people. But what is ‘nature’, and who has the right to it? The untouched landscape shaped by nothing but the earth itself is today hard to find. Human activity is close to everywhere. Even in Sarek National Park, an area of deep narrow valleys, wild rivers, mountains, and glaciers, clashes between stakeholders occur. The tourist wants to explore wild places and experience natural wildlife, and the Sami uses the park as an office. The conflict between the workplace and leisure is apparent. But can architecture achieve a symbiosis between the two sides in such a remote location? The thesis takes its starting point in realistic scenarios, including transportation of material, budgets, laws and regulations, and feedback from real stakeholders. It also zooms in on the off-grid location of the site, its challenges, opportunities, how to construct and maintain a building out there, and how to deal with extreme weather, lack of running water, and no electricity, among other things. By marking differences and similarities between Sami cabins for reindeer herding and unmanned tourist cabins in the semi-exploited mountain region of Sweden, there is a possibility to create social encounters between them in the form of a standard cabin in the area. The cabin aims to address both the tourist’s and the reindeer herder’s needs while having a solid connection to both Sami culture and mountain tourism on the smallest possible footprint.