From Lada to Folly : Revealing the Origin of Kiruna

• Main Author: Halvorsen, August Junge
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Arkitekthögskolan vid Umeå universitet 2020
• Subjects: folly; follies; urban planning; public; city; heritage; industry; culture; nature; resources; Kiruna; Norrland; lada; lador; stadsflytt; gruvan; Architecture; Arkitektur; Gruvan; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-173092

"From Lada to Folly" investigates the relationship between an agricultural artefact of Northern Sweden, ladan, and the move of the city of Kiruna. A lada is a structure to store hay which dates back to medieval times as a part of månghussystemet, a Swedish building tradition where each house on a farm had one function. Ladan was analysed on different scales through mapping, photography and model making with the aim of understanding its relation to the landscape. The scale, placement and orientation were the most significant. Subsequently, this information was translated via diagrams to form the basis of a proposal in Kiruna. Four core values are the foundation of Kiruna: timber, water, iron and people. Timber, because the first buildings were built out of wood and because coal from the forest was used to fuel the engines of the mine. Water, as a mode of transportation and a source of energy. Iron, the oar is the main reason why Kiruna exists. People, in the same way natural resources have been extracted out of Kiruna, people have been sent to the city to facilitate this process. Through four corresponding landscapes in the new city centre, the core values forming the origin of Kiruna is revealed. A folly, an unprogrammed structure erected to enhance a landscape and derived from the lada, is placed on each site functioning as a shelter and contextualising the intervention to the region of Northern Sweden. As architecture most often are physical obstacles built to orchestrate our lives, not allowing but limiting our behaviour, this proposal seeks to create free spaces in the city where not the architect but the people themselves can dictate what will happen. Who is the architect to decide whether someone should eat, make love or die in their structure?