Soria Moria Sauna / Feste Landscape / Architecture

Architects: Feste Landscape / Architecture
Location: Dalen, Norway
Lead Architect: David Fjågesund
Design Team Leader: Lars Haakanes
Area: 39.0 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Dag Jenssen

Client: Telemark canal regional park in collaboration with Tokke municipality

Soria Moria is a project developed by the Telemark canal regional park in collaboration with Tokke municipality. The project is part of Tales of the Waterway, an overall art project for the Telemark canal, where art, architecture and lighting design are utilized to highlight the inherent qualities of the local landscape and traditions.

The characteristic silhouette of the structure is an architectural interpretation of the steep mountainsides surrounding the Bandak lake. The wooden shingle cladding is inspired by local building techniques. Integrated into the cladding are gleaming golden shingles. The gold is a reference to local folklore; to the mythical and outlandish. It also references the obvious contrast which arose between the uncultivated people of Telemark and lavish upper-class foreign travelers during the establishment of the nearby Dalen Hotel at the end of the 19th Century. The structure contains a sauna, a changing room and a covered seating area for taking in the views.

With the exception of the Sigurdsevja inlet, the water along the shoreline of the upper end of the Bandak lake is very shallow. The project is therefore constructed on stilts along the inlet to allow for bathing in the lake. The Sigurdsevja inlet is a precise and characteristic landscape formation, and the design of the walkway and sauna building aims to emphasizes this particular feature. The walkway becomes part of an existing network of footpaths along the lake, with connections to the nearby Dalen Hotel.

The design has been developed by a Nordic design team consisting of architect David Fjågesund (Feste Landscape / Architecture), landscape architect Inge Dahlman (Landskapsfabrikken), lighting designer Tobias Olsson (ÅF Lighting), artist Maira Änquist Klyvare and Design Team Leader Lars Haakanes (Feste Landscape / Architecture). The contractors Skorve built the project, using mainly local materials.