Knut Hamsun Museum

Steven Holl – Knut Hamsun Center, Hamaröy, Norway, 1994-2008

The Knut Hamsun Center (Norwegian: Hamsunsenteret) is a museum and education center on Hamarøy in Northern Norway, dedicated to the life and works of the writer Knut Hamsun.

Architect Steven Holl was first approached about designing a center for Knut Hamsun in 1994. He traveled to Hamarøy and produced a watercolor of the center's design, which appears quite similar to the current building. Holl was inspired by Hamarøy's nature and landscapes, the Norwegian building tradition of stave churches and sod roofs, and Hamsun's literature, particularly his early works, Hunger (1890) and Mysteries (1892). Steven Holl described the Knut Hamsun Center as "realizing a Hamsun character in architectural terms," and continues: "The concept for the museum, 'Building as a body: battlefield of invisible forces,' is realized from the inside and the outside." This concept is a quote from Robert Bly's 1974 translation of Hunger. The building's design has attracted considerable attention and debate, and the Knut Hamsun Center has received numerous national and international architectural awards.…Wikipedia…>>