Analyzing the evolution of our civilization tells us that city is rather a new concept, yet successful. However, cities have been used as laboratories of great urban concepts which have managed to survive due to absorbing abilities of local cultures. In this respect, every culture, Sami included, is expected to react skeptical toward any major interventions within its own built environment. Therefore, Nesting Centers is conceptualized on the principle that indigenous Sami people value nature and consider their natural surroundings as a source of inspiration. Pricing this cultural value is simply impossible and undesirable. Accordingly, we must start thinking the major shift of production from political economy to political ecology, and the vision for Guovdageaidnu seeks for solutions within the current urban tissue and typology.
| LOCATION | Finnmark, Norway |
| CLIENT | Europan Norway |
| YEAR | 2019 |
| STATUS | Competition |
| PROGRAM | Strategic Plan |
Nesting Centers, comparable to Matryoshka doll, change sizes but not qualities. The civic center remains the core and a ripple effect of programs and spaces gradually merges with the natural surroundings. The civic core is followed by the educational belt, and further the nature accessibility is enhanced by a pedestrian bridge linking two sided of the river. This proposal considers our future inseparable from the positive being of our living environment and stands vigorously for a stage of eco-stability. As Sami have essentially always been nomadic, the center has moved its location often also. However, due to the evolution of ways of living our unique cultures are being asked to adapt and absorb beneficial ideas. Therefore, the perception for the center should be open for interpretation based on our point of interest, physical ability to comprehend it and daily activities and circumstances. A center should not have a strict border, instead it has to be a space of significance and common good.
