AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Architectural Studies
Blasted Building
tort this primal condition. There is a paradoxi-
cal relationship between appearance and func-
tion taking place: what makes the space appear
rational is what makes it dysfunctional. Erling
Viksjø solved this problem by installing a sus-
pended ceiling between the beams of the gener-
ous hallway at the centre section of the building,
enabling a concealed entry of infrastructure on
either side. The relatively low ceiling height of
the office floors, reduced from 3,5 to 3,25 me-
ter during the design process of the 1950s, did
not allow for a concealed system of air-distri-
bution when introduced in 1990. The blast, ex-
posing all the “secret” spaces of the building,
challenges the ideals of the “pure” space. Mark
Wigley brilliantly examined the relationship
between space and infrastructure through his
recent lectures: “Architecture in the Age of
Radio” and “Pipeless dreams”
3
. He points out
how contemporary architects are left to design
“white bags of paint”, anxiously ignoring the
complex web of infrastructure needed to sus-
tain an indoor environment of today.
The peeling paint reveals the board-form
pattern of the cast-in-place concrete slabs and
beams, never meant to be exposed. Also re-
vealed is the fact that the only interior walls
left standing on the office floors are made of
concrete, a fact Viksjø explicitly wanted to
conceal behind white paint. In his project text
published in the journal
Byggekunst
in 1959 he
states; “it is not enough that a building is cor-
rectly constructed. It is equally important that
it
appears
correct, and it might be necessary in
architectural terms to “erase” some construc-
tive parts that confuses the building´s static ap-
pearance.”
4
What we encounter is an architect
interested in the aesthetics of structure rather
than the dogma of structural honesty. The de-
structive forces of the bomb has exposed the
“tricks” of the architect, but more importantly,
it has disclosed an attitude of ambiguity which
seems to be present throughout the building.
The famous technique of “naturbetong”
(nature-concrete)
5
invented by Erling Viksjø, is
being implemented on exterior and interior
walls and columns, both as an over-all sur-
face-technique and as a strategy for incorporat-
ing artworks onto the building. Bente Solbakken
argues in her article “Tekstur som ornament”
(Texture as ornament)
6
, that Viksjø´s invention
can be seen as part of a reaction against the pre-
dominant
International Style
, and she questions
the common perception of Viksjø as an expo-
nent for the ideals of Ove Bang, the celebrated
functionalist architect and Viksjø´s former em-
ployer. As Solbakken points out, there is a fas-
cinating ambiguity imbedded in his moralistic
denunciation of stone cladding (originally pro-
posed for
Høyblokken
) on one hand, and his in-
troduction of decoration on another. In his text
“Fasadebetong?”(Façade-concrete?) published
in 1951 Viksjø describes the result of one of his
experiments: “It occurred to me that where
the cement-sludge membrane dissolved and
the aggregates appeared, the true structure of
