Coral House

HOW CAN A PROCESS THAT HAS FORMED THE SITE INFORM THE ARCHITECTURE? Sector Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), School of Architecture Master Thesis Location Abisko, Sweden Year 2015 Design Team Love Liljekvist Supervisor Ulrika Karlsson & Einar Rodhe Jury Charles Waldheim Marcelyn Gow Manuelle Gautrand INTRODUCTION During the last Ice Age when the ice covered most of northern Europe, Sweden was completely under a kilometer of thick ice and snow which melted away and then water covered the land. This helped to shape the landscape as we know it now. The impact that the ice made in the land is apparent in many areas in how the landscape is shaped, especially in the region of mass (mountains). An example of this is Lapporten in Abisko with its U-shaped valley that derived from when the ice retreated and moved and was pressed in between the mountains. I used ice and snow to form a research building for this subject, materials that are relevant to the eco tourism of Abisko and why students come to this town to study. The materiality and process in the research building relate to the geology it stands in and by the ice that shape it. Research by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat on polar ice caps, snow depth, glaciers, and vegetation has been going on since 1903 when the first research station was built. The research station had a typical saddle roof house of wood and had gravel and soil pressed up on the outer walls to the roof level.