NATURALLY ANIMATED
– How can the Sun, Wind and Rain
Animate Architecture?
Western Sweden is a popular destination for tourists. Sustainable and transformative tourism in wild and beautiful nature is increasingly in demand.
The Skåneleden Trail surrounds The Bjäre Peninsula on one of its five subsections and gives visitors the opportunity to experience extensive landscape views, dramatic rock formations and the region’s varying, and at times dramatic weather. The weather – the sun, wind and rain – has a large impact on the experience of the place.
By placing interventions in well-chosen locations along The Skåneleden Trail, the project aims to frame and reinforce the weather phenomena. The structures meld with the region’s landscape and weather elements, almost like a part of the earth. The proposal offers a sensory walk through a series of choreographed spatial sequences in connection to the hiking trail.
The thesis investigates how the natural movements of the sun, wind and rain can animate architecture and as a result enhance our experience of the weather at the site.
Early on, sensorial observations of the movements of the sun, wind and rain on the site are combined with findings generated from design experiments with physical models. By studying and working with the phenomena the possibility to become more familiar with the site is increased along with a better understanding of the context. The investigation then continues to explore practical ways in which weather can be used as a tool, component and parameter for design.
The outcome is a design proposal that challenges the implementation of otherwise conventional architecture bound to shelter yet distance visitors from the site. Instead a physical and sensory journey is proposed, that uncovers the site’s phenomena, thereby presenting the architectural potential of bringing visitors closer to the peninsula’s ever-changing weather.
Keywords: The Bjäre Peninsula, The Skåneleden Trail, Eco-tourism, Weather Architecture, Phenomena