Kvarnhuset

Type: Buildings with large spans

No. of storeys: 1

Municipality: Jokkmokk

Footprint: 457

Year of production: 1990

Architect: Architects Per Persson and Mats Winsa at MAF Arkitektkontor AB 

Structural engineer: Arne Johnsons Ingenjörsbyrå AB

Contractor: Kraftbyggarna Entreprenad AB

Client: Jokkmokk Municipality

 

The architect’s description of the material choices:

With its sandy heath, pine forest and excavated finds, Perudden itself provided the inspiration for the choice of materials. A lightweight wooden structure was chosen for the building, to enable construction close to the steep bank above the water. To retain the ground’s moisture and load-bearing capacity, rainwater falls freely from the felt roof. In the hourglass shape, the sand has been replaced with harder-wearing gravel. Its form is accentuated by the dense planting of pine forest. The rustic row of roundwood posts forms the timeline. The building’s façade is lined with heavy, custom-sawn cladding. All the exterior wood has been painted with pigmented wood tar.

 

The walkways are reinforced with inset slate tiles. The building’s communal floors are edge-sawn slate with a natural finish. Quartz gravel lies like a frieze, meeting the external gravel at the windows. Quartz was found during the excavations. The front door handle is made of oak, a wood that grew here 6000 years ago. The ice wall has vertical tongue and groove cladding in various dimensions. The white distemper reinforces the icy feel. The reception desk is a high-gloss white. The shelving, screens and waste bins are clad in pine. These are painted in red ochre, an iron oxide from the excavation site. The black cinema room wall has vertical convex wood cladding. The ceiling is in white glazed pine, 28x28 mm. The plain moose skins on the benches are bark-tanned and joined with sinew thread. A group of pines stands just behind the building. A path leads out from the cinema room and through the trees to where the landscape opens up.

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