Dialogue on Design in Nature - Norway
Should designers look at nature as their client?
The Embassies of Iceland in the Nordic capitals each hosted events in the countdown to the DesignMarch festival, happening in Reykjavík May 4th - 8th. Anna María Bogadóttir, architect moderated a conversation on Design in Nature with panelists from Iceland and from each respective country Now you can listen to these informative dialogues in a four episode podcast series.
Can we design our relationship with nature? How does design encourage and enhance our engagement with nature? These are among questions that have been explored in the project Design in Nordic Nature launched as part of a larger sustainable tourism in the north initiative under the Icelandic presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
By looking into the past, learning from vernacular design traditions as well as envisioning possible futures through innovation, new technologies and forms for collaboration, a selection of cases have been compiled in a Nordic Atlas, reflecting a broad range of design solutions and strategies that promote nature protection while encouraging responsible nature engagement.
Anna María, architect and curator at Úrbanistan architects in Reykjavík lead the project on behalf of Iceland Design and Architecture in collaboration with Nordic partner organizations and experts.
The podcasts were recorded in the Icelandic Ambassadors‘ residences in the Nordic capitals, in cooperation with Nordic partners, Business Iceland and The Icelandic Embassies in the Nordic countries.
Anna María was joined by other architects, designers, and stakeholders from around the Nordic region, to envision and discuss the role of design in the context of sustainable tourism in the north.
Participants in the conversation held at the Icelandic embassy in Norway:
Vilde Braanaas, works with communication and business development at 3RW arkitekter, that she joined in November 2018 to strengthen the office’s communication team. She holds a Master’s degree in design, visual communication from UiB, the Faculty of Art, Music and Design in Bergen. These recent years, Vilde gained work experience in communication, sales and marketing as she took over the management of a historic hotel and tourist destination on the west coast of Norway. From 2017-2018 she was working full-time on co-designing an outdoor exhibition concept about Norwegian aquaculture at Skjerjehamn.
Dagur Eggertsson is co-founder of the award winning Rintala Eggertsson Architects, a Norway based architecture firm, which bases its activities around furniture design, public art, architecture and urban planning. He and his partners at Rintala Eggertsson Architects studied under Juhani Pallasmaa in Helsinki and are informed by his phenomenological and cross-disciplinary thinking. The work of Rintala Eggertsson Architects has been exhibited at the Maxxi Museum in Rome, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the National Art Museum of China and with the special project “Corte Del Forte” at the 2018 Venice Biennale.
The company has received prestigious awards over the years such as The Global award for Sustainable Architecture, Wan 21 for 21 Award, Architizer A+Award, Travel & Leisure Award, American Architecture Award and the International Architecture Award.
Anna María Bogadóttir is a licensed architect, urbanist and curator engaging at the interface of architecture, art and urban culture. She is the founder of Úrbanistan, an architecture practice operating across the fields of architecture, planning and preservation combining research and design with curatorial and publishing practices. Anna has extensive experience in cultural planning and strategic design on municipal, national and transnational levels and has been lead-consultant for Iceland Design and Architecture in the Nordic project Design in Nature. Anna is assistant Professor at the Iceland University of the Arts.
KNUT BANG is a senior adviser for design at DOGA. Trained as product and graphic designer from the Art Center College of Design (E) and has more than 25 years of experience in international and Norwegian design work. He has specialist expertise in the use of design to solve complex tasks and uses this expertise in tasks related to urban and local development. At DOGA he advises companies on the strategic use of design, specializing in the use of design to solve complex challenges. Knut works with design and sustainability through Framtanker, Oslo Manifesto and the business network for green growth and completed the Sustainability Leadership program at Harvard.