LECTURES

1. "THE HOUSE THAT WANTED A GARDEN – a dialogue on the environment"

 

The dialogue is between Lars Danielsson who tells about the house he built on the Marken farm in the highlands of Smaland in southern Sweden and his wife Louise who gives an account of how she transformed a piece of farmland by the house into a flourishing garden and the learnings and happy moments it gave her.

In 1968 when the public awareness of the hazards to the environment had first appeared (“Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson was an immediate signal of alarm!) Lars and Louise Danielsson participated in founding the Marken Cooperative Farm. During the following 22 years the cooperative developed ecological farming and gardening, a local bakery, a rural rehabilitation programme for drug addicts (in the 1970s) and a local architectural practice. The members of the cooperative were active in debates on the environment in local and national media.

After the close of the cooperative in 1990 the farm was sold and Lars and Louise purchased the house in which they had been living with a sizable lot for a garden. They eventually wrote about their house and garden in the book “The House That Wanted a Garden – a home in the world” (Frommen Publisher 2003).

Their personal narrative extends to Louise´s music studies in her native state of North Carolina and her collecting folk songs in Europe. It also includes Lars´ two years of work and studies in USA in the 1950s (when he had the opportunity to meet Frank Lloyd Wright in Taliesin East in 1959) and his work for the UN in Uganda in 1964-66.

In 2005 Lars and Louise moved to Järna, south of Stockholm and built a small house which will eventually have its garden. They now give lectures on the theme as described above in Swedish and at times also in English. Their personal story connects to the larger issue of current threats to the natural environment.

 

2. "ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE" at AIA COTE

Summary of Lars Danielsson´s lecture tour in USA in October-November 2006.

New York and Philadelphia, Oct.26,

at the University of Pittsburgh, Nov.1
and at AIA COTE Chicago, Nov. 7, 2006.

 

As an introduction I pointed out that the pioneers of Organic Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Alvar Aalto and others in their architecture strived to build in harmony with landscape and Nature itself.

I gave reference to a book in Swedish on Building Ecology by Varis Bokalders and Maria Block. The book gives an extensive presentation of ecological approaches in building and planning and is a useful tool for architects. (A translation into English is prepared by the authors / varis@chello.se / seeking a publisher for an English edition).

 

Ever since the first oil crises in the 1970s the national policy and practice in Sweden has been to improve insulation of buildings and to substitute oil for other energy resources. The ultimate outcome of this was a residential settlement in Gothenburg (“Lindås”) by Hans Eek, architect. The houses have such extreme insulation that no conventional heating devise is required. www.passivhus.nu (- try “länkar”) www.goteborgenergi.se (“Only English”).

 

In burning oil or coal, carbon dioxide is released into the environment that was stored in trees that grew a million years or so ago. In that very basic sense our oil/coal consuming world lives off what Natures has provided in the long past. By causing global warming we now consume the future leaving a diminishing margin of environment for our children and grandchildren. A new approach to environmental practice is absolutely necessary!

 

The overall use of energy in Sweden can be divided in three almost equal arts: (1) Fossil energy (oil, coal), (2) Nuclear energy and (3) Renewable energy (which mainly means hydropower and bio-energy). A National Commission has recently proposed policies to reduce the overall oil consumption in Sweden by 50% up to the year 2020.

 

I also gave examples of alternative systems of sewage treatment as well as of ventilation of buildings. Modern social and economic developments everywhere affect rivers and water ways everywhere in the world. The Baltic Sea is an example of a sea in trouble.

 

Finally I showed a building complex that I consider lives up to requirements of ecological considerations as well as of organic architectural expression; the antroposophic Vidar Clinic (1985) at Jarna 50 km south of Stockholm. It has been awarded for its architecture. The architect was Erik Asmussen (1913 – 1998). His architecture is presented in the book “Erik Assmussen, architect” by Gary Coates, Professor of Architecture at Kansas State University. 

 

In closing I pointed out that modern Functionalism is largely unfulfilled; Form Follows Fashion rather that Function in the original and organic sense of Louis Sullivan. The impact of Global Warming is an urgently growing concern over the world. As architects we have the obvious task to build ecologically in balance with Nature.

Finally there was a tentative discussion about an International Conference in 2008 on “Sustainable Architecture, Technology and Regional Development in balance with Nature” in 2008 in Sweden and/or USA. A Call for Organizing Volunteers was prepared.