Sverre Fehn

Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn's architecture is a fascinating and exciting combination of modern forms tempered by the Scandinavian tradition and culture from which he comes. In his designs he gives great primacy to the relationship between the built and natural environment.

Eschewing the ingenious, the novel and the sensational, Fehn has pursued his version of 20th century modernism steadily and patiently for the past fifty years. With one carefully designed project after another, he has shown a virtuosity and creativity that now places him among the world's leading architects.

The Norwegian Pavilion at the Brussels World Exhibition in 1958 was an early demonstration of his talent. A few years later, it was confirmed with the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Since those early works, Fehn has demonstrated that he is an architect for all seasons with many dimensions, allowing him to be as comfortable with furniture, exhibition and object design as he is with architecture. His eloquence with materials is easily matched by his poetic command of words.

The geography of place and time, with a range of diversity from early Morocco to present-day New York City, as well as an amalgamation of a multitude of influences, have played an important role in Fehn's development. Some of the great architects of the century Louis Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright, LeCorbusier, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der Rohe, Jean Prouvé, as well as his compatriot and mentor Arne Korsmo have served as inspiration, but Fehn's results have a unique individuality and originality.

He has avoided fashions and trends that have influenced much of contemporary architecture, patiently developing his own individual style, always seeking improvement.

He has broken new ground by giving modern architectural form to elements of his native Norwegian landscape: northern light, grey stone and green forests, blending fantasy and reality in contemporary and timeless buildings.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Hamar museum, where in addition to balancing the requirements of the site and the programme, the combination of the ancient and the contemporary had to be in harmony.

Sverre Fehn's body of work stands as a testament to the talent, creativity and sensitivity of one of the world's leading architects. It is logical that he was awarded the 1997 Pritzker Architecture Prize.