Let’s live smaller-scale, better lives. Let’s share more. Invite nature in. Let’s take charge, together. Leave things alone and see the beauty. Does it sound like the credo of our times? Yes but the fact is that it is our times that finally have caught up with Danish visionary architects behind Vandkunsten Architects, who call themselves a studio for drawing and work under a name that means “water art” or “water feature” such as a fountain. In fact those are the principles that Vandkunsten has been using since the 1970’s. At Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark, a major exhibition explores Vandkunsten and the Danish interiors magazine Bo Bedre (Better Lives) and their influence on Danish architecture and interiors since the 1970’s.

Looking at Vandkunsten’s projects today is liberating and far from the image of perfect Nordic design and architecture. Nature is let in, recycling of materials and a touch of do-it-yourself combined with materials left in their natural state and allowed to just be invites us in. We all know how a so-called perfect interior feels cluttered once you walk in – and then what is the point? In Scandinavia we recognize their way of thinking from the informal lifestyle of summers spent in simple cottages in breathtaking nature where daily ablutions meant being sent out in the sea with a soap-on-rope. 

Vandkunsten was established in 1970 and was very much part of the movements in society at that time. Vandkunsten made projects with long hair and flared trouser to a soundtrack of Danish rock music so to speak, guided by the concept of sharing and the communal aspects of architecture. They made spaces for living together while Bo Bedre magazine spread the ideas to a wide audience. Sustainability and accessibility were championed in their residential projects that set forth a softer, more human, way of shaping our everyday environment. Vandkunsten are forerunners in minimal housing and absolute sustainability. Starting out in the 1970’s as the oil crisis and societal upheaval forever changed the rules of Modernist city planning, Vandkunsten developed projects in step with the changes and turned adversities into advantages. As we yet again find us in a situation in which time is running out as we face a climate crisis, Vandkunsten brings us guidance in how to live better lives together. (Image: Living Better Lives with Vandkunsten. Utzon Center, Aalborg. Photo R. Hjortshoj.)

“From the outset, the firm fell in love with the fringes of society, farm buildings, old sheds and holiday homes. Anything patched together, random and utilitarian. Though it goes against the grain of any design logic, wear engenders a beauty, which is a result of randomness, and compositions that are almost impossible to conjure up as an architect. Even today, we are still busy recycling outworn building materials. Yes, it’s about sustainability. But it’s also about investing our environment with more beauty and history.”

Søren Nielsen, Vandkunsten (2019)

Living Better Lives with Vandkunsten
Utzon Center, Aalborg, Denmark
Until February 28, 2021
https://utzoncenter.dk/en

Vandkunsten
https://vandkunsten.com/en