Sverre Fehn: Nordic Pavilion, Venice: Voices from the Archives

A gem of midcentury architecture examined with previously unpublished archival material, Sverre Fehn’s Nordic Pavilion in Venice is a masterpiece of postwar architecture. The young Norwegian architect won the competition in 1958; the building was inaugurated in 1962. In minute detail, this book presents the history of the origins and making of the Nordic pavilion, covering everything from the geopolitical context in an increasingly tense cold-war atmosphere to the aggregates in the concrete of the audacious roof construction. Sverre Fehn, Nordic Pavilion, Venice also documents the vast cast involved in the making of the Nordic Pavilion, from kings, prime ministers, bureaucrats, ambassadors, museum directors, architects and a myriad of artists’ associations to Venetian dignitaries, engineers, gardeners, lawyers and plumbers. Richly illustrated with previously unpublished images, the archival evidence also sheds new light on one of the great Nordic architects of the recent past.