Nils Slaatto

Nils Slaatto
Born	22nd June 1923 Lillehammer, Norway
Died	16th March 2001 Asker, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Work
Buildings	Asker Town Hall The Ål cabin Det Norske Studentersamfund - Chateau Neuf Det Norske Veritas I Det Norske Veritas II

Nils Slaatto (June 22, 1922 – March 16, 2001).,^[1] was for more than two decades one of Norway's most prominent and influential architects, having a strong and distinctive impression on Norwegian architecture.

Biography

Nils Slaatto was born in the winter sport town of Lillehammer, Oppland, Norway, on June 23, 1923. His father Oddmund Eindride Slaatto, was a functionalist architect in Oslo in the years between the two world wars. His mother, Anine Wollebæk, came from Lillehammer and was also an architect, graduating from the University of Technology, but never practised.

During 1938-39 Nils Slaatto took carpentry at the Technical School in Oslo before he enrolled into the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, were he graduated in 1947.

The post-war period offered numerous tasks; the most demanding was the rebuilding of northern Norway, where Slaatto participated in the reconstruction of Finnmark as district architect in Vadsø and Tana from 1948 to 1950. Large parts of the area suffered major damage during the war because of the Germans' use of the scorched-earth tactic.

In 1949 Slaatto married Margit Bleken of Trondheim, the sister of the famous Norwegian artist no:Håkon Bleken. When they moved to Oslo Slaatto started as the leader of the Farmers' Architectural Office there. Here he met fellow architect and Lillehammer native Kjell Lund, who was also a fellow graduate from the Norwegian Institute of Technology.

As youngsters, Slaatto and Lund had both wandered around Maihaugen, an open-air museum consisting of many types of old wooden farm buildings. They were influenced by this Norwegian wood architecture, adapting age-old techniques to modern production demands. An example is the "Ål cabin" in the Hallingdal Valley, designed in cooperation with Jon Haug.

In 1957 Lund and Slaatto were invited to take part in a limited competition for an extension to the Akershus County Agricultural College at Hvam. In 1958, after winning the competition, they were able to start their architectural firm "Kjell Lund and Nils Slaatto", a partnership that lasted for three decades. In 1988 the company changed its name to Lund & Slaatto Arkitekter AS. Kjell Lund remained an architect/partner of Lund & Slaatto Arkitekter AS until autumn 2002.

Works

• 1964 Asker Town Hall — one of the most important building from the mid-1960s
• 1966 The Ål cabin — became both a commercial and professional success.
• 1971 Det Norske Studentersamfund - no:Chateau Neuf
  

  Chateau Neuf
• 1976 Veritas I — Climax of Norwegian Structuralism.

Achievements

• 1962–63 Vice Chairman Oslo Architects' Association
• 1968–70 Vice-President National Federation of Norwegian Architects
• 1965–70 Member of editorial staff Bonytt
• 1968–70 Member of the board of the national Federation of Norwegian Applied Art

• 1965–68 Lecturer at the School of Architecture in Oslo
• 1965–68 Lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Norwegian University of Technology

• External examiner, lecturer and consultant for new appointments at the Architectural College
• Member of the jury for Norwegian and Scandinavian architecture competitions
  • 1968 — Pispala district, Tampere, Finland
  • 1980 — Music and Conference Centre, Pori, Finland
  • 1985 — Copenhagen Harbour, Denmark
  • 1988 — U.L.T. Newspaper/Publishing building, Västerås, Sweden

References

1. ^ Ulf Grønvold. "Nils Slaatto". http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Nils_Slaatto/utdypning. Retrieved 20 October 2009. 

Selected books on Lund & Slaatto's work

• Lund & Slaatto, by Ulf Grønvold, ISBN 82-00-02633-7
• Moe, Ingvild Simers; Eidsvolls plass og Studenterlunden En studie av byrommets funksjonelle, estetiske og symbolske kvaliteter med utgangspunkt i Lund og Slaattos engasjement på 1970- og 80-tallet, Hovedoppgave i Kunsthistorie UiO 2006

External links

• Official website (Norwegian)

Persondata
Name	Slaatto, Nils
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1923
Place of birth	Lillehammer, Norway
Date of death	2002
Place of death	Asker, Norway