Yatai

Hallbjørn Kjellson Hognestad & Jens Kristoffer Bøyesen Vik

The yatai was to be built from the materials from the Japanese pavilion, exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2021). An old house from Tokyo was transformed into the pavillion. But what would happen to the pavilion after the biennale? Dugnad Days, who is developing the activity house at Sletteløkka housing association, contacted the Japanese architects behind the pavilion and invited them to a voluntary co-op. They said yes, and have now designed an addition to the activity house made from the pavilion. The residents requested a coffee cart/outdoor kitchen and they needed a ladder – we implemented all these elements to the yatai.

The materials from the Tokyo house gives the yatai a material connection to the new building, but will also be a symbol of reuse and the possibilities in transformation. The materiality tells the history of the yatai and gives it an identity which is clarified by its wheelbarrow wheels – a symbol of the Nordic spirit of voluntary work. The blackboard paint was the finishing touch as a playful gesture to the children.

The concept, functions and form were developed and implemented by collaboration through discussion, sketching and 3D-modelling. The Yatai was completed in three intense and exciting weeks.