Exhi­bition tip: Som­merhus / Holiday Home

For more than 100 years, vacation homes have been a play­ground for archi­tects. They have given them the freedom to dream, expe­riment and let their ima­gi­nation run wild. Moreover, as a result of the pan­demic, many holi­day­makers have redis­co­vered the vacation home and a real boom has emerged.

The exhi­bition SOMMERHUS /HOLIDAY HOME at the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark (until January 8, 2023) on the one hand conveys a journey through the archi­tecture and history of vacation homes — from the cozy log cabin to the vacation palace, to a future with small, sus­tainable houses.

On the other hand, it also cri­ti­cally explores various ques­tions. Because: according to the curator, many of the modern “vacation palaces” have lost any sense of land­scape and any con­nection to the his­toric vacation homes that have been built since the early 20th century.

Diversity and empathy with nature are, in the cura­tor’s view, two important cha­rac­te­ristics of Danish vacation home archi­tecture. However, in her view, the deve­lo­pment in recent years raises the question of why we build vacation homes today. “They have become gro­tes­quely large, and many vacation home deve­lo­p­ments resemble neigh­bor­hoods of single-family homes where the owners live their normal lives. Deca­dence and con­formity are both pro­blems,” says Line Nørskov Eriksen, director of exhi­bi­tions at the Uzton Center and curator of the exhi­bition SOMMERHUS.

So what can vacation homes do that year-round occupied homes can’t? And are we approa­ching them the right way?

“Archi­tecture is a slow art, and both time and budget are limiting factors. However, there is a sense, espe­cially among young archi­tects, that sus­taina­bility is no longer just a sty­listic device, but a given. Their work points to a future with more trees, fewer lawns, tem­porary housing deve­lo­p­ments, fewer square feet, and more climate-fri­endly mate­rials. We hope the exhi­bition will be a source of inspi­ration. It shows a whole range of amazing vacation homes,” Line Nørskov Eriksen con­tinues.

What you can see in the exhi­bition

The exhi­bition offers the oppor­tunity to expe­rience the his­to­rical deve­lo­pment of vacation homes in Denmark, also from an archi­tec­tural per­spective in their scale — in the case of the “A45” designed by BIG for Live­Klein, even to scale.

On display are old and new classics by the likes of Arne Jacobsen, Anton Rosen, Vilhelm Wolert, Friis og Moltke, Erik Kor­s­hagen, Mette Lange, Praksis Arki­tekter, Karen Kjær­gaard, Kim Len­schow, Søren Pihlmann, OS Arki­tekter, Len­dager Group and Claus Bonderup. As well as the A45, designed by BIG for Live­Klein.