The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. From the exhibition. The bust of Ivar Aasen looks out over the valley. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. From the exhibition. The bust of Ivar Aasen looks out over the valley. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. From the book exhibition, view down into the library. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. The mascot cat, Lurivar, pays a visit to tell children about books and language. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. The children get to try different writing tools. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. Typewriter in the exhibition. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. The library. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. The mascot cat, Lurivar, pays a visit to tell children about books and language. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. From the exhibition on languages. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. From the exhibition. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. Detail of end facade, the glass wall in the cafeteria. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. Side door of the auditorium, from the approach side. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. Side door of the auditorium, the far side. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. The new stage covering for the outdoor amphitheatre. Photo: Are Carlsen

The Ivar Aasen Centre, Ørsta, by Sverre Fehn. 2000. The building meets the landscape. Photo: Are Carlsen



The commission to design the Ivar Aasen Centre was given to Sverre Fehn by the then Minister for Culture, Åse Kleveland, as an honorary assignment. The building was completed in 2000. The Centre contains a collection of Ivar Aasen’s belongings and a cultural centre for Nynorsk or New Norwegian, the formal dialect constructed by Aasen in the late 1800’s on the basis of his studies into rural Norwegian linguistics.

The building is dug into the hillside next to Aasen’s birthplace in Hovdebygda, and the clear structure gives form to Aasen’s work: “The space takes the form of entering between the pages of a book”, Fehn wrote in Byggekunst no. 1-2001.