The building for the yearly cycle – a bioclimatic and biophilic approach exemplified in the Circumpolar North

In the realm of planet Earth with its vast cyclical, shaped, natural world, this thesis challenges the prevailing ignorance of cycles in the built world and seeks to foster an awareness of these hidden potentials. Concentrating on the seasonal cycle, the approach shows how to make the most of what each season has to offer.

Searching for “The Building for the Yearly Cycle,” this thesis draws on the methodology of a design study located in the Circumpolar North – precisely Arctic Norway – due to its rich light contrasts and cycles.

With bioclimatic and biophilic guidance, it investigates and demonstrates the efficient construction and operation of buildings to conserve resources in the yearly periods of darkness, transition and brightness. It examines architectural expressions that reconnect the building’s occupants with nature throughout the year, enabling them to be part rather than victim of the seasonal forces and harshness of the environment.

Materialised into the three architectural layers, “the innermost” (the multi-purpose space), “the inhabited envelope” (the double window rethought), and “the interweaving” (the greenhouse on the roof), the design study imposes new ideas about architecture in nature and nature in architecture, benefitting from and showing the beauty and variety within the temporary.