Skagen, Denmark

'At Home in Skagen' - Architecture + Spatial Design in Denmark

The Skagen Summer School 2019 will focus on spatial design within the homes of Skagen.

The home is orchestrated and spoken of as never before in the media. But what is a home in a small Danish town and what does it mean to be at home in Skagen? Together we will explore ten homes in Skagen and add our own spatial interventions to emphasize our findings of what exactly makes these buildings and rooms a home.

The town of Skagen is the northernmost town in Denmark, located on the top of the Jutland peninsula. It is widely known for the Scandinavian artist colony ’Skagensmalerne’, who assembled and worked in Skagen from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. But it is also one of Denmark’s main fishing ports, and the unique nature in the area in addition to the large number of architectural and cultural sights attract up to two million tourists annually, making it what you might call a seasonal town. Since 1980, the population of Skagen has decreased by almost 50% and the city is currently home to around 8.000 inhabitants – a sharp contrast to the vast number of tourists that fill the streets during the summer.

The summer school "Hjemme i Skagen / At Home in Skagen" is a week's intensive workshop for architects with a focus on the town's architecture and a special focus on the homes in Skagen.

Participants will work individually or in groups to sketch, mapping, create installations/spatial interventions, photograph and finally film. The final films will be screened publicly to a wider audience in the Skagen cinema.

This is the fourth time that the association Onsdagsskolen by architect Susanne Eeg organizes an international workshop in Skagen. Each time inviting ten students and recent graduates to spend a week in Skagen to learn about the life and architecture of the small town and exploring a new spatial thesis.

The workshop is organized by the association Onsdagsskolen in collaboration with Frederikshavn Municipality, Kulturhus Kappelborg, Skagen By og Land and other local companies, associations and citizens.

HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please submit a 1 page motivational letter and a short portfolio / showreel (via a file sharing link) to: onsdagsskolen@gmail.com no later than June 14th 2019.

Please note that the number of participants is limited. Once the admission is approved, the selected participants will receive further information regarding payment of the participation fee. For general inquiries and questions regarding the 2019 summer school, please contact Susanne Eeg at onsdagsskolen@gmail.com.

The participation fee is 3.500 DKK (470€) per person and includes tuition fees, accommodation and full board.

All participants will be accommodated in a large shared house. We can only offer shared rooms (2-3 beds in each room). Communal meals will be prepared by the participants.

All participants traveling from abroad are responsible for securing any visa required.

Course leader

The course leader is architect and filmmaker Susanne Eeg
Tutors:
Professor of anthropology at KADK Kirsten Marie Raahauge
Designer and head of BA programme at KADK Tine Kjølsen
Architect Isabel Ahm
Cabinet maker Signe Lund

Target group

The Skagen summer school is open to both students and professionals with a background in relevant fields such as architecture, design, art, visual anthropology etc. or those who are interested in exploring new interdisciplinary environments. Applicants are expected to have basic experience working with spatial design.

Course aim

To kick off the workshop week we will experience the architectural history of Skagen on bikes and briefly discuss conservation, tradition and renewal with local architects. Professor of anthropology Kirsten Marie Raahauge will introduce the participants to the cultural background of the “home”. What is a home and what does it mean to be a home in Skagen? Each participant will be invited inside a home. From an apartment in Mosegården to a villa on Østre Strandvej. A rowhouse on Hans Baghs vej to a detached house in the ’Bird neighborhood’. Ten examples of homes in Skagen created in the city's various architecture and filled with a personal interior by families with different backgrounds and everyday life. Small and large homes, new and old homes, home to the many, home to the few. Where are we at home and how do we create a home? Participants will investigate this and more in the specific homes through fieldwork, mapping exercises and conversations with the families.

Hereafter the participants will each build a design object that will focus on the homeliness of each home under the guidance of architect Isabel Ahm and cabinet maker Signe Lund. Everyone will have to understand the architecture of the building, the personal decor and the family's background and everyday life in order to produce a physical object that represents the essence of the home, it can be a piece of furniture, a small design object, a decorative item or something else that emphasizes what exactly makes this building or these rooms a home.

The projects will be documented as short films, and the films will be shown in a combined program in the cinema at Kulturhuset in Skagen at a free premiere - open to all. Afterwards the films together with the design objects will be exhibited in the small building at Banegårdspladsen in Skagen for two months and will be published online at the association’s website and other relevant platforms such as Architecture Player.

Fee info

EUR 470: The participation fee is 3.500 DKK (470€) per person and includes tuition fees, accommodation and full board.