asBUILT 07 - Carl-Viggo Holmebakk - Asker Mortuarium and Crematorium (Upon Request)

 The Asker mortuary (built) and the Asker crematorium (not built) exemplify the position of this rather unclear border of tolerance. An investigation of this area becomes one of the main topics in Martin Braathen’s essay as he reflects on several key issues in Hølmebakk’s work. Does architecture come into being when the project is completed in the mind of the architect, or at the moment it is realized as a physical object and conditions human activity? He concludes, “Architecture’s ‘architecturehood’ is for Hølmebakk contained neither in the built object nor in the drawn representation (as with pictorial art). Rather, it occurs in the perceiving subject only. Architecture is performative, and this performance is played out in the mind.”