Experimental
Glass Model. 1:20
The experimental model is an addition to the Qaammat Pavilion that was developed to further analyse and demonstrate alternative construction techniques utilising 3D print glass while also highlighting variations in visual appearance, aesthetics, and transparency. The Qaammat pavilion was built with solid casted glass blocks that were handcrafted in a traditional way by the Murano-based glass manufacturer WonderGlass. Each block was cast in a metal mould that imparts a textured surface that creates variability in the reflections of the surroundings. The intention of the experimental glass model was not to replicate the block system employed in the construction of the Qaammat but rather to explore different aesthetics characterised by layers, patterns, and a surface amenable to 3D printing.
The model was displayed as part of the Qaammat pavilion’s process materials during the 2023 Venice Glass Week.
Venice Glass Week
The Qaammat will be exhibited at two venues during Vencie Glass Week, one with the glass manufacturer “HOUSE OF GLASS: THE BRICK HOUSE” at the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose and the other at Castello Gallery with a group of glass artists under the theme THE ICE FURNACE.
“In HOUSE OF GLASS: The Brick House, WonderGlass presents a world of creative opportunity accessible via material innovation of the brick. From extraordinary glass brick buildings – materially robust, visually immaterial – to pioneering concepts in furniture design finding new expressions of modularity through aggregative brick-by-brick construction. HOUSE OF GLASS: The Brick House presents the transformative power of glass meeting the formative power of the brick.” Location: Palazzo Donà dalle Rose
“The ICE FURNACE will focus on the organic aesthetic of the GLASS & ICE highlighting the visual proximity of the materials through transparency, viscosity, and texture, in relation to the generative or destructive element of FIRE.” curated by Costanza Longanesi Cattani
Location: Castello GalleryPhoto: Julien Lanoo
Film: The Pavilion
“Aannguaq Reimer-Johansen / Greenland / 2023 / 10 min / World Premiere
“An architect’s sculptural work intervenes in the Greenlandic nature of which it is itself a product on the country’s western coast. A construction that becomes a reflection on the natural conditions from which it springs.
High up in the cliffs and facing the sea in Sarfannguit in western Greenland, architect Konstantin Ikonomidis is working on a curved pavillion built of ice blocks the size of bricks, laid out in an ingenious system according to strict mathematical principles. An almost sculptural monument, it is at once a man-made intervention in the frozen and rugged rocky landscapes of the wild, and a product of the very raw material and condition of that same nature: the ice that is now melting. The story of the construction of the Qaammat Pavilion is told by Ikonomidis, who shares his thoughts on its construction, and his hopes for the future of his work and the vast country around it.” CPH:DOX
"An architect’s sculptural work intervenes in the Greenlandic nature of which it is itself a product on the country’s western coast. A construction that becomes a reflection on the natural conditions from which it springs.” MUBI
Book:
Architizer: The World's Best Architecture
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Architizer
Awards
Awards
2022: Architizer A+Awards Popular Choice Winner in the Pavilions category.
2022: The International Architecture Award® By The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.
Shortlisted
2023: Ethical Architecture Awards
2022: Dezeen Awards 2022 design
How to translate a conceptual
idea into reality?
To construct in the arctic doesn’t come without challenges, especially with temperatures far below zero inside the Artic circle which constricted the construction to a small window of summer months, blizzards, and a difficult to access, rocky terrain. Limited access to the site required the transport of building materials by boat and an all terrain bike. The completion of the project with modest financial resources required research, experimentation and a dedicated construction team.
Konstantin’s upcoming lecture for architecture students at the INDA, a four-year pre-professional Bachelor of Science in Architectural Design programme at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, will focus on the process of translating a conceptual notion into reality.
Opening
After a long process of developing, prototyping and constructing the glass pavilion, the construction tent has funnily been removed and the pavilion can be viewed from a distance. A red ribbon was added and cut by the chairman of Sarfanngiut and the architect, with speeches from the Sisimiut museum and the UNESCO site manager.
October 3rd, 2021, in Sarfannguit, Greenland
Prototyping
Big thanks to DREYERS FOND for supporting the journey that enabled me to discover and comprehend the nature of glass as a construction material in order to build the Qaammat Pavilion.
A 1:1 mock up of the pavilion was built to understand better how to apply optimally the adhesive in a simulated arctic environment.
Finding an adhesive that could meet both the structural and aesthetic requirements was essential for the project. The adhesive had to be fast curing, simple to apply, and long lasting in extreme temperatures. Glass researcher Faidra Oikonomopoulou, Telesilla Bristogianni and Mariska van der Velden from TU Delft Glass Group known for their expertise in structural glass provided advice and participated in the construction. In order to find the most appropriate adhesives shear-tests were conducted to determine the strength of the bond between adhesives and glass blocks at TU Delft’s glass laboratory.
Community
glass workshop
How do we construct with glass, and how do we bind it?
The knowledge acquired while constructing the Qaammat Pavilion was shared in a one-day workshop in Sarfannguit, where a glass cairn was built. The location of the cairn was chosen by the participants, on a bolder top that indicates the direction to the glass pavilion from a distance. Kloe Anderson of Sarfannguit has been assisting in the construction of the pavilion and has learned the process of building with glass lead. The Workshop was founded by NAPA – The Nordic Institute in Greenland, a cultural institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers and is situated in Greenland's capital Nuuk.
HOME
Exhibition - Sisimiut Museum
August 4-21 2021
The exhibition reveals Konstantin's ongoing research, exposing our own big question marks and giving space for reflection on the notion of home.
Home is a broad subject that varies and is influenced by geographical and cultural factors. Early nomadic shelters were built and used to protect us from harsh climates and defend against predators. Since then, the concept of home has been constantly changing and adapting depending on many factors, such as lifestyle, culture, and events.
Qamutit
Exhibition
Nuuk, Greenland 2019
A conceptual sledge-house that exhibits a catalogue of ideas and perceptions regarding the notion of ‘home’, dissolving the boundaries between building and environment and between building and meaning.
Qamutit Home seeks to strip the idea of a house from its formal expression and to stimulate dialogue between itself and the audience by inviting visitors to share and further develop the concept of the home and its subtleties.
Health & Architecture
Konstantin has a background working in the field of architectural research and has played a key role in the development of prototype houses that seek to prevent the transmission of malaria-borne diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. The Healthy Home Project was initiated by architect Jakob Knudsen and paediatrician Lorenz Von Seidlein.
The house prototypes were developed based on a study on thermal comfort conducted in rural areas of The Gambia, Tanzania, the Philippines, and Thailand. Three studies were made on the prototyoe houses: an entomological study to compare and record the entrance of mosquitoes; a climatic study to measure the thermal comfort under a bednet in bedrooms; and an acceptance study. The study was published in The Lancet, Planetary Health, Volume 1, No. 5, e188–e199, August 2017.