Mari Owrenns Portfolio

I, ARCHITECT

2011-03-07T20:26:00.002+01:00

Welcome to the site for my architectural work and art. Here you will find projects I have done at school, during internship and freelance, and som selected art work. Please have a look and enjoy!

School has for me been a tool to develop my sketching process, whilst work is where I have learned "the real life."

In my work experience I have worked in a range of scales, from retail concepts, offices and private villas to larger scale architecture and city planning. The last couple of years I have been working with sustainable architecture and energy efficient buildings. I have experience from stages SD, DD and CD in several projects.

I attained my diploma in 2008 from the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. During my diploma years in school, where I was tutored by Anders Wilhelmson and Chris Thurlbourne, I have worked on parametric projects that are highly conceptual and involve both large scale planning and design details.

I am an active and creative person with a passion for yoga, gymnastics and longboard as well as art, science and music. Some may call me eclectic but I choose to use my wide range of interests to generate inspiration and creativity. Among other things this made me start the collaborative blog www.pokk.se, learn photography from scratch and led me into working with the eye of a scientist. I am a keen traveller and I enjoy being a part of an international environment.

WORK AT RB

2011-03-07T20:07:00.006+01:00

Villa UH1:
Proposal for a new residential area close to Stockholm:
Two residential houses for Norra Djurgårdsstaden in Stockholm:

Proposal for vacation apartments in the Swedish mountains:
Summer house for three families:

SKETCHES OF BOREDOM

2009-05-15T21:15:00.002+02:00

All made by waiting for something. 0.1 felt pen in my calendar.

SELECTED SKETCHES

2009-05-15T21:00:00.004+02:00

DIPLOMA PROJECT - SKETCHING

2009-03-22T14:09:00.003+01:00

Sketch models made with base in analysis, working with the concept of displacing.

Displacement along objects own axis.

Displacement within objects own boundaries.

Displacement on a "site" of verticallity.

Four rules for displacement in architecture.

First sketch model working with displacement and temporary living.

Registrating displacement in drawing.

Interpreting displacement from models and registration drawing.

Entire sketch process can be viewed at my diploma sketch site: http://displacing.mono.net/

DIPLOMA PROJECT - ANALYSIS

2009-03-22T12:55:00.006+01:00

Map of site. The Risskov forest is situated north of Aarhus city center, and is an entirely planned park that gives the impression of being a natural forest.

First visit through Google Earth. I saw similar situations repeated at different places and worked with this graphically.

First IRL visit to the site. I took my bike and camera and tried to find what I saw on Google Earth.

The route seen on the film, interpreted graphically.

Mappings of the forest from left to right: Existing activities happening today, occupied places where buildings and activities are situated, available places where there is only trees today, layered mapping of activities, occupied and avaiable place.

Entire sketch process can be viewed at my diploma sketch site: http://displacing.mono.net/

DIPLOMA PROJECT - FILMS

2009-03-22T12:21:00.004+01:00

First and second IRL visit. I took my bike and my camera out on two different days, a tuesday morning and a sunday afternoon, to find similarities and differences in light, density of people, sounds and moods. I had a specific route I followed both times, and one can see that situations almost overlap eachother in the two films.

An analytic film over Risskov working with the concepts of layer, displacement, repetition and movement. The two films show these concepts on occupied vs available places.

Sketch models working with displacement. Nr 1: displacement along the objects own axis, nr 2: displacement within the objects own boundaries, nr 3: a combination of the two first displacements on a "site" of verticality.
These investigations lead to the idea of four different types of displacement. Model nr 4 shows the first attempt to setting the rules for this. Model nr 5 shows the first attempt to making architecture for temporary living.

INFO CENTER FOR THE NEW DENMARK

2008-04-27T20:20:00.030+02:00

Denmark has got a new political structure, and this project is an info center for the opening of the so-called "new Denmark." We worked in groups of four people, where each group member had his or her main focus, though we developed the concept together and discussed each others focus areas.
The whole center is temporary and smaller parts are supposed to be transported out to smaller towns. We made an event out of the transportation of these smaller parts by making the roof as a zeppelin that is flying out to the smaller towns with parts of the center. The floor and wall construction is what's left on site when the zeppelin flys out.
My focus was furniture and space in the café/kitchen area, and the system of changable walls in the center.
The walls are made of 1x3m wooden elements that can be restructured depending on happenings like conference, small meetings, concerts, dinners ++ during the festive week.

Group work with M.Thomsen, J.K. Olesen, T.R.Søndergaard

THE DISPLACING - DIPLOMA

2008-04-27T20:11:00.012+02:00

The project was about different grades of temporary living in the Risskov forest north of Århus city center. I worked with the story of the place, and I also took great inspiration from my earlier work in school, the toolbook. I started out by investigating Risskov through Google Earth and making a graphical analysis of it. Since I, as every Århus citizen, know this forest very well, I had an idea of situations repeating themselves on different places, and I made collages to show this repetition as displacement. I simply took a picture of a place and repeated it slightly off its own course; this is what I called displacing. I also visited the site in real life and made films with the same method. On Google Earth one can see some areas where the vegetation differs from the surroundings, and when visiting these places I found that they are relatively newly planted areas, and that the trees are planted in a grid system. This grid has given me directions for the final buildings and structures. The places where a function already was situated became the occupied places, and the places with only planted trees became the available places.

Both north and south of the forest there are private housing areas. IN the forest, there is a hostel and a small “farm,” and also a restaurant and a community center. At the southern end of the forest a homeless person has made a hut of cut down branches, and that is where he lives. Based on these spots of dwelling I chose to work with different grades of temporary living, some only for a few hours, others for several months. The first and last are the simplest ones, the middle (number four) is the most complex. They all connect to the routes of movement through the forest.

When a unit is totally closed it is available for occupants. In this situation it occupies as little space on the site as possible. The moment someone opens up the first component in a unit it reveals a door and is ready for occupation. This is common for ALL units on ALL sites. Once a unit gets an occupant it physically occupies more space. Unit number 1 has movement/displacing in one direction, unit 2 in two directions, unit 3 in three and unit 4 in four. Unit 4 is therefore the most complex one.
Several units can be connected in the most complex versions. Every unit is build of 6 60cm wide wall components, connected and placed on rails to move on. This construction is held by beams, and house jacks adjust to the landscape below to avoid nature destroying fuondations

Watch the analytic films.

exploded view of a complex unit
perspective view from one of the sites

Plan situations from availablie (upper left) to totally occupied (lower right)

combined plan of two complex units

cross section of a spatial situation in the most complex unit

final model photos. left: closed/available. right: open/occupied

Read more about the work process at the diploma homepage, which was constantly updated untill the project finished in june 2008.

link: http://displacing.mono.net/

SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHS

2008-03-20T23:35:00.013+01:00

TOOLBOOK

2008-03-19T13:52:00.020+01:00

photos 1 and 2: me, from the schools spring exhibition

photo 3: Aage Lund Jensen (school photographer)

film: me

The toolbook was made with inspiration from previous works in drawing and film. My concepts were mirroring, repetition, pattern and movement. The book consists of four pages, each depending and affecting the next and the previous page. The four pages together form a kind of game, where the rules are halveing the frame and adding a new type of hinge to every page. That meaning every page has the same hinge as the previous plus one more. The four pages can be doubled and mirrored. Page nr 5 is similar to page nr 4, 6 to 3 a.s.o. This can, in theory, go on for ever.
Please watch film for deeper understanding.

OFFICE: EDITING ROOM

2008-02-20T12:18:00.010+01:00

I made a new room for film editing for an office in Gamla Stan (Old Town) in Stockholm. The house is more than 200 years old and is reconned a culture memory. There was permission to build one new room in a corner of the main room. Minimum space and access to the kitchen were my limitations. Windows and a glazed door provide daylight in the entrance area. The glass is sound proof to prevent noise leaks to the rest of the office.

YOUR LIFE WITH A DOG -private housing project-

2008-01-16T17:55:00.006+01:00

image 1: the site gives an unwelcoming feeling, like a prison corridor
image 2: the concepts of a corridor
image 3: plan lay out
image 4: sketch models

I did a term of exchange at KTH Architecture and followed Anders Wilhelmsons course "Your life with a dog." We were asked to do a living place for the modern family. The famous “Red Row” in Saltsjö-Duvnäs is where we were supposed to make our house. These row houses were build in 1968-70 and they are strongly influenced by the time and social situation, and formally by Danish architecture. The young architecture office ELLT won the competetion of building here, and have become famous because of this. The “Red Row” is now the most expencive row houses in Sweden; one house costs about five million Swedish kronor (2005). The houses are privatly owned and the common areas are shared between the houses, wich means nothing is really public.
The house we were asked to make was a "villa" for a modern family, no matter of size, background or connections. This is because the so called nuclear family no longer excists in its original context. Allmost no person marries only once and forever and has two children with the same partner. We are talking about the "post nuclear families." This is though not the only tendency of our time; homosexual couples are now allowed to marry in many countries, and even adopt children. People also travel a lot more than earlier and meeting their partners in other countries and form multinational families.

The privateness at this place is quite special because it is absolute; the gardens are sorrounded by tall, solid fences that allowes noone to look into the gardens or the houses. The houses turn their faces toward the central path, but cover and protect themselves as if they were so treasurous that they would lose their value if someone not worthy saw them. The gardens turn their backs to the common area in the middle, and the path between the gardens feels like a hospital corridor.
The site we were given is at the car parking, where there is a small and empty square only used for trash materials. This is the vacuum between the houses. Noone uses it as anything else than “The Back,” it is ignored and does not exist in peoples minds.

I tried to animate the site through the concept "corridor-house." I tried to make the corridor livable as well as to provoke people to stop ignoring the place.

INTERNSHIP

2008-01-16T16:59:00.005+01:00

I did my intership for 1,5 years at RB Architecture in Stockholm, and this is also my current work place. These are some of the projects I collaborated on. I helped with building models, CADing, sketching, rendering/photoshoping, helping newer assistants, developing competition proposals and much more.

Glass House in Borås, competition proposal
Folding Houses, Nacka Sweden
Quick Office, Älvsjö (Stockholm) Sweden
Villa UH1, Nacka Sweden
Villa A, Enebyberg Sweden
Villa Lean, Tyresö Sweden

RENOVATION OF BATHROOM

2007-12-12T23:38:00.004+01:00

Renovation of a small bathroom in an apartment in central Stockholm. New surfaces and bathroom fittings, and new plan according to the moving of pipes.
Walls are fully tiled with white 10x10cm tiles, floor and side of bathtub are tiled with white translucent mosaic tiles. Spotlights in the ceiling makes the main lighting. A half wall was build for the wc-fixture, and the top can also be used as a shelf. The arch of the existing niche was straightened out, and a new wash basin with cupboards was placed in this niche. The niche has tiled walls and a full size mirror on the back wall, and spotlights in the "ceiling".

FICTION / NON-FICTION

2007-05-13T13:14:00.003+02:00

Trying to capture the concept fiction/non-fiction without photoshopping.
2005

SWEET KISS THE MORNING FEVER

2007-05-09T21:31:00.003+02:00

An oil colour painting I made inspired by an old photograph in a 70's magazine and a refrigerator magnet poem.
Acetone print and oil colour. Made 2003.

ARAB-DANISH CULTURE INSTITUTE

2007-05-06T17:58:00.003+02:00

My bachelor project. I was working with overlapping structures like movements, sight lines, the core of the place, introvert/extrovert, horizontal/vertical and contrasts.

overlapping structures of movement
concept plan: a core surrounded by chaos
concept section: horizontality broken by one heavy vertical core
model photos

THE SCREEN

2007-05-06T17:26:00.006+02:00

A pre-study for the Arab-Danish Culture Intitute

A play with the three dimesional screen. In Islamic culture the use of symbols and religious pictures is prohibited, and therefore ornamentation is widely used in the arabic architecture. The screen is used for filtering daylight, both to prevent direct sun light and to provide sufficient daylight indoors.
We were asked to do a screen suppused to be in the Arab-Danish Institute, between building and garden, and make a link between the Arabic culture and the Danish culture.
The metal grills are placed in the structure without a specific rule or direction. This created an interplay; an "accidental" ornamentation and layers of pattern, light/shadows and density.

We worked with the concepts depth, light/shadow, ornament, accidental pattern, gradual passage, lightness in the massive, optical illusion, density/openness, outside/inside, contrasts.

Group work with S. Joys.

LEISURE AT AARHUS HARBOUR

2007-05-06T16:58:00.004+02:00

illustration: c.o. mejborn

illustrations: t.b.øien

model: the group, photo: me

Aarhus Harbour is changing from pure industry to a part of the city. This workshop builds on the winning contribution of the architectural contest that has been going on.
In this proposal there is a big empty square -approximatly 100x100m- at the north edge of the pier, and this was our project area.

Our idea was to make something that can be used all year round, and that underlines the actual edge between land and water. We placed a huge stone block diagonally on the edge, like it was stranded there. It forms three different kinds of places: Behind the block, on the edge and in the water line. BEHIND the stone is the warm midday sun and the stone creates a wall that protects against the wind. ON the edge is where one can feel the edge the strongest, because the harbour and the stone block cuts through eachother. This cut forms a bench to sit on and enjoy the view. IN the water line is where one gets in contact with the water, and this is never a clear line, due to the tide and the waves constantly moving this border between land and water. They also underlines the diogonality of the stone block.

Group work with C.O Mejborn, T.B Øien, C.R Thybo.

MOBILE KITCHEN

2007-05-06T16:30:00.004+02:00

FOR A FOREST KINDERGARTEN.
Sketch and work process project.

The ideology of the forest kindergarten is to teach the children how to live with and use the nature around them, and this ideology is what we searched to strengthen. The idea was to make every child feel important in the cooking situation. Hard shell like backpacks promotes a team spirit and the feeling of being a part of something. They are thought to come in five different colours and three different sizes. The shells have a bug inspired pattern.

Every child carries something for the cooking in its own backpack. The smallest children may carry some carrots, the older some wood, and the grown ups carry the heavier equipment.
The backpack is made of a hard plastic shell and a softer back that can be demounted. The shell can be used as a stool, a bucket or whatever the children would think of. It is easy to clean as well.

Group work with S.Furbo, S.Bro and C.Hansegaard.

SPACE ACTIVATOR

2007-05-04T20:38:00.004+02:00

The task was to activate or re-activate a space at the school area. We worked in groups of three, and found where, what and how we would solve the problem ourselves.
The space we chose is a staircase, or more accurate; in the empty vertical space in the middle of a staircase. This "hole" has a beautiful, almost triangular shape that noone notices. The staircase is seldom used by teachers and students, it is a dead area at school. All sounds are very loud due to the bear walls and it is impossible to have a conversation here. That is maybe why it is never used by people?

We made an installation to make people notice the space, and stop for a short while and take a look up to the top. The installation reflects the shape of the hole, moves in a vertical loop and therefore activates the former dead space. Every little part of the construction holds it in place; remove one and everything falls apart.
A pair of metal legs and a string holds a motor at the top that runs a loop made of a film strip, and a film wheel at the bottom stabilates the movement. If one looks closely, one will notece the changing image of the film loop. The windows on each floor are very different from each other and therefore the light on each floor is also very changing. This is reflected in the glossyness of the film strip.

Group work with S. Bro and H. Ebbesen.

METAMORPHOSIS OF THE BEAN POD

2007-05-03T22:32:00.005+02:00

The first year at Aarhus School of Architecture we concentrated on learning the concepts of architecture, having themes as room, form, context aso.

This is the project where I worked with the concept FORM, and this is the project wich first made me understand how I want to work with architecture. The form came from studies of a bean pod, using its concepts of double curved surfaces, elasticity, fragileness and protective function.

The construction consists of three (in mathematical terms called parabolic hyperbola) double curved grids made of wooden pins with a rectangular section. These pins are joined by tiny rubber bands to keep the construction in place and at the same time being elastic. As surface material I used white nylon stretch fabric and sand papered plexi glass peices to represent the elastic and at the same time fragile quality of the bean pod. Inside the construction one can vaguely see a fragile glass pyramide which is protected by the outer "pyramide" construction.

Note: take a look at this project which uses the same construction as I did in this project.

Curriculum Vitae Mari Owrenn

2007-05-03T21:49:00.008+02:00

WORK EXPERIENCE
08/2011 - present: Project Architect at pS Architecture, Stockholm, Sweden
08/2009-06/2011: Architect at RB Architecture, Stockholm, Sweden.
08/2008- 06/2009: Designer at Blink AB, Stockholm, Sweden.
06/2008 -06/2009: Translator for Korsgaard EDB, Aarhus, Denmark. Part time.
08/2006-06/2007: Extended internship at RB Architecture, Stockholm, Sweden.
02/2006-06/2006: Internship at RB Architecture, Stockholm, Sweden.
05/2006-09/2006: Extra work at the clothing store Blammo, Stockholm, Sweden.
05-07/2005: Market analysist at Aalund Research in Aarhus, Denmark. Summer job.
07/2004: Receptionist at Fylkesmannen i Oppland in Lillehammer, Norway. Summer job.
05/2002-08/2002: Part time at Mays Kantine in Gjøvik, Norway. Summer job.
10/2000-05/2002: Part time at Kåres Kiosk og Gatekjøkken, Bøverbru, Norway.
10/1996-06/2001: Flute teacher in Reinsvoll Skolekorps, Reinsvoll, Norway.

EDUCATION
09/2007-06/2008: Master at Aarhus school of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark. Department for Aesthetics. Tutor Chris Thurlbourne.
02/2006-06/2006: Internship at RB Architecture in Stockholm, Sweden.
09/2005-01/2006: KTH Architecture in Stockholm, Sweden. Exchange semester. Tutor Anders Wilhelmson.
09/2002-06/2005: Aarhus School of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark. Department for Design and Department for Aesthetics. Bachelor degree from the Department for Aesthetics. Tutor Lars Due.
08/2001-05/2002: Toneheim Folkehøgskole in Hamar, Norway. Private music school with flute as main instrument. Teacher Anne-Lill Larsen Ree.
08/1998-06/2001: Tranberg High School in Gjøvik, Norway. Mathematics, physics, german and spanish.

COMPUTER SKILLS
Microsoft: Word, XL, Powerpoint
Mac OS X: Word, Powerpoint, iMovie, iDVD
Adobe: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, PremierPro, basics in Flash and Dreamweaver
Autodesk: 3D Studio VIZ/3Dstudio MAX, AutoCad 2D and 3D
Other: Rhinoceros 3D, V-Ray for Rhinoceros Render, SketchUp 3D, V-Ray for Sketchup Render, basics in ArchiCad 2D and 3D, VectorWorks 2D and 3D

LANGUAGE SKILLS
Fluent oral and written: Norwegian (mother tounge), Swedish, Danish, English
Basic oral and written: German, Spanish

WEB SITES
www.pokk.se
www.cargocollective.com/mariowrenn
my linkedin profile

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
Music, drawing and painting, photography and longboard are my main hobbies. I have been playing the flute since I was eight and trained gymnastics since I was nine. I have drawn and painted all my life and become quite experienced at it. The later years I have also grown a big interest for photography and I have been increasing my analogue photography lately, and this is something I wish to develop further.
Other interests I have are litterature, philosophy, science, animals (dogs in particular) and travelling.

DATE OF BIRTH
July 22nd 1982 in Norway