HESJE.
Temporary Pavilion Participatory Process with Kaspar Asylum Seekers Centre and Norwegian Theatre Academy Scenography Students.

Hesje refers to a vernacular wooden structure traditionally used by fishermen along the Norwegian coast to dry fish near the shoreline. Simple in form yet highly efficient, the hesje represents an archetypal frame in which construction knowledge, climate adaptation, and seasonal rhythms converge.

Inspired by this typology, a temporary pavilion was conceived, designed, and constructed within the asylum seekers centre of Kaspar, Norway. The project was developed during a two-week workshop involving six BA scenography students from the Norwegian Theatre Academy, in close collaboration with the inhabitants and with the support of the Kaspar Asylum Seekers Centre.

Rather than importing an external architectural language, the project operates through translation. The hesje archetype is reinterpreted as a spatial framework capable of hosting events, gatherings, and seasonal celebrations, while remaining open, adaptable, and collectively maintained.

Mediate - HESJE mediates by transferring vernacular construction knowledge into a contemporary pedagogical and social context. The pavilion functions as a shared learning device in which students and residents exchange skills, practices, and cultural references through the act of building together.
Mediation here is embodied and material: knowledge circulates through tools, joints, gestures, and collective labor rather than through instruction or representation.

Activate - The project activates the asylum seekers centre by creating a space designed to host events and collective moments throughout the year. Rather than responding to emergency through temporary solutions alone, HESJE establishes a place for continuity, ritual, and shared use within an otherwise transitional environment. Activation occurs through construction and use: the pavilion becomes meaningful through occupation, maintenance, and repetition over time.

HESJE does not frame participation as a social program, but as a spatial and epistemic process.
By translating a vernacular structure into a collective act of making, the project constructs a shared space where knowledge, culture, and presence are transmitted through form.