Qamutit

Qamutit (Inuktitut: ᖃᒧᑏᒃ): an Inuit-designed sled for transport on snow and ice.

This conceptual sled-house exhibits a catalogue of ideas and perceptions regarding the notion of “home” dissolving the boundaries between building and environment and between building and meaning.

To regard a house as a “home” is to regard a building as a world. 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. The project reveals this ongoing research, exposing our own big question marks and giving space for reflection.
The construction of the exhibition piece is inspired by traditional Inuit building techniques, utilising the method of placing poles in accurately cut holes instead of using bolts and screws and tying methods using lashings to create self-locking knots. Traditionally, these methods were used for maximum durability; the structurally flexible joints are ideal for travelling long distances on ice and snow through the Arctic regions. The (exhibition) sledge’s “timber scaffolding” structure includes a series of solid Douglas fir panels, each with an individual’s story on the subject of home and the meanings and associations it creates for the visitors.

A catalogue of ideas and perceptions on the meaning of home

Exhibition – Panels

I believe by sharing and understanding new perceptions of home we can broaden our view of the topic. Which I believe is especially important to understand and utilize as architects in today’s globalized world, where we voluntarily or involuntarily relocate on a big scale, like the free movement in the European Union and border crossings around the world, but also more recently with the refugee crisis.

Home is a broad subject that varies from different locations and cultures. Early nomadic shelters were built and used to protect us from climates and defend against predators. Since then, the concept of home is constantly changing and adapting depending on many factors, lifestyles and cultures.
Looking back at my own history with my grand-grand parents’ move from areas of the Black Sea to Greece in the early 1920’s, and my grand parents who later moved to Sweden in the 1970’s—the subject of ‘Home’ has become a relevant topic for me.

During the past couple of years I have lived in Tanzania and Greenland and have been introduced to social ecologies and home structure that has broaden my concept of home.

I believe by sharing our wisdoms of home across cultures it can benefit our view on modern society and cities.

“[Bodil] Kaalund argues that art, far from being absent, is ubiquitous, that it is an integral part of every Eskimo product.
The Eskimo, by constitution, is an artist, which is to say that in the Eskimo view of the world nothing and everything is art. A good harpoon is a beautiful harpoon.” Pia Arke