Mirrored Toilet Block on Norwegian Coastline by MORFEUS Arkitekter

The Norwegian coastline is rugged and formidable and at times terribly desolate. Vesterålen, Sortland, Norway is no exception. Here, Nature’s craggy mountains meet a harsh, and unforgiving sea. A reflective building sheathed in mirror and designed by the Norwegian architects MORFEUS Arkitekter, sits in the shadow of a rock formation referred to as Bukkekjerka, an old Sami pagan sacrificial site. It is a place steeped in history, religious meaning, burial mounds and Viking boat landings.

“When we first came to the site we were struck by the beauty of the place, and by its diversity; a dramatic landscape where the fierce North Sea meets the shore and later steep mountains,” said the architects. “We wanted to highlight these different places by introducing several and dispersed elements to the site.”

The main part of the building is made from folded concrete slabs, inspired by the jagged mountain peaks in the area. Their goal was that the project should appear more like the landscape and sculptural elements and less like a building. Whilst the entire project consists of different elements, parking and service functions to the north, freestanding bench seats on the mountains, picnic areas and so forth, it is the service building with the one-way mirror glass which piques the interest.’

Designed around the views from vernacular Norwegian outhouses, the building, aside from the mirrored exterior, consists of polished, acid-resistant steel. A visitor to the bathrooms is in the unique position of being in an intimate space whilst surveying the extraordinary expansive views over the open sea and mountain peaks of the north. The mirror, of course, is the magician of building materials, elusive and slippery. It is never itself, but the image it reflects. In this case, the mirror is a reflection of the remote and harsh landscape that surrounds the building, making it appear to morph into the very landscape it reflects.

“The mirroring makes the built melt in with the surroundings, at the same time offering new and shifting experiences,” said the architects.

This was a challenging project for MORFEUS Arkitekter. The weather conditions, the remoteness of the site, the hard slog of the build. But it is unique projects like this, ones that reach the furthest landscapes of our globe, that support not just the visitors who journey there but the very people who call it home.