Jonathan Houser is Head of Finder Sted / Taking Place – the Bachelor’s program at the Institute of Architecture and Culture at the Royal Danish Academy.
Over the past 10 years, Jonathan has been deeply engaged with the artistic and poetic potential of absolute sustainability and humanity’s coexistence with other species. In this context, the following projects are particularly noteworthy: the realized project The Moth House (Natsværmerhuset), the second prize proposal for storm surge protection in Vejle – While We Wait for the Water (Mens Vi Venter på Vandet), and the ongoing artistic development project Infinity City, which also includes the manifesto Towards an Oceanic Architecture (Mod en oceanisk arkitektur).
Jonathan has thus worked extensively with exhibitions, including exhibiting his own works, such as The Search, which was shown at Louisiana Museum’s exhibition The Moon (Månen), as well as with written dissemination through his own practice and through his position at the Royal Danish Academy.
Through the project Miniatura, a hybrid museum built at a 1:10 scale, whose exhibitions were presented online from 2021–2023, Jonathan has worked with curation and focus on emerging artists, including collaboration with Spacegirls.
His work with museum architecture has also influenced his assignments as an architect at Lundgaard & Tranberg, where Jonathan was responsible for the winning proposal for the Museum of Danish Resistance (Frihedsmuseet) and was part of the studio’s design team for the Natural History Museum of Denmark (Statens Naturhistoriske Museum).
JONATHAN HOUSER
Biography >
Sketches for a retreat in Sweden, 2017 (In progress)
Med udgangspunkt i en svensk byggetraditionen for lader og udhuse, som man finder dem i kulturlandskabet, er det tanken at skabe et tilbagetrækningssted, hvor naturen, skoven og vandet iscenesættes.
Projektet består dels i et nyt gæstehus, som opføres på eksisterende fundament samt transformation af et eksisterende hus fra 1990’erne.
Idéen er at gæstehuset afspejler dets brug. Det er åbent og transparent om sommeren når man benytter og lukkes med skodder og porte når man tager hjem. På den måde reflekteres årets gang i husets karakter – lukket og introvert om vinteren – åben og transparent om sommeren.
Gæstehuset opleves som en mellemting der både rummer møblets skala (det store skab i skoven), bygningens skala (det lille hus) og arkitekturmodellens abstrakte udtryk. Idéen er at skabe en karakter, som kan forundre de besøgende i kraft af et underliggende kompleks af mulige associationer. De høje døre gør huset til en slags æske, som hver sommer skal åbnes.