The Svalbard Governor Administration Building was designed by Einar Jarmund and Hakon Vigsnaes, which was completed in 1998. The building is located approximately 400 m above the sea, and has a view overlooking the Advent Fjord towards the northeast, the Is Fjord towards the west and the Longyear Valley towards the east. Located nearby is the governor’s estate built in 1950, together they comprise the governor’s headquarters.
This administrative building is faced with extremes of temperature and light that would be difficult for any architect. The project is a complex for the governor of the most northerly regularly-inhabited settlement in the world. Jarmund Vigsnaes Architects has produced some exquisite private houses in rural conditions, but had not previously built anything in a wasteland like this. Not only must the building be insulated against the vicious temperatures as low as -50º C winter, but it must also respond to the sun.
(more…)