Three were originally invited to draw up plans for a ?Nordic? pavilion: the Finnish partnership Reima and Raili Pietilä, Sverre Fehn from Norway, and the Swede, Klas Anshelm. Following the selection of Fehn?s proposal in 1959, Gotthard Johansson wrote in the Svenska Dagbladet of the project?s ?stunning simplicity [...], without too many architectural overtones?[1] ? a proposal for a space able to unite a triumvirate of nations under one (exceptional) roof.

The Nordic Pavilion (Giardini, Venice). Image © Åke E:son Lindman

Three were originally invited to draw up plans for a ?Nordic? pavilion: the Finnish partnership Reima and Raili Pietilä, Sverre Fehn from Norway, and the Swede, Klas Anshelm. Following the selection of Fehn?s proposal in 1959, Gotthard Johansson wrote in the Svenska Dagbladet of the project?s ?stunning simplicity [...], without too many architectural overtones?[1] ? a proposal for a space able to unite a triumvirate of nations under one (exceptional) roof.
The Nordic Pavilion (Giardini, Venice). Image © Åke E:son Lindman

Over five decades later the 'Nordic Pavilion' (as it would only later become known) has come to reflect, consolidate and embody Nordic architectural traditions. Look a little deeper, however, and it becomes clear that Fehn actually sought to invert them entirely. In place of heavy timber beams Fehn chose slender concrete lamellae, pigmen...