At the outset, the architect envisaged a building that was an interpretation of Hamsun's literature and which he described as a character out of Hamsun:
"The building is like a body, a battlefield for invisible forces [...]. The building is conceived as an archetypal and intense concentration of space and light, rendered concrete as a Hamsun figure in an architectural context. Strange and phenomenal experiences in space perspective and light provide an inspiring framework for the exhibition."