The Kautokeino Cultural Centre is situated on the outskirts of the Kautokeino town centre, in an area with scattered buildings. It is located on a flat plain and a partially developed slope arises behind the building. The building was one of the first large building projects that attempted to stick to Sámi culture - to accommodate the local conditions, both climatically and culturally, in the heart of Sámi country. This building comprises the most important cultural institutions in Kautokeino: library, cinema and theatre hall, Nordic Sámi Institute and the Norwegian Broadcasting System's (NRK) premises. In addition there are other various centres, for example recreational centres for youth.

Cultural centres were a relatively new type of facility in the 1970s, and emerged as an extension of the community centre from the previous decades. This type of building was the object for architectural experimentation in the 1970s, particularly in the 1980s. The Kautokeino Cultural Building was one of these experimental projects. The point of departure for this building resulted after the Norwegian government, in the 1970s, granted a large amount of funding to the cultural enterprise of the interior region of Finnmark. Therefore the Sámi populace decided to erect a community centre in order to develop and promote the Sámi culture.

The form of the building is based on a square and arises around a central post. On three sides of the building, a large roof slopes downwards from the central point. The roof unites and embraces the cultural building, providing it with a tent form - with apparent reference to traditional Sámi architecture.

1979-1981

BOARCH arkitekter as

Kautokeino Municipality

Village hall

offices

Concrete

BOARCH was awarded the Northern Norwegian architecture prize for the Kautokeino Cultural Building in 1987.

Sami

cultural centre

concrete

square plan

central post

Byggekunst 7/1983, pp. 393-397.

Byggekunst 4-5/1986, p. 267.