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The Architecture Uprising in Scandinavia and Beyond - Our Invasion of the Landscape

A Manifest for Human Scale Building and the Resistance Against Brutalism

By Ulf Andenaes & Erling Okkenhaug
With Branko Mitrović, Frederica Miller, Karl Fredrik Honningsvåg and others.

This challenging book presents both a voice of protest and a vision of hope. The Architecture Uprising in Scandinavia and Beyond documents the resistance against the brutal architecture of recent decades and against the sweeping erasure of local, regional and national identity in the built environment of today’s world. It traces how vernacular building heritage in town and country is being overrun by generic constructions of concrete, steel and glass, wiping out any national, regional or local identity. It examines the failure of ideologies that have ignored human emotions as well as environmental consequences.

Editor Erling Okkenhaug, long-time activist and founder of the environmental and community focused Allgrønn (Evergreen) network, joins forces with accomplished international journalist Ulf Andenaes and a group of committed voices from across Scandinavia to present a multi-faceted critique of the current architectural paradigm. Drawing on sources as diverse as Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Gandhi, Jan Gehl, Hans Asplund , Christopher Alexander and Ivan Illich, the book presents a philosophical, environmental, and aesthetic case against alienating architecture, in favour of harmony, beauty and the environment.

The book offers:

- A cutting and insightful analysis of modernist doctrines and what is called the "unholy alliance" between brutalist architecture and speculative capitalism.

- Stories of loss and visual documentation of how beloved places are being degraded.

- Essays on the psychology of space, the alienation caused by faceless surroundings and monotone developments, the spiritual toll of hostile design.

- Arguments for a different kind of modernism, celebrating colourful organic alternatives (like art nouveau, art deco, Antoni Gaudi and Hundertwasser), studios inspired by traditional and classic aesthetics (achieved by some Norwegian architecture students in opposition to their professors), and the common-sense rationality of vernacular building.

- A sharp critique of the use of concrete as a climate-damaging material, countering “greenwashing” with hard facts.

- A call for reforms in architectural education and democratic planning that respects local identity and popular will.

-This edition in English has been carefully adapted for an international audience, building on the successful Norwegian book Arkitekturoppgjøret. It contains contributions from architects, planners, professors, students and a range of citizens, offering a unique blend of professional insight and grassroot activism. It includes hundreds of illustrations and true life examples of both disaster and resistance.

“Some houses are friendly, some are hostile. We need the friendly ones to help us feel at ease in the world.”- Erling Okkenhaug

“The alliance between speculators and brutalist architects result in buildings screaming at each other. This is not urban development. It is urban destruction.” - From the text

More than a book – it is a manifesto for beauty, tradition, and environmental sanity.
 

 
The book is co-published with
INTBAU Norway and Finland

Visit: www.allgronn.org/the-architecture-uprising-in-scandinavia-and-beyond

This edition is available
in two formats:

Full-color edition
Ideal for collectors, professionals, and readers who appreciate the visual depth of the original images.
High-quality color printing on white paper.
                                  Price: $35.00

Budget-friendly black-and-white edition
Same powerful content and layout, with all images carefully converted to grayscale for optimal legibility and aesthetic impact. Perfect for students, institutions, or those wanting an affordable alternative.
                                 Price: $17.90

Full-color PDF - version on Gumroad
Download the book at once:
 
                                          Price: Euro 12.80

“Some houses are friendly, some are hostile. We need the friendly ones to help us feel at ease in the world.”
- Erling Okkenhaug
  
“The alliance between speculators and brutalist architects result in buildings screaming at each other. This is not urban development. It is urban destruction.”
- From the text
  
"As professionals, architects should contribute to creating attractive urban environments for the population. However, we now see that many architects behave like modernist artists. They are mostly concerned with making a mark through aggressive and contrasting designs for new buildings.”
Audun Engh in the magazine Sivilisasjonen 22.05.2022
 
“It is no longer acceptable for architecture schools and the majority of architects to claim that modernism is the only thing that is ‘of our time’. We therefore need a reform of architectural education to ensure greater diversity intraining.”
Audun Engh in the magazine Sivilisasjonen 22.05.2022
  
“Norway is a nation of people who emerged from a modest and rugged lifestyle the recently, undeservedly wealthy and easily impressed: we celebrate anything that appears grand and phenomenal. “Finally, Oslo is becoming a bit like New York!” many people think when they see tall glass buildings.”
Erling Okkenhaug in the magazine Sivilisasjonen - 2019

“In the course of a few decades are we in the process of wiping out several centuries of knowledge and culture, replaced with plastic wrappings and industrial systems that bear no trace of the hand or the place.”
Runar Alvsvåg Hidle, student of architecture, Arkitektur.no 4.6.2025

"My biggest criterion for success when a building or neighborhood is finished is that you shouldn't be able to tell right away that architects were involved. Just imagine being allowed to study a new building for a moment before discovering that it has just been completed.”
Erling Okkenhaug in the magazine Sivilisasjonen - 2019

"The houses of our time have been sick, for as long as we have had indoctrinated and blinkered urban planners and architects. Such houses have not been infected by the disease during their lifetime. On the contrary, they are conceived and brought into this world with the disease inflicted from the outset.”
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000)

«Architecture should not look the same all over the world».
Frederica Miller, Architect

“I believe that Corbusier would have been quite alarmed and reworked his theories if he had seen the results of functionalism.”
Jan Gehl, Danish architect

“Urban planning as an art is completely absent from to days architecture. It's about who can be the most energetic, the boldest, the weirdest – and, of course, in collaboration with the richest investors who stand to make money from it.”
Erling Okkenhaug in Dagens Næringsliv (Today's Business Affairs) - 16.06.2018

The architect Lena Steffner researched what urban environments can do to us humans. She concluded that cold, functional environments create unrest and anxiety, while more romantic environments create harmony. In her doctoral thesis “Evaluation of urban environments – a method to measure experience”
Lund University, 2004

More than a book – it is a manifesto for beauty, tradition, and environmental sanity.

Key Features:

- Over 180 pages of essays, images, and reflections

- Contributions from Branko Mitrović, Karl Fredrik Honningsvåg, and Frederica Miller

- Documents the architectural uprisings in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland

- Explores beauty, tradition, ecology, democracy – and resistance

A true movie about actvism
for the built environment:

The poster for the documentary (The castigator of the Skagerak Coast” Sørlandsrefseren" by Pål Winsents. The castigator was Erling Okkenhaug, publisher of this book, a driving force in the struggle for Risør, the white town by the sea, campaigning for it being developed in a gentle and not a brutal way. Created by Vepz Media and Winsents Film.

https://vimeo.com/939994707/06d2955872