Too often, the intent of architecture is to shock and awe with grandiose scale. A 90-m² observation post in the middle of Norway’s most mythical mountain range exemplifies how pocket-sized structures can elicit an equal sense of wonder.
The Norwegian Wild Reindeer Foundation commissioned the architects to design a pavilion in Hjerkinn where visitors could witness Europe’s remaining wild reindeer herds roam.
While stag, doe, and fawn sightings is the intended culmination of your excursion, an encounter with the award-winning Norwegian Wild Reindeer Centre Pavilion is its own reward. Almost surreal in its isolation, the structure is contemporary building art that did not lose sight of its mandate, which is to give visitors an unobstructed view of the true magnum opus—the majestic Dovre mountains.
The rectangular, steel-framed outer shell houses a deceptively simple architectural design. Behind the glazed, floor-to-ceiling glass wall on the south is an intimate auditorium filled with nuance. Crafted by Norwegian shipbuilders out of 10-inch pine timber beams, the wooden seating undulates like the chamber of an underwater cave smoothened for eons by the tides.
A furnace suspended from the ceiling, as unobtrusive as the pavilion itself in this craggy terrain, warms your fingers as you survey the rugged vista outside in snug comfort.
On the opposite exterior wall, a similar wooden scheme (treated with pine tar to withstand the harsh climate) is as fluid as its interior sibling. It, too, ebbs and flows in rhythmic patterns, leaving alcoves to lean against and pew-like protrusions that serve as outdoor seating.
Steel for strength, glass for clarity, and timber for solidarity with nature—the pavilion is a perfectly balanced case study of modernist architecture with heart. 
Architect: SNØHETTA Oslo AS
Location: Hjerkinn, Dovre, Norway
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