Decolonizing Architecture of Kalaallit Nunaat: Toward a Situated Practice Rooted in Indigenous Knowledge

Rasmussen, Jonas ; Lennert, Ulloriaq Kristian

4. term

Architecture, Master

2025

2025-06-01

217 pages

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan arkitektonisk praksis i Kalaallit Nunaat kan gentænkes gennem oprindelige videnssystemer, levede erfaringer og principper for dekolonisering. Som svar på den vedvarende indflydelse fra det danske koloniale rumlige system søger projektet at udvikle kulturelt forankret og stedsligt arkitektur, der understøtter Inuit identitet, autonomi og bæredygtighed. Gennem en situeret metode, der involverer feltarbejde i Nuussuaq, interviews med beboere, workshops og spekulativt design, bringer specialet indsigter frem i hverdagens rumlige praksisser, materielle traditioner og relationelle måder at leve på. I stedet for at foreslå faste løsninger introducerer specialet en ramme af Situerede Handlinger – adaptive design ”strategier”, der er rodfæstet i kulturel specificitet og økologisk bevidsthed. Arbejdet trækker på oprindelige begreber om omsorg, gensidighed og tidslighed, og udfordrer dominerende modernistiske paradigmer ved at åbne op for alternative arkitektoniske fremtider. I dialog med dekolonial teori og lokale byggetraditioner argumenterer specialet for en arkitektur, der lytter, husker og handler med ydmyghed. I sidste ende er dette speciale både en kritik af påtvungne designnormer og en opfordring til at omstille arkitektonisk tænkning mod praksisser, der er lydhøre over for landet, folket og de mange fremtider i Kalaallit Nunaat.

This thesis explores how architectural practice in Kalaallit Nunaat can be reimagined through Indigenous knowledge systems, lived experiences, and principles of decolonization. Responding to the enduring influence of Danish colonial spatial systems, the project seeks to develop culturally grounded, place-responsive architecture that support Inuit identity, autonomy, and sustainability. Through a situated methodology involving fieldwork in Nuussuaq, resident interviews, participatory workshops, and speculative design, the thesis surfaces insights into everyday spatial practices, material traditions, and relational ways of living. Rather than proposing fixed solutions, the thesis introduces a framework of Situated Acts, adaptive design ”strategies” rooted in cultural specificity and ecological awareness. The work draws on Indigenous concepts of care, reciprocity, and temporality, challenging dominant modernist paradigms and opening space for alternative architectural futures. In dialogue with decolonial theory and vernacular traditions, the thesis advocates for an architecture that listens, remembers, and acts with humility. Ultimately, this thesis is both a critique of imposed design norms and a call to reorient architectural thinking toward practices that are responsive to the land, the people, and the plurality of futures in Kalaallit Nunaat.

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