Good homes for real people

From AD to architect

Starting a journey into architecture as an untrained newcomer in Snøhetta's offices is granted to very few, but that is exactly where this journey began. Not at an ordinary drawing board, but as an Art Director at an advertising agency. Chance decided the route, and curiosity chose the travelling companion. Before Nicolay knew it, that small thought, the one that making a living by selling the very latest products might not be a career for the rest of his life, had become a truth, and the school bench beckoned once more.

Nicolay Nicolaysen. © Tide Arkitekter

Because not many people move from AD to architect at a fairly mature age. "Both my grandfather and my father were architects, and my father always said I should stay well clear, but the moment I got the chance to work a little on some of Snøhetta's projects, I was sold." From there the road led to AHO and SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, where a digital world opened up. "In the US they worked with programs we were nowhere near using back home, so I learned early on to work with 3D and digital design."

The blow

The dream was to work on large projects together with many other architects, but it did not turn out that way. "I chose to go in a completely different direction and teamed up with my father. Really mostly to get a few years together with him before he retired. It is probably the most right thing I have ever done, because before we got that far, he passed away. Far too early."

Illustration of a new cabin. © Tide Arkitekter

Nicolay took over all the projects and kept both these and his own portfolio going. After a year he had full control, and completely empty batteries. "I stopped answering the phone. Stopped working. Just polished the boat and disappeared a little from everything. When I started answering again, I set up Tide Arkitekter."

I don't make art, I work

And Tide lives without either grandfather or father in its walls. "It is responsibility that drives me. When the phone rings now, I answer it. I cannot live with not seizing the opportunities I am given, but with every opportunity comes an expectation, and a responsibility to meet those expectations."

Kitchen. © Tide Arkitekter

And the opportunities have turned Tide Arkitekter into a crew. A team of its own that Nicolay leads. "Translated into architecture, these opportunities are something to be turned into good stories for everyone involved. But I don't make art every day. I work! And work is not my whole life."

Project at Mario Caprinos vei 17. © Tide Arkitekter

Nicolay takes a breath and continues; "Parts of what I do are indisputably creative, but most of the tasks I have to solve are not creative, they are logistical. It is much more that than creating a unique architectural expression. I have in every way ignored the professors' demand to sell my own style. I draw anything. I draw what my customer wants! They are the ones who are going to live there."

Creating good homes

And that is exactly an important point for Nicolay; the life that is to be lived in what he creates. "I once met a single young woman who was going to renovate her apartment. She was quite open and told me she had been in a number of bad relationships. I decided to draw an apartment for her that would make the next person who comes into her sphere treat her well!" The story says little about how he solved the task, but the young woman met a fine man, they married and had children; "Then I drew a house for them that would make sure they never divorce! So far it seems to work."

Home by Tide Arkitekter

Perhaps that is not art, but it undeniably has something artistic about it. Something magical. Capturing the essence of people and giving them exactly what they need, even if they may not know they need it yet.

The Hille project. © Tide Arkitekter

"I usually tell my customers that they get a good piece of advice twice. If they don't take it after the second time, then I agree with them. Some ask me to repeat it several times..." You might call it Nicolay's Method, or adult education, but his customers are satisfied. "I am lucky. My reputation goes before me and I get many phone calls. And I answer."

And in that way, perhaps the circle is complete. The one that began with a grandfather, a father, and now a son. It is admittedly only a job, but the art is there, in the responsibility you are given to look after people's safe sphere.

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