The Abel Prize 2003

Georg Sverdrups House

The curving wall, the row of columns and a facade of black Labrador stone give Georg Sverdrups House a special dignity and character that reflect the library’s key role in the University. The curve of the façade creates an exciting interplay with the row of columns, giving the building both a distinctive design and an "academic" reference, while the black polished stone reflects the surroundings under shifting illumination. In the interior, there is extensive use of birch veneer in the furnishing, fixtures and wall surfaces. The floors in the common area are made of stone and have been laid in a pattern of dark serpentine and light Ekeberg marble.

The entrance to the library has been built by Paul Brand and consists of two copper side panels and two sandblasted glass plates that slide sideways away from and toward each other. The geometrical motifs in the copper are repeated in the glass. Brand has designed a geometrical system of small squares with 3x6 squares on the right side and 3x6 squares on the left side. Each of these 36 small squares is assigned one of the numbers from 1 to 36 in the pattern, and together they form a 6x6 magic square.

A magic square is an arrangement of numbers in a square pattern in such a way that the sum of the numbers in each of the horizontal rows is equal to the sum of the numbers in each of the vertical columns and also equal to the sum of the numbers in the two diagonals.

In a magic square consisting of the numbers from 1 to 36, the sum of the numbers in each row, column and diagonal must be equal to (1+2+3+ … + 36)/6 = 111.

						111
6	32	3	34	35	1	111
7	11	27	28	8	30	111
19	14	16	15	23	24	111
18	20	22	21	17	13	111
25	29	10	9	26	12	111
36	5	33	4	2	31	111
111	111	111	111	111	111	111

 

Next to Paul Brand’s entrance are three memorial stones. The memorial stone at the right from Kjølevik at Strand in the Ryfylke district of Rogaland County dates back to the Migration Period (around 400-500 AD). The text on the stone is written in three vertical lines, which should be read from the bottom up with the first line running up the right edge of the stone. Divided into words, it reads: hadulaikaR / ek hagustadaR / hlaaiwido magu minino "Hadulaik. I, Hagusta(l)d, buried my son." It is uncertain whether Hadulaik is the name of the son or the signature of the rune stone carver.

The winner of the Abel prize will hold his Abel lecture in Auditorium 1, which seats 456 people.