





Client
Location: Fedje, Norway
Completion date: 2021
Project Team
Lead Architect
Todd Saunders
Saunders Architecture
Lead Architect
Ryan Jorgensen
Saunders Architecture
Project Architect
Éva Baráth
Saunders Architecture

Overview
The Sisters – Fedje’s new meeting place at the harbour
You can see them from the ferry as it’s on its way in to Fedje. Nine proud benches for nine sisters, offering you a welcoming wave from the quayside. The benches are a gift and a mark of friendship to Fedje from Feddie Distillery’s sisterhood and all the women who have fallen in love with the island. These women want to make a difference; the benches signalise that the island community of Fedje can expect great things.
The nine benches symbolise future and optimism for Fedje. They create reflections in the water, reach upwards and invite people to gather together, friends and strangers alike.
The benches look to be arranged in a line, in harmony and good contact. But when you look at them from a different angle the lines are broken, and chaos arises. The sisters are no longer in concord. What happens here at the quayside is the same as otherwise in life and between sisters: everything is fluid and ever-changing. The iconic construction of the benches in natural Norwegian pine also provides a subtle hint of the hotel that is currently being planned on the island’s ocean shore.
The benches were put up in September and from the minute they arrived at Fedje’s quayside they have been attracting people of all ages.
Goals
The real purpose of the benches is to be a place where everybody on the island can meet casually, coffee in hand, Thermos flask at their feet. Chat and connect. Cry on a shoulder. Sit and reflect. Admire the view. Watch the boats coming in. Think. Relax and just be; alone or with someone. And the benches help to fill people’s dreams, visions and expectations with down-to-earth, tangible significance, reflecting the beating heart of everyday island life in the here and now.