Pilegrimsbu in Øyer

This place is part of the National Pilgrim Center’s project “Sustainable pilgrim stops”, financed by The Savings Bank Foundation DNB. Through the project, we want to strengthen the infrastructure along Pilegrimsleden, protect the environment as much as possible and look for innovative solutions. We also want this place to be a good destination for the locals. Pilgrimsbua’s appearance is the result of a competition among architecture and design students. Three great proposals with different qualities were used as inspiration for the final design.

The building process was a collaboration between the National Pilgrim Centre, Pilgrim Center Dale-Gudbrand, Øyer municipality and landowner Simen Ensby. Traditional craftsman Meik Weidner has set up the building.

The building is much appreciated and visited by both locals and long-walking pilgrims.

Materials and construction

The building is designed with two walls in traditional dry masonry and two walls in timber framing. We have used local stone from Fåvang. Wooden walls have been erected with mortise and tenon. The outside panels, as well as some beams, are re-used building materials, taken from a 19th-century barn from Enebakk. Windows and interior doors are also re-used, taken from an old croft from around year 1900, same area. The roof is designed as a pentagram and covered with sedum mats. There are two incineration toilets in the building. Lights, water mains and other electrical infrastructure are powered by electricity from solar cells, the toilets by ordinary utility power.

The entrance doors are made by carpenters at the Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop in Trondheim. The pilgrim symbol is handmade by blacksmiths from the same place.