Wenche Elisabeth Selmer (23 May 1920 – 30 May 1998) was a Norwegian architect. She specialized in timber architecture, working residential projects. Her wooden cabins and houses were inspired by nature and designed to not overwhelm or dominate but rather blend with the natural landscape.

Biography

Wenche Elisabeth Reimers was born in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

while his father was pursued law practice. She was the daughter of attorney Herman Foss Reimers (1874–1961) and Birgit Bødtker Næss (1882–1945). Her family returned to Norway when she was six years old and settled at

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020. The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948. The borough of Vestre Aker was org ...

in Oslo. She graduated from the

Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry The National College of Art and Design () was established in 1818. In 1996, the National College of Art and Design became part of Oslo National Academy of the Arts (''Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo'', KHiO), along with the Norwegian National Academy of ...

(''Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole'') in 1945. After graduating, she apprenticed with architect Arnstein Arneberg who was married to her older half-sister, Eva Reimers (1901–1987). She followed with a year of training with architect Marcel Lods at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1948 she worked for architects Arne Pedersen (1897–1951) and Reidar Winge Lund (1908–1978) in Oslo. In 1954, she started her architectural firm and began a collaboration with Jens Andreas Selmer. She taught at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design from 1976 to 1987.

Awards

*1962-63 - ''Sundts premie'', with Jens Selmer *1969 - ''Treprisen'', with Jens Selmer

Personal life

In 1941, she married James Robert Collett (1914–1941). In 1954, she married Jens Andreas Selmer (1911–1995)

References

Other sources

*Elisabeth Tostrup (2006) ''Norwegian Wood: The Thoughtful Architecture of Wenche Selmer'' (Princeton Architectural Press)

External links

* * 1920 births 1998 deaths Norwegian women architects Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni École des Beaux-Arts alumni Academic staff of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design Norwegian expatriates in France {{Norway-architect-stub