Maja Melandsø

Maja Melandsø (born Marie Sofie Melandsø; 14 January 1906 – 12 December 1981) was a Norwegian architect and painter. She was a pioneer in several areas: she was one of the first women architects to complete their studies at the Norwegian Institute of Technology when she graduated in 1931, she is considered the person to introduce functionalist architecture in Trondheim, and she was one of the first Norwegian female architects with her own practice. Melandsø was involved both in residential construction as well as cultural heritage management. As an architect, she had an extensive output, but apart from the fact that as a newly qualified architect she attracted attention with her funkis-bygg (‘functional buildings’) in Trondheim, the buildings she designed were rarely mentioned in architectural literature.

I have designed houses, not buildings. Houses to work in, houses to live in, according to ability. Whether health centers, manor houses, schools, business premises, or houses to live in, they were built on the principle that one square meter too much is as bad as one square meter too little. The houses were big on the inside and small on the outside. I have never recognized the concept of “facade”; all three dimensions are equally important.