Søren Nordal Enevoldsen

RIP Søren 

Søren is no longer with us, we are sending our thoughts and love to Søren Family and Friends.

Søren was an GREAT skateboarder and Architect, one of  Copenhagen fælledparkens Architects

You will be MISSED

Please read his LODGE interview from Dec 2016

Lodge Architect,  Søren Nordal Enevoldsen

 

 

Current Job

Managing SNE Architects – Urban spaces, skate-related architecture, sculptures, furniture, city planning etc.

Where are you from?

Aarhus, Denmark

Where do you currently live?

Copenhagen, Denmark

Sponsors:

None. But the StreetMachine boys are nice to me – thanks…. They even gave me a nose hair-trimmer for my birthday J

Years of skateboarding:

I got my first board in ‘88 so that’ll be around 28 years, but I started to buttboard, play skate-hockey and hippie jumping on my neighbors skateboards around ‘84. Don’t know if those 4 years count?

Board set up ? 

Board 8,125 inches – no more no less, wheels 51 MM,  Indy’s mid – They fit my board, so I guess they are around 8,125 inches

I change set up every:

Whenever it breaks, annoys me, or looks like shit. I almost never change trucks, only the part that breaks. I usually change my wheels and bearings when I change my board – bad habit.

Current Board trend:

The artsy colorful fragmented grip tape jobs and I see the 6 bolt retro trend here and there. When will we see a bridge bolt comeback? My current personal trend is keeping it basic – no logos no stickers, erase the pro name.

 

 

Please state your type of terrain on your board in %

Street: 99% – If The Red Plaza counts as streetskating?

(skatepark ) Flow Street: – Not much. I’d t go sometimes if we had a mellow flow park with small weird obstacles and trannies in Copenhagen. I’d love to design one.

Miniramp: Not much. But it’s fun when it happens. It goes really well with a good crew, beers and red wine.

Longboard: Never tried it, but I’d love to try downhill longboarding – If I dare. Ari Marcopoulos made this awesome video with Adam Kimmel. Can’t hate on that.

Vert: Almost never. Only an occasional drop in, rock fakie or five-o. Vert is scary. And I don’t know how to knee slide and I haven’t worn the mushroom hat since summer of ‘88.

Bowl: I’ve never tried a real pool and I rarely skate skatepark bowls. When I do, it’s fun to cruise basic lines for a while and occasionally try to get the harder tricks back, but I tend to get bored too fast. I guess I’d have to put in hours to get to a level where I’d feel comfortable with small airs and longer slides and grinds again in order to really get that free flow feeling back. I’d love to, but I haven’t had the patience for the past couple of years. Maybe I’ll try X-Hall when it opens, it looks fun – good job Luke. I love to watch live bowl skating – A lot of the new kids have awesome flows with that fast lightweight streety style. And any Grant Taylor footage is always a treat.

Freestyle: Only if I’m drunk. Working on the pogo and the M-80’s (for real)

 

 

 

 

Your daily DAY by the hours, (or tell us about your longest day the last weeks)

It varies from day to day, but it could go something like this:

• 08.00 Get up – the usual ‘getting ready routine’ Home made juice and vitamins
• 09.00 – 11.00 Going to my office. Coffee with the colleagues

– Work: Ex. Mails, phone calls, visiting a construction site, meetings, preparing for a lecture or workshop, writing, concept development, researching materials, design detailing etc.

• 12.00 – 13.00 Lunch with colleagues and my friend that works nearby – usually at a café around the Istedgade area or at the office.
• 13.00 – 16.00/17.00/18.00 Same as 9.00-11.00
• 17.00/18.00 – 21.00/22.00 Skating the red plaza (this summer)

This winter it’s going to be a mix of swimming at Bryggen harbor bath / Sauna, skating the Nordhavn Parking basement. And occasionally Enghave indoor park and Jægersborg indoor park.

• 21.00/22.00 – 24.00/01.00 Eating, hanging with friends, read
• 24.00/01.00/02.00/3.00 – 8.00 Sleep

 

 

How are you doing at the moment?

Really good actually, thanks for asking.

When I chill, I chill with,

Friends, a book or whatever.

I’ve been on a mission lately in (with)

Just lots of skating at The Red Plaza all summer with Anton, Rene and all the locals. I just got back from a trip L.A. and then Malaga Spain with some of the DRP boys to skate. And we (II Verdenskrig dudes) just started talking about a new filming project, so let’s see what happens this spring. I’m meting up with some friends tonight at a woodshop to build some moveable skate obstacles. No missions, just fun small projects.

 

 

Dream session is,

With all my friends on a sunny Saturday at the red Plaza – after session at the plaza and later at a bar. Christian Brunnstrøm are there as well (And he brings his board).

Lately I have been working on,

A series of large concrete sculptures (also skateable). Finishing up the last bits and pieces of the Læssøesgade Skole project in Aarhus with the FSR crew. Some design competition in Viborg. A workshop with the skaters in Odense and starting up a design there, A bit of writing – and trying to get better at skateboarding. And I’m trying to save the Red Plaza – remember to go and sign the online petition. It’s easy to find if you google it.

 

 

When I was little I would like to, Get all the space Legos…. Later: get good at skating and get sponsored by companies that didn’t suck, and be an architect or artist.

When I’m home I like to, Pretty average stuff: Cook a nice meal, Hang with my friends, read a book, watch documentaries, movies or skate videos etc.

I normally call my homies for, Skating, Going to the sauna or hanging-out.

Your homies are, Good people… They know who they are.

I enjoy going to, Art museums, the movies, the sauna and into the ocean.

 

 

Favorite drink: Juice from my juicer, Skinny bitch or Whiskey on the rocks.

Favorite food : Vietnamese Pho Soup + Ice coffee with condensed milk

Favorite drug: The Wim Hof Method + Holotropic breathwork

Favorite music:  I don’t have favorites. But right now I’m into:

• Neu
• Toumani Diabaté
• Brian Eno
• Sinoia Caves
• Yusef Lateef
• Craig Leon
• Anthony Child
• ΟΔΟΣ 55
• Classical Music (Ex. Nils Frahm, Erik Satie, Goldmund)
• Shankar (Album: Pancha Nadai Palavi)

 

Favorite film,

No particular favorite. But I really like:

A Clockwork Orange, Interstellar, Solaris (Tarkovski), The Elephant Man, Spirited away, Requiem for a dream, Twelve Monkeys, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, District 9, Alien 1 and 3, Any documentary by Jonathan Meades, Anything by Werner Herzog. Just watched ‘Arrival’. Good stuff.

Favorite skateboarders,

Can’t answer that. There’s no ‘best’ in performance art J

Right now I’m into crews: GX1000, Rios, The Bloby’s. Lurk NYC

Pro Skaters: AVE, Danny Garcia, Jake Johnson, Gilbert Crocket, MC, Gino, Dill (Mainly Photosynthesis era and before), Paulo Diaz, The Nates (Nate Broussard, Nate Jones and Nathan Porter), Alex Olson. And Max Palmer is a pleasure to watch. Stoked he’s promoting the Losi grind….. Want to learn that one so bad. I’ve always had a soft spot for Karl Watson’s flow and trick selection. And BA for SOTY 2016. Locally, I really like Laurent Gehin’s skating.

Favorite skatefilm,

Again I cant’ pick a ‘favourite’. It changes. I loved (and still do) Ban This (Barbee), Video Days (Guy), Useless wooden toys, Life – Soldiers story (Sheffey), Love child, FTC Penal Code,Trilogy, Mouse, Photosynthesis.

Right now my preference change almost weekly: GX1000, Static 4, Whatever Supreme puts out (even though it also annoys me a bit), Whatever the Bloby’s put out (I hope they’ll put out a real video at some point). I dig the Russian clips as of late (Dura, Absurd, PACCBET). Milics new part is awesome.

‘Footage’ by G & S. Check it out if you’re into the original Alien Workshop vibe. I especially enjoyed the whale song part.

‘Paulo Diaz Big Brother Interview’ clip from ‘Shit’ is pure art. I just met him in a bookstore in downtown L.A. recently and fanned out and had to tell him how much I love that video part and the style he has brought to skating.

 

 

 

Favorite skatepark,

In a sense I personally don’t really like to skate skateparks that much – which is a big paradox in relation to my field of work. I love to create these abstract landscapes largely based on imagined moving patterns. But to me they are often artificial purpose-built places out of context and they don’t give me the same feeling and passion as real street spots and city plazas does.

You can compare it to playgrounds. They are good motoric training facilities for kids, but I think you’ll develop a wilder and more anarchistic imagination and unpredictable moving patterns growing up in the middle of nature. If that even makes sense. Paulo Diaz is a good example of a skater that couldn’t have been bred in a skate park.

With that said, skate parks are important and they are perfect training facilities with interesting terrain and surfaces that you can’t find in your area. And the complex bowls and interconnected obstacles create landscapes you’ll never find in a natural environment.

If I’m with friends I can sometimes forget about the ‘fake’ atmosphere and enjoy a good session.

Another reason I am critical about skateparks is that they almost always are a big compromise between different kinds of skating in order to satisfy all the wishes from the users. It should be that way, but it also fades the concept/s.

I like skateable areas with a strong message or concept like Burnside, Marginal Way, Stalin Square, Original EMB, Pier 7, Free Basin by Simparch (also made for the Supreme Store in L.A.) or Rich Holland’s contribution to the Finish art exhibition “At first we take Museums”.

I wish to see future skateparks that are way more conceptually pure, or weird art pieces or fully integrated and woven into our urban surroundings.

Favorite spot,

DRP (The Red Plaza) and the original Pier 7. Again – Please sign the petition to save The Red Plaza.

 

 

When I cook, I cook,

Boller I Karry (Meat Balls in Curry) or chicken curry with my dads homemade curry. Lime leaves, homemade chicken broth, mashed bananas and raisins are essential.

To go to resturant is,

Dürum Bar at Nørrebrogade, Ferment in Studiestræde and Noodle House at Abel Cathrines Gade.

To go to trick is,

Pop shove-it

To go to trick when you are farked is,

A 6-pack of King beers around the corner from the Red Plaza, it always get the homies stoked.

To go to trick when you are winning is,

Pop shove-it late flip

TOP 3 Cities,

Copenhagen, Barcelona, New York and Tokyo

When I travel, I always bring, A Camera/s

Best travel advice I can give is,

Don’t really have any advice. Still trying to find the right ways to travel. Maybe try to get offline and get lost.

TOP SUCK cities,

Suck Cities are also interesting.

I feel weirded out in most of the beach cities/towns in California. But at the same time these cities are also interesting to look at from a city planning point of view. And they are interesting in terms of skateboarding.

Also Detroit. I was there on a study trip with my friend. It’s really sad and depressing what happened to the city economically and loss of population, but at the same time it is one of the most inspiring cities if you look at the local initiatives. When I was there you could buy a house for 350 Dollars just 5-10 minutes drive from downtown. I met up with a group of local artists. They had bought a local closed down corner shop and turned it into an indoor zen-garden. And they tore all the walls and floors out another house and turned it into a Racket Ball/Squash field. Plus all the urban gardening and so on. It’s amazing. Never seen anything like it.

When I do not skateboard I,

Do other stuff or think about skateboarding.

My fitness program is,

Skateboarding, Winter-bathing – Sauna – Stretching – Push-ups, Eating Zink, B6 and Magnesium pills. Trying to eat healthier and less.

When I get old I want to,

Avoid being ill/sick. Keep skating. Start hiking more and maybe get a dog.

I would like to see more of,

The world

That one time where I was in jail because of,

Luckily I never went – I only went to court in Orange County in ’98 because of ‘Skateboarding acrobatics’. At first the judge wanted me to do community service, but I got out of it because she believed that ‘I intelligently understood the nature my crime’. The audience in the court laughed.

I should do more of,

Eating less.

My future looks like,

Who knows?

I dream of,

Science fiction scenarios and architecture that doesn’t exist.

The book I currently read is,

I Mainly read Sci-Fi novels. But right now I read:

• Udvalgte fortællinger (Selected stories) by Lev Tolstoy
• Stå fast (Stand firm) by Sven Brinkmann
• Hyldest til lediggang / In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russel

I got all of them from friends that have already have read them, so it’ll be cool to hear their take on them. I Just finished Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut – I strongly recommend it.

The best travel I have been on,

Too many to pick from. Ethiopia and Israel were eye opening.

The world travel(s) I have been on was,

Unique in each their way.

On Netflix I watch,

I mainly watch the menu while desperately trying to find something interesting to watch. I wish they would apply the ‘Thrash can’ feature so you could throw out the shit you know you’ll never watch. Rick and Morty is funny. And Werner Herzogs stuff is interesting – ‘Into the inferno’, ‘A year in the Taiga’ etc.

I usually end up at HBO – if it works: West World, GOT, The walking dead, Last week tonight with John Oliver.

If I could change the world I would,

Yes I would.

Everybody should own a,

Most people in the western world should own less.

But everybody should own the right to all 30 basic human rights dictated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. We’ve got a long way to go.

The hobby I have, no one knows about is,

Obsessively collecting and categorizing internet photos and video screen dumps of architecture and skateable terrain.

I will never get rid of,

My close friends

I would love to be in a movie with,

I don’t think I would love to be in a movie.

I currently follow (social media, instagram twitter, facebook)

I’m not on facebook or Twitter. I do a bit of Instagram and I watch skate media (I am happy to say it’s been way less for the past 6 months).To me there’s too much noise and too little content in most social medias. I feel better disconnecting a bit from it.

 

 

 

 

Life advise so far? ‘Don’t read self-help books. Read novels’ Svend Brinkmann

Anything else, Thanks to my friends and family. And thanks to the DRP/Red Plaza locals, you guys are awesome to skate and hang with.

Thanks, You’re welcome – Thank you Thomas.