The new Veterinary Building at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences at Campus Ås has officially opened in Oslo, Norway. It is the largest overall development in the university and college sector in Norway ever.
The project was developed for government real estate manager Statsbygg in cooperation with Henning Larsen, Fabel Arkitekter, Multiconsult, Link Arkitektur, and Erichsen + Horgen. It is one of the largest and most complex construction projects ever undertaken in Norway. The 63,000-square-meter (678,000-square-foot) structure is divided into eight distinct but linked buildings, uniting previously disparate resources.
The Norwegian government has set out to become one of the leading nations in education and research in biosafety and the spread of infectious diseases. This project was designed to fulfill this ambition. The facility houses biomedical research laboratories and academic facilities, split amongst the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Norwegian Veterinary Institute, and a state biomedical research facility.
As per the architects: “The project is a bridging of gaps between great and small, hazardous and safe, clinical and human, isolated and connected.” The building’s program is distributed through a number of small modules that break down the scale and add a level of intimacy to the space. This is also evident through the eight separate wings, which rarely rise over four stories.
The highly sensitive and potentially hazardous spaces that the complex houses, such as infectious disease laboratories and surgical suites, are concentrated in the center, protected by a permeable barrier of public space that rings the building’s exterior. Because the facility is broken into smaller modules that can be individually locked down if needed, visitors can venture deep within the building with no risk.
The design of the Veterinary Building prioritizes an open learning environment and connection between its various users. The interlinked structures containing spaces such as the stables, aquariums, animal clinics, classrooms, offices, and social spaces, to name a few, make room for researchers, faculty, students, and visitors to interact with each other.
“It is the first campus of its kind,” said Karoline Igland, Head of Department at Henning Larsen’s Oslo office. “No building anywhere in the world unites the same range of researchers and experts or has the same requirements in terms of safety and readiness. In addition to being a technically advanced and highly secure facility, it also needed to be an open arena for students and faculty. The result you see today has required ten years of collaboration, research, and innovation.”
The structure’s façade consists of over 300,000 hand-cut bricks, each coal-fired to give them an individual sheen and texture. The reddish-brown hue of the bricks blends with the surrounding campus structures. The complex also sits amidst a landscape of soft hills, plants, flowers, and open waterways.
“The breadth of facilities at Campus Ås is unique and comprehensive by design,” added Igland. “Breakthroughs happen when we share knowledge and work together, and Campus Ås combines both the highly technical and social spaces that foster those kinds of cooperations.”
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