Archinect - News

Snøhetta's high-tech Vertikal Nydalen mixed-use project opens in Oslo

2024-04-27T10:00:00-04:00

A new mixed-use project in Oslo from Snøhetta has been completed following a nine-year design and development phase that culminated in 118,400 square feet and 18 floors with restaurants, an office component, and 40 apartment units all built in.

Vertikal Nydalen is the focal point of a new town square in the Norwegian capital and features a self-sufficient climate system bolstered by PV panels, geo-wells, heat pumps, and an advanced building monitoring system that allows user feedback to inform its controls.

Image credit: Lars Petter Pettersen/Snøhetta

The project was born out of a pilot program that combined two research efforts supported by the Research Council of Norway. It focused on enhancing the building’s ventilation strategy and helping its heating/cooling systems run with little added energy at an efficiency rate of up to 2.5 times the industry’s current leading standard.

Image credit: Lars Petter Pettersen/Snøhetta

Snøhetta's Kjetil Trædal Thorsen says: "We are proud to f...

Five rural retreats by Mork-Ulnes Architects: Your Next Employer?

2022-12-19T12:21:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Walker Workshop, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in California this week, where we find San Francisco-based Mork-Ulnes Architects.

Founded in 2005 by Casper Mork-Ulnes, the nimble 10-person practice operates in both San Francisco and Oslo, Norway, resulting in a portfolio that blends a “Scandinavian practicality and a Californian can-do spirit of innovation.”

The firm’s ethos and culture was further explored back in late 2020 when we sat down with Casper Mork-Ulnes as part of our Studio Snapshot series. Describing the practice as “pared-back, resourceful, and playful,” Mork-Ulnes reflected on the importance of striking a positive life-work balance in architecture.

“We encourage everyone to take time to recharge their batteries, prioritize their private lives, and spend time with their friends and families,” Mork-Ulnes t...

This bridge near Oslo will be the world's longest designed without any 2D drawings

2022-06-22T17:50:00-04:00

Like many highway projects around the world, it has been engineered to span great distances and stand strong—feats that have become so normal they’re expected as the status quo. But unlike most large-scale building projects, this bridge has been designed and constructed without any drawings.

Called the Randselva Bridge, the structure stretches 2,080 feet and stands 180 feet above ground at its highest point. It’s located near the city of Hønefoss, about 31 miles northwest of Oslo. When it opens to traffic next month, it will be the longest bridge ever constructed without 2D drawings. Instead of using traditional construction blueprints, engineering company Sweco opted to employ a BIM model that would be used and adjusted throughout every step of the bridge’s construction. The company used technology company Trimble's Tekla modeling software. Oystein Ulvestad, a BIM developer for Sweco, led the design of the project.

As part of the BIM model, each section of the structure is constructed and scanned, allowing any changes to the project to be immediately reflected in the model. This makes it easier to execute adjustments to the plan, saving both time and money. Workers would follow the updated plans using tablets and augmented reality. According to Fast Company, Ulvestad s...

Iwan Baan takes us inside the new National Museum of Norway

2022-06-10T14:07:00-04:00

Ahead of June 11th's anticipated debut of the new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, architectural photographer Iwan Baan has traveled to Norway to preview one of the year's most important cultural projects.

His photos reveal the slate grey 587,700-square-foot vision of architect Klaus Schuwerk, whose creation is the largest of its kind in the entire Nordic region. Said to be a scale so large it is considered hard to comprehend the structure until viewed from above.

Image © Iwan Baan.

The process of consolidating disparate collections of art under one roof took time. Beginning in 2010, the new institution's hybrid collection was taken from its former home in a historic 1882 structure and reimagined inside a new 86 gallery upgrade. The new structure is joined by two preexisting 19th-century buildings that were former train stations. The addition of a rectangular, translucent volume called the Light Hall, can be found on top of the new museum structure which will...

New Henning Larsen and Fabel Arkitekter-designed veterinary building, Norway's largest university building, has opened in Oslo

2022-01-27T16:52:00-05:00

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...

See Iwan Baan's new photos of the forthcoming National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo

2021-12-14T13:14:00-05:00

Noted architectural photographer Iwan Baan has shared an update about the Klaus Schuwerk-designed National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, which officially opens to the public in June of next year.

Photo: Iwan Baan. Images courtesy of the National Museum of Norway.

The museum began offering public tours of the new facilities over the summer, which constitutes a significant upgrade to the institution’s former home in a historic 19th-century building.

Photo: Iwan Baan. Images courtesy of the National Museum of Norway.

Baan’s photos showcase the Vestbanen harborfront site and new two-story structure, which will house some 5,000 pieces from the museum’s growing collection across 90 different individual rooms complete with an art library, cafe, and open-air terrace space, which offers views of the adjacent Akershus Fortress.

Photo: Iwan Baa...

Oliver Wainwright’s no fan of Oslo’s new Munch Museum

2021-10-26T08:36:00-04:00

The £235m mega museum of the tormented Norwegian artist stands as an ominous grey tower on the Oslo waterfront, lurching out at the top like a military lookout post, keeping watch over the fjord. It is a location scout’s dream for the ultimate villain’s headquarters, an almost comically menacing structure, bent over the pristine white iceberg of the city’s beloved opera house with a thuggish hunch.

Recently on Archinect, "estudio Herreros' Munch Museum to open in October." Photo: Adrià Goula, courtesy estudio Herreros.

The Munch Museum’s opening had been pushed back to this week following years of political holdup swelling from concerns the 11-story museum would, as Wainwright noted in his review, take away from the nearby Oslo Opera House from Snøhetta.

estudio Herreros' Munch Museum to open in October

2021-08-02T19:45:00-04:00

Spanish architecture practice estudio Herreros' long-awaited Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway is opening its doors on October 22, 2021.

Since the selection of estudio Herreros to design the museum after receiving the top prize in the Munch Museum competition in 2009, the project has faced delay after delay starting with political hurdles regarding its design and location. Additionally, the museum was set to open in the spring of 2020 but was halted due to delays in the delivery of fire and security doors and the failure of the indoor climate system to meet required standards. The Covid-19 pandemic pushed back the opening even further.

Previously on Archinect: Munch Museum opening in Oslo pushed back

The Munch Museum features the most extensive collection of works by famed Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, with over 26,700 pieces being showcased. The collection was donated to the city of Oslo upon Munch’s death. The artist’s most well-known work is The Scream.

The 13-story, 60-meter-tall ...

Norway's new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design announces an opening for 2022

2021-06-16T12:55:00-04:00

Oslo’s new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design finally has an opening date.

The much-anticipated project from Italian-German architect Klaus Schuwerk will open on June 11th of next year, more than a decade after being named the winner of an international competition to upgrade facilities for the 18-year-old institution located along Oslo’s historic Vestbanen harborfront.

The National Museum exterior. Photo by Annar Bjorgli

The museum will begin welcoming visitors this summer for guided tours to the new building, which will display more than 5,000 works of art in a 90-room, two-story building that features an art library, cafés, and an open-air roof terrace as part of a scheme that will also reduce the museum’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.

The National Museum exterior. Photo credit: Ina Wesenburg / The National Museum

The National Museum interior. Photo by Ina Wesenberg.

A new sculpture atrium will center the plan surrounded by the new exhibition hall and gallery spaces...

Snøhetta designs library-inspired pop-up store for reMarkable

2021-05-20T16:24:00-04:00

Snøhetta has designed a new type of retail experience or “a better place to think” in collaboration with Norwegian tech company reMarkable, whose next-generation paper tablet was named one of the best inventions of 2020 by Time Magazine. Responding to the rise and proliferation of online retail, Snøhetta has met the need of consumers who want to see and experience products physically. In the store, reMarkable’s acclaimed tablet can be used in an environment cultivated to truly experience the product.

The pop-up store was opened in December 2020 and sits in the middle of Oslo’s central fashion district in Øvre Slottsgate. The opening was a bold move during the pandemic, manifesting the significance of providing holistic retail experiences.

Snøhetta’s design for reMarkable. Photo by Calle Huth

“Although consumers are becoming increasingly digital in their shopping habits, especially during the pandemic, we see the value of letting our customers experience that wow moment of writing o...

Picasso murals removed in Oslo despite protest

2020-07-29T14:29:00-04:00

The legal battle over the Picasso-Nesjar murals removed by the Norwegian government from the Y Block administrative building in Oslo earlier this week is escalating. The Fishermen hung on the brutalist façade while The Seagull was located in the lobby of the building, which was designed by the Norwegian architect Erling Viksjø in 1969.

Norway's controversial decision to demolish the 1960s Y-block building that was damaged by a car bomb explosion in the July 22, 2011 terrorist attack — and with it, to remove two murals created by Pablo Picasso and Carl Nesjar specifically for this building — has been generating a heated debate and legal steps for many years now.

According to The Art Newspaper, both murals are being removed this week.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adrian Bugge (@yblokkfoto.no) on Jul 28, 2020 at 12:58pm PDT

Munch Museum opening in Oslo pushed back

2020-01-30T14:29:00-05:00

The opening of the long-awaited Munchmuseet (Munch Museum) in Oslo has been postponed until the autumn due to delays “in the building process managed by the council”, says a spokeswoman for the museum.

The anticipated June opening of the new Munch Museum in Oslo appears to have been pushed back to fall instead.

"Citing delays in the delivery of fire and security doors, as well as a failure of the indoor climate system to meet required standards, the spokeswoman says the museum is now 'adjusting plans accordingly,'" reported The Art Newspaper.

View this post on Instagram

HOLISTIC THINKING. Our double skin façades promote integrated sustainable design solutions deploying energy reduction, singular indentity and user comfort. @munchmuseum #munchmuseet photographed by @adriagoulaphoto

A post shared by estudioHerreros (@estudioherreros) on Sep 25, 2019 at 5:00am PDT

Spanish architects estudio Herreros won the international competition for the building in 2009 with their entry "Lambda."

Mayors of three Nordic capitals declare their commitment to cleaner construction site practices

2019-10-23T02:00:00-04:00

The push for cleaner construction methods to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution on building sites has increased in recent years due to the worsening climate crisis. Nations across the globe have expressed their intent in finding better solutions for addressing the negative impacts the architecture and construction industries have on the environment.

Earlier this month, the mayors of Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm made a public pledge to enact various policies and regulations to ensure the following issues are addressed. According to a press release from C40 Cities, the mayors promise to:

Purchase biofuels and emission-free machinery for the city’s own use
Demand fossil-and emission-free solutions in public procurement and city supported projects
In Oslo, all city-owned machinery and municipally-owned construction sites will operate with zero emissions by 2025

Executive director of C40 Cities, Mark Watts, shares in a statement, "The world’s cities are growing fast, wi...

The Rendering of Modern Life

2019-03-29T13:18:00-04:00

“Paris changes! But nothing in my melancholy Has changed. New palaces, scaffolding, blocks of stone, Old neighbourhoods, all turn to allegory And memories weigh more than stone.” - from The Swan by Charles Baudelaire

A tragicomic cultural and architectural critique of consumer modernities by Will Bradley.

"Every architect in Europe (and beyond) is hustling for a piece of the future Oslo. Their visions are wildly, overtly, perhaps clinically at odds with reality."

A must read, h/t Ron Linden via Peter Plagens.

Snøhetta's Outdoor Care Retreats offer respite to patients at Norway's largest hospitals

2019-01-07T19:19:00-05:00

Hidden in lush forests that are within walking distance from two of Norway’s largest hospitals, the Outdoor Care Retreat is a group of secluded wooden cabins that offer patients a relaxing space to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of nature. Designed by Snøhetta on behalf of the Friluftssykehuset Foundation, the cabins let patients get a break from rigorous treatment routines. Plus, a change in environment can help long-term hospitalization feel a little more manageable.

The Friluftssykehuset Foundation initiated the Outdoor Care Retreat project and developed it with the Oslo University Hospital's Department of Psychosomatics and CL-Child Psychiatry and Snøhetta. The Norwegian Minister of Health and Care Services opened the first Outdoor Care Retreat at the Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet last June. A week later, another Outdoor Care Retreat opened near the Sørlandet Hospital Kristiansand in southern Norway.

Outdoor Care Retreat in Kristiansand. Photo © Ivar Kvaal.

Outdoor Car...

Chief curators for the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale are announced

2017-12-19T15:46:00-05:00

After a yearlong search and an open Call for Curator, the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale has finally selected a winning proposal for the upcoming event. The jury has picked the curatorial team comprised of Interrobang founder, Maria Smith; Canadian designer educator and Interrobang Associate, Matthew Dalziel; British critic and think tank director, Phineas Harper; and Norwegian urban researcher and artist, Cecilie Sachs Olsen.

Chosen from 71 submissions and entitled "Common Futures," the theme questions the unbridled growth and rapid pace of industrialization underwent by societies throughout the 20th century. The proposal posits instead the alternative concept of Degrowth, an economic ideology that questions infinite economic growth as the one-way future for the whole of humanity.

"With this concept, the Triennale could be a platform to establish an understanding of a potential architecture of degrowth: defining it, questioning it and challenging both architects, architecture c...

Peter Schjeldahl contemplates Norway’s canceled controversial memorial

2017-07-28T15:42:00-04:00

What had the land done to deserve being fissured? Local residents protested that they were traumatized enough by the killer’s passage among them not to suffer a daily reminder of it, thronged by tourists. Some families of victims refused the use of their loved ones’ names, which are already enshrined on a modest monument—a suspended silver ring, in the woods—on Utøya. Last month, Norway officially canceled the project.

Memory Wound, a bold proposal by the Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg, won a government competition for a memorial dedicated to the seventy-seven victims of a massacre committed by Andres Breivik on July 22, 2011. The artist's design called for cutting a channel across the Sørbråten peninsula, near the island of Utøya, where Breivik fatally shot sixty-nine at a summer camp and moving the excavated stone to the site in Oslo where, on the same day, a bomb that he had planted killed eight. The gap was to be faced with stone and engraved with victims' names.

Last month, due to much controversy, Norway officially canceled the project. The proposal struck some as, for one thing, an offense to blameless nature. Contrasting the project to Vietnam Memorial and Ground Zero, Peter Schjeldahl of the New Yorker points out the failure of Memory Wound, "Monuments aren’t churches. The most affecting ones enable but don’t seek to impose, fitting emotional responses. Dahlberg’s proposal, by contrast, ...

Inspired by a common canning jar, Snøhetta designs a new bar for the Oslo Airport

2017-05-17T12:36:00-04:00

Despite being built just under 20 years ago, a rapid surge in passengers has left the Oslo Airport pretty far past capacity. So a big renovation and expansion is underway, with a first phase just completed this April. Inside the expanded arrivals and departure hall, the Norwegian superstar practice Snøhetta has designed a unique bar and “interior concept”.

Named Norgesglasset after a ubiquitous jar used for picking and storing food, the 65 square meter design riffs on its namesake. 4,000 jar clad the ceiling and back wall. Conceived as one continuous organic form, the back wall rises 4.8 meter from the floor and juts out over the seating area. It’s complemented by a chandelier, also made of the Norgesglasset jars.

The circular bar is surrounded by red chairs that match a red rubber floor and a red couch lining the back wall. The red is a nod to the red rubber gasket on the distinctive jars. Additionally, Snøhetta designed new employee uniforms and menu cards to match the aesthetic.

...

Transborder wins competition for Holocaust-Center in Oslo

2017-04-06T20:23:00-04:00

In tough competition with leading Norwegian offices (Snøhetta, Jensen & Skodvin, Jarmund Vigsnæs and Carl Viggo Hølmebakk) the young practice Transborder Studio wins the invited competition for an extension of the Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities. The center is located in Oslo, Norway, in a villa from 1917.

Villa Grande has a turbulent history. Most affected is the villa by its notorious inmate during the occupation period leaving imprints of paranoia and nazi philosophy on the architecture. The villa’s narrow, somewhat claustrophobic exhibition rooms are fitting as framework for exhibiting one of mankind’s worst traumas. But the extension that will house an expanded HL-center exhibition activity should give a new spatial dimension and become a counterweight to this world of heavy architectural symbolism. Our proposal creates a subtle framework for new narratives of conditions of minority groups in the world. By cultivating the edge of the “castle plateau” wit...

Ruimteveldwerk maps 'modes of movement' for asylum seekers in Oslo

2016-09-13T18:30:00-04:00

According to estimates by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, up to 60,000 people will seek asylum in Norway this year alone, most of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these newly-arrived people have little knowledge of where to go to find basic resources, not to mention where to make friends. How do you spread information among a constantly changing group of people who don’t have either the visibility or the vocality of the rest of a city’s population?

For Modes of Movement, one of the 2016 Oslo Triennale commissioned ‘intervention strategies’, the Belgian collective Ruimteveldwerk met with asylum seekers in Oslo to gather information and anecdotes about places they found useful or appealing. They then converted their findings into a city guide, which delineates fundamental resources like medical centers and shelters, alongside places where asylum seekers can simply meet one another and share stories and experiences.

Like the rest of the intervention strategies in ...

Bollería Industrial / Factory-Baked Goods expose and disrupt the banal rituals of airport travel

2016-09-09T13:08:00-04:00

Airports can be hell, as any traveler knows. From endless check-in lines to depersonalized security checkpoints to the dull monotony of waiting rooms and transit halls, the experience of traveling has become something of a 21st century ritual. You’ll (probably) get to your destination, but first you have to go through the (securitized and regulated) motions.

“By means of boredom, oddly familiar scenarios, and the climate-controlled atmospheres of in-transit buffers, the spaces and technologies of the airport relax our sensory spatial apprehension to camouflage the control parameters to which passengers are submitted,” write the Madrid-based design studio Bollería Industrial / Factory-Baked Goods in the text accompanying their installation Managing Distance, one of five commissioned “intervention strategies” of the In Residence component of the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale.

Comprising five different physical devices placed around the sleek Oslo Airport in Gardermoen, their interven...

"The Clearing", memorial to Norway's July 22 attacks, opens on the tragedy's fourth anniversary

2015-07-22T19:30:00-04:00

Called Lysningen or ‘The Clearing’, it has been designed by the Bergen-based architects 3RW. [...] “It is actually much better than I had thought,.” [Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the general manager of Utøya,] said. “The frame around the woods and the silence of nature, makes it feel like a well.”

On July 22, 2011, on the island of Utøyah, a lone gunman named Anders Breivik attacked a youth summer camp run by the Norwegian Workers’ Youth League (AUF), killing 69 people. Today, on the fourth anniversary of the attack, a memorial to the victims officially opens on the island. Known as “Lysningen" (The Clearing), the memorial is designed by Bergen-based firm 3RW, and was selected through a competition hosted by AUF.

The design features a large metal ring, inscribed with the victims' names, suspended from pine trees over a clearing made by 3RW.

Vegard Grøslie Wennesland, a survivor of the Utøya attack who served on the memorial committee, says of 3RW's design: "the idea is both sophisticated and unpretentious. No matter what social, cultural or religious affiliation, you can feel welcome here. It will be a beautiful place for remembrance."

Another competition, for two public memorials – one in Utøya and one in Oslo, where Breivik perpetrated a bombing attack on the same day – was wo...

Holmenkollen ski jump turns into Airbnb penthouse for one night

2015-03-19T20:47:00-04:00

One lucky soul will get to enjoy an unforgettable night in one of Oslo's most iconic destinations later this month: the topmost floor of the JDS-designed Holmenkollen ski jump will be turned into a cozy, fully furnished Airbnb penthouse for the winner of a recent online contest.

From the contest description:

Set at the top of the ski jump where champions prepare for flight, the apartment’s floor to ceiling windows give you one of the best views imaginable of Oslo, snow capped mountains and endless forest.

On the first floor, 250 steps below the apartment you will find the world’s first ski museum. Discover more than 4,000 years of ski history and learn about the adventures of polar explorers, including Roald Amundsen.

After a day in the snow, leave your gear and take the lift up to your apartment at the very top of the Holmenkollen ski jump.

Right above you is the highest roof terrace in town, so you can do some serious stargazing as dinner is served. If you’re really lucky, you might...

Schools shuffle and museums move forward: Weekly News Round-Up for October 27, 2014

2014-11-03T20:29:00-05:00

Friday, October 31:

New Plan for Architecture School at Wright Foundation: Facing the loss of its accreditation in 2017, the school is considering independent incorporation in order to continue operating.

Thursday, October 30:

Archinect's Lexicon: "Anthropocene": Recognizing that "Architecture notoriously appropriates and invents new language – sometimes to make appeals, sometimes to fill conceptual gaps, sometimes nonsensically", Archinect's new series will create a lexicon of (mostly new) discursive architectural terms.

Wednesday, October 29:

Relocation or Adaptation: São Paulo Nears Collapse as Drought Continues: Partially due to climate change and deforestation, major reservoirs are dangerously low and cities in São Paulo are beginning to go dry.
Snøhetta to take over SF development project near Civic Center: The condo design originally was given to Richard Meier, and may involve relocating the adjacent subway stop at Civic Center in downtown San Francisco.
The Broad Kinda Sorta Has an...

Oslo council votes yes on new Munch Museum

2014-10-28T13:51:00-04:00

Oslo’s city council approved a plan for a new Munch Museum on the waterfront in a vote on 22 October. A new building designed by the architecture firm Herreros will be constructed at a cost of 2.8m Norwegian kroner. [...] The long-delayed project has hit a number of political hurdles since the architects were first chosen in a competition in 2009. Some critics feared the dramatic design [...] would deprive the city’s relatively new landmark opera building of the attention it deserves.

Previously: Winners for Oslo's New Library and Museum Competiton Announced

Face to the Fjord: A look at Oslo on the release of their new Public Space-Public Life survey

2014-03-25T13:29:00-04:00

“Oslo is a small city where everyone knows one another,” says landscape architect and project leader for Levende Oslo (Lively Oslo), Yngvar Hegrenes. Norway’s capital city on the Olso fjord recently commissioned a Public Space-Public Life (PSPL) survey that took over two years to complete, despite the city’s compact size. Hegrenes is responsible for commissioning the survey, stating that Oslo was interested in taking a fresh look at their city center with input from knowledgeable outside sources

Office Jarrik Ouburg + laura alvarez architecture wins second-prize for Ås in Europan Norway

2013-12-27T15:19:00-05:00

Architects Jarrik Ouburg and Laura Alvarez sent us their "Hortus conclusus" scheme in the recently concluded E12 of the Europan Norway competition. This year's theme focused on the future development of three Oslo-region municipalities projected to grow within the next 25 years: Bærum, Asker, and Ås. Alvarez's and Ouburg's collaborative entry won second prize in the Ås category.

The municipality of Ås, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and the architects will discuss the proposal in early 2014 to develop a new and more detailed masterplan of the specific site.

Here's a glimpse of the proposal:

Shortlist announced for Norwegian July 22 Memorial Sites

2013-10-11T20:11:00-04:00

Eight finalists were revealed for the international competition to design two memorial sites in the Norwegian Goverment Headquarters in Oslo as well as the island of Utøya. The public art memorial sites will commemorate the victims of the Oslo bombing and the Utøya massacre on July 22, 2011 — Norway's shocking day of terror when 77 people tragically lost their lives.

Below are the candidates who will advance to the second and final stage of the competition:

Jonas Dahlberg (SE)
Jeremy Deller (UK)
Estudio SIC (ES)
Goksøyr & Martens and Snøhetta (NO)
Olav Christopher Jenssen and LPO arkitekter (NO)
Haugen/Zohar arkitekter (NO)
Paul Murdoch Architects (US)
NLÉ & Kunlé Adeyemi (NL/NG)

Picasso murals debate divides Norway

2013-08-28T17:22:00-04:00

The fate of five Picasso murals on buildings damaged in the Anders Breivik bombing in Oslo in 2011 has led to a heated debate in Norway. A panel of experts has recommended demolishing the buildings and removing the murals. But art experts say that as the murals were designed by Picasso for those specific buildings, they should remain where they are. The artworks were Picasso's first attempts at concrete murals.

A-lab Wins Sustainable Urban Development in Oslo Suburb

2011-04-06T17:23:43-04:00

Norwegian practice A-lab won the open international ideas competition on climate efficient urban development on Furuset area in Oslo.

The project goal is to condense the suburb Furuset i Groruddalen outside Oslo with 2,500 new homes and 1,500 new workspaces, and to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent by 2030. The project provides a district that stands for sustainable urban development.