Fjordcity

Oslo is embarking on its most adventurous harbour renewallproject ever, as a string of waterfront properties in the
heart of the city are put up for sale and rezoned for urban developement. Among the port capitals of Europe, Oslo
stands alone in undertaking such a comprehensive revitalization of its downtown waterfront. The aim is to reconnect
the city with the sea, providing residents and visitors alike with a unique and sustainable quality of life.

Fulfilling the vision of Oslo as the Fjord City will help meet the city's need for more housing, buisness, recreation and
cultural space, as well as improving and concentrating Oslo's commercial port.

The total Fjord City area comprises 225 hectares, from Frognerstranda to the west to Ormsund in the southeast. Sale
of these prime waterfront properties commenced in 2003 and will run through the decade and into the next.

http://i.imgur.com/6gPQ6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/clQdt.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/cityw/Skyscrapercity/BETWEENBAR_3pix.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/cityw/Skyscrapercity/BETWEENBAR_3pix.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/cityw/Skyscrapercity/BETWEENBAR_3pix.jpg

Fjordcity has been divided into several threads; Quicklinks follow:


Bispevika (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1462608)
Filipstad (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1279895)
Operaens Omgivelser (Munch Museum and Deichman Library) (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=944576)
Sørenga (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=972196)
Sjursøya (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1259991)
Tjuvholmen (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=559616)


OperaKvarteret (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=774674) (International section)

KLP Bygget (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=557046)
Deloitte Bygget (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=553274)
Visma Bygget (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=553277)
MAD Bygget (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=847204)
DnB NOR (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=641578)
Barcode B13 (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1010083)


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/cityw/Skyscrapercity/BETWEENBAR_3pix.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/cityw/Skyscrapercity/BETWEENBAR_3pix.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/cityw/Skyscrapercity/BETWEENBAR_3pix.jpg

Updated by Þróndeimr

Original first post by NorthStar77:

Some time ago Christian started a thread about the developements in Bjørvika, and I continued on writing a few words on the fjordcity-projects in general. This was under news-subsection, and wasn't noticed by many of our S&B members. And I think it wasn't of much interest among non S&B members.

So therefore I'm creating a thread about it here at our lovely S&B forum, where it belongs :)

Fjordcity is a coordination of projects involving the shoreline of Oslo, and there are indeed many huge plans! Here is a map showing all the areas that are under the fjorcity:

http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/Prosjektfjordbykontoret/Internett/Bilder/_Fra%20konvertering/kart2.gif

This one shows more in detail:
http://www.pbase.com/image/25999627/large.jpg

Here are the official english presentation of the projects: http://www.oslo.technopole.no/fjordcity/

From the site:
"Oslo is embarking on its most adventurous harbour renewallproject ever, as a string of waterfront properties in the heart of the city are put up for sale and rezoned for urban developement. Among the port capitals of Europe, Oslo stands alone in undertaking such a comprehensive revitalization of its downtown waterfront. The aim is to reconnect the city with the sea, providing residents and visitors alike with a unique and sustainable quality of life.

Fulfilling the vision of Oslo as the Fjord City will help meet the city's need for more housing, buisness, recreation and cultural space, as well as improving and concentrating Oslo's commercial port.

The total Fjord City area comprises 225 hectares, from Frognerstranda to the west to Ormsund in the southeast. Sale of these prime waterfront properties commenced in 2003 and will run through the end of the decade"

Tjuvholmen is the project in Fjordcity that has developed furthest, and has now it's own thread here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=17231319#post17231319).

Back to second post:




First, I will tell you about the plans for Bjørvika, the biggest project in Fjordcity, and it contains much of the most exiting
citydevelopement in Oslo at the moment. This alone is the biggest urban project in the history of Norway, after
danish/norwegian king Christian IV founded the new Christiania (now Oslo) some ~350 years ago.

The area called Bjørvika includes the three bays Bjørvika, Bispevika and Lohavn. Bjørvika has for many years been dominated
by barriers dividing the city and the fjord. Barriers like motorways, railroads, and closed off harbor-areas. Size of the
area: 69,7 hectares.

From fjordcity site: "Bjørvika will be the site of Oslo's new national opera house, with construction well underway and
scheduled to be completed in 2007. The opera house was created by the Norwegian architect firm Snøhetta, also responsible
for design of the internationally acclaimed library in Alexandria, Egypt. Key to the realisation of the vision for Bjørvika is
the rerouting of the motorway in a tunnel below the fjord. Two plans, one for the motorway tunnel and one for subsequent
urban development, were approved by the City Council in August 2003."

The planning of this area have been going on for no less than 10 years! It will be built 960.000 squaremeters in total, 450.000
for residence. This will give room for 4-5000 dwellings when finished. Plans include a cable car up to Ekeberg and the
functionalist-style Ekeberg restaurant, currently under restauration, as well as a new aquarium.

Some early proposals included 12 buildings with 25 floors, or even more!! This caused a massive debate on the subject, but
this debate has somewhat died out (Eventhough the highrise-report concerning all of Oslo's highrise strategy has
yet to be aproved..this I will deal with in another thread). The final proposals, aproved by city council 27'th august 2003,
included 16 floors as a max, IIRC.

Okay, time for some images.

First, the situation today:
http://www.erikengen.com/bilder/jernbanen_oslo.jpg


These are all just renderings showing heights, buildingvolumes, and streetpattern.

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{1355D736-9DCC-4B3F-9D1E-2BAA267C34F7}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{F1BEDE28-762B-4759-AE79-310EA80F86DA}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{C52BDF85-2578-41FB-94C6-7CDCB48BF6E7}.jpg

As seen from Ekeberg restaurant:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{3DC30D15-9BDE-4F86-97FB-CF6DE18723B3}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{D72CFF51-7CA9-4509-8079-C453174C9A92}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{22253962-7017-4D71-8AAD-A66BB769669A}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{6EDBA539-44AF-4525-AC90-2592338930C8}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{36B26C4D-687F-42B8-BBDF-21D40A1F4CCB}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{3828D962-816E-4181-AD7A-1AA784D348E0}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{6B5E6E90-BD68-4178-A542-918EF29C1C3A}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{0515E204-9AA4-4647-AEC9-092E95E465EA}.jpg

Nylands Alle and Operastreet:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{41A2BB7C-5FEF-4C57-B234-A0E7D5DB62E1}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{AA6835D4-6C13-49E1-BBF7-91321F3F309E}.jpg

The future skyline(don't mind the asphalt in front, it will be developed aswell):
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{C7E59D83-4389-4C7B-9DC5-5BDFDE3BE12D}.jpg

There are many other illustrations, and they all exist in huge format too, most of them 1.2 MB big, so I wont post them.

The Opera hotel, and a office-building next to it is finished already. The opera is under construction. It will be finished in 2007, and ready
for opening in 2008. A live webcam of it here:
http://operawebcam.snoball.no/image.jpg

The work on rerouting the motorway tunnel below the fjord will start next year, but will unfortunately not be finished
for the opening of the opera.

Furthermore, the areas along the railroadtracks will be the areas first to be developed. There was an architect competition
for the area, and a team of arhitects from MVRDV, a-lab, and DARK-arkitekter, won with their "BARCODE" project.
They will be engaged to work further with the area. This project will be realized in 2007.

The entire area is planned to be finished in 2017(!), and if(when) the area becomes valuable enough, the railroadtracks
gradually will be covered, enabling builindings to be built there.

The scale is pretty huge! :eek:
but why so few highrises? If just buildings would be a bit taller this could become pretty much like small Manhattan ;)

The scale is pretty huge! :eek:
but why so few highrises? If just buildings would be a bit taller this could become pretty much like small Manhattan ;)

Yes, because the cost of construction in some of these areas will be quite expencive, some proposals included many highrises. The demands for dwellings are certainly there, and they argued that building buildings over 25 floors would make better profit. But the reality is that a majority of the population (and so also the politicians deciding it) do not want a "manhattan". Infact "Oslo will never become like Manhattan" was said many times during these debates.

Some more details for Bjørvika.

Yellow - pedestrian paths, red - bicyckle path, green - parks
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{D8CDA662-2701-4F44-B4D1-897B3F1E6B28}.jpg

Amount of traffic 2002, number of veichles per day:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{BB32A42B-8CDE-4D4E-A781-3CD5E6EC2508}.jpg

Projected traffic in 2015:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{B7F02750-9151-4B44-982C-2E4E72743D07}.jpg

Level of noise in 2002
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{BB760063-1019-4479-BA77-D790AE1F5AD0}.jpg

Level of noise in 2015:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{991E0204-5300-4C7C-9EAB-A40759A68ADA}.jpg

The motorway-tunnel:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{18C7F876-6E58-4461-BAED-8A26E975D59E}.jpg

Public transport:
Blue - tram, blue with dots - possible trams, green - citybus, yellow - regionbus, small blue dots - boats, grey - cable car
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{6B37071C-E592-4652-8B2C-CCC15BCE84E8}.jpg

Promenade:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{776A8F1B-4C22-4449-B754-67ED0FFC8E41}.jpg

3 bays:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{5642A7C1-5B46-4E4A-9174-E4C63D84D308}.jpg

Areas under construction in 2004:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{A60573E4-75B6-48EC-8394-973103CD48CE}.jpg

Areas under construction in 2006:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{32C42CEA-C6F7-44EB-96F3-DA89C31F3FEF}.jpg

Areas under construction in 2008:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{54A2BA08-B6A5-4E98-B9B5-3F791D3C37CF}.jpg

Areas under construction in 2010:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{04E15D28-542C-48D2-A6D6-1ABEA88E7003}.jpg

Areas under construction in 2012:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{DD120A3C-4B35-446B-826A-0BEB8E02E08A}.jpg

Areas under construction in 2014:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{F5168AD8-6EB7-4171-930A-B9BB92F74752}.jpg

When finished in 2017:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{17290C01-28A5-4A53-BA4E-CD0E07A450E0}.jpg

Thank you for this thread. I really like such projects. "Wasteland" transformed into a nice human-friendly part of the city. Could it be better? There are many waterfront projects in Stockholm too. But they are located at the outskirts of the downtown (the central areas are already built-up). In Oslo those new projects will probably change the entire image of the city, which is quite fascinating.

That area is massive. I remember seeing it on my trips to Oslo. The Fjordcity plans look nice but as mentioned prev. the buildings could be a tad bit taller ! :lol:

Thannx for another interesting thread. :)
Too bad that the original height propossals didn't go through. Damn...
But otherwise it look's very promissing. It'll be great to get the city reconnected to the water. It's certainly is a huge barrier as it is now.
The underwater motorway is an impressive project. I'm not surprised that it'll be impossible to get finished untill 2008.
Btw, a few days ago I read in a danish newspaper that the operaproject has big financial problems and might get delayed. I don't know if this is correct, but it might end so that motorwaytunnel and operahouse its finished at the same time afterall...

Thanks for all replies so far! I will deal with the other projects later on in this thread, but first more on Bjørvika.

In Oslo those new projects will probably change the entire image of the city, which is quite fascinating.
Indeed. The "gravity" of downtown will be moved sorta, and will change Oslo forever!


The Fjordcity plans look nice but as mentioned prev. the buildings could be a tad bit taller ! :lol:
Yeah, if there is one area that is fit for highrises in this city, then this is IT! Located very centrally in the middle of the city, right next to the biggest transport hub in Norway, and along those tracks, where very little is worth preserving. The main reason they lowered the maximum height, was to ensure that the buildings wouldn't block too much of the view to the sea and Akershus fortress from certain points. But, IIRC the volume to be built will be the same. IMHO some slimmer 25-floors would block the view less than some massive 16-floorers! Damn, why don't the incompetent politicians see that?

Here are some renderings made to see how the buildings will effect the current cityscape.
From Grønland:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{807D2A3D-5978-4926-B2E0-649D072904B6}.jpg

From Grünerløkka:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{F3E061B4-092A-400D-98D2-986198D6FC97}.jpg

From Karl Johan street:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{0C72D736-D718-4479-B4A5-962DCDF9AE80}.jpg



Btw, a few days ago I read in a danish newspaper that the operaproject has big financial problems and might get delayed. I don't know if this is correct, but it might end so that motorwaytunnel and operahouse its finished at the same time afterall...
Yesterday 11:56 PM

Hmm, that may have been the financing of the tunnel, acctually. There are some discussions on how big a share should be payed by the city and how much by the goverment. I think the financing of the opera is not a topic of discussion anymore.

Some more info about the Opera.

Snøhetta(the architects) has described the project in the following thoughts:

- Connecting land and sea, a public platform rises from the fjord
- A sculpted landscape veils a direct functional solution
- Landmark quality is obtained through a memorable yet discreet silhouette
- The platform meets the water, renewing coastal conditions in the city center
- Elements of earth, fire, air and water capture distinct spaces
- Soft versus hard describe indoors from out

A sloping roof surface has been designed that rises directly from beneath the fjord. It is designed
with fractures, stairs, the stage roof surfaces and the stage towers as defining features to the
vast platform that can be traversed from the sea to the uppermost levels by the visitor.
Together with the vertical movement, the diagonal lines create a convincing composition that, at
the same time, is humble, adapted to the scale of the city, distinctive and unique in the
city landscape. It forms an extension of the landscape surrounding the city and is
not clearly distinguishable as either building or ground.

Here are some illustrations made by Snøhetta:

http://snohetta.com/media/project_images/opera/operagallery/gallery_large_opera01.jpg
http://snohetta.com/media/project_images/opera/operagallery/gallery_large_opera04.jpg
http://snohetta.com/media/project_images/opera/gallery_large_opera15.jpg
http://snohetta.com/media/project_images/opera/gallery_large_opera28.jpg
http://snohetta.com/media/project_images/opera/gallery_large_opera23.jpg
http://snohetta.com/media/project_images/opera/gallery_large_opera29.jpg

Snøhetta also want the opera and its roof to be an eldorado for skaters :D

Great thread, the opera building is a great expensive art construction, im not sure i like it too mutch, but never mind.

Great that they finally starting to develope the bjoervika area. The area is situated to close to downtown, and makes Oslo look even more ugly with this huge container area in downtown. This ais a area to mady davelope a low skyline who fitts perfectly to Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel and Posthuset. But, sad they didn't approve any taller that 14 floors, i would easly see 20 floors comming up, maby 30 floor right in front of Posthuset were the Oslo Atrium and Rainbow hotel is situated.

Great thread, the opera building is a great expensive art construction, im not sure i like it too mutch, but never mind.

Great that they finally starting to develope the bjoervika area. The area is situated to close to downtown, and makes Oslo look even more ugly with this huge container area in downtown. This ais a area to mady davelope a low skyline who fitts perfectly to Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel and Posthuset. But, sad they didn't approve any taller that 14 floors, i would easly see 20 floors comming up, maby 30 floor right in front of Posthuset were the Oslo Atrium and Rainbow hotel is situated.

But 16 floors is aproved, not 14! ;) :cheers1: It was the most debated issue in Oslo city council when they aproved this plan at 27'th august 2003. Ap and Frp wanted 19 floors, and SV, V, Krf, RV, and H(wanted 20 but settled for 16 for diplomatic reasons) went for 16 floors: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article613536.ece

However, the originally proposal conained 25 along the railroadtrack, wich would be much better, IMO.
"Området får stigende byggehøyder fra 4-6 etasjer mot fjorden, til 8-12 etasjer langs hovedgatene og fra 13 til 25etasjer mot sporområdet"

The original proposal as of 24th march 2003: http://www.bjorvika-info.no/site.asp?aid={1E0F109E-E33E-4202-8751-E78DB4C834D5}&m1={8EF9F1A7-1AD5-426C-9808-460CE55F7079}&m2={9840782F-0BBA-44AC-B102-9663293E2F88}&m3={667CB4F8-D84D-4183-982F-A25CF455CBBF}&m3s={942D7C94-93D6-4F97-A7CF-0CCE76CB0089}&s=regplan

This area is massive. This kind of reminds me of the Jätkäsaari project in Helsinki except this area is more centrally located. I love the plans for the new opera house. It'll definately be a great new landmark for the city of Oslo.

I cut out two parts from the large image showing how far the developements will have come in 2007. I must stress once more that this only illustrate buildingheigths and volumes.

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/2007_1.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/2007_2.jpg

I find it weird however, that I have not been able to find any proposal for these buildings. The building to the right of "Bispelokket", the elevated roundabout, is due to start construction this year, according to the 2004-rendering showed earlier.



All detailed renderings can be found here (site in Norwegian):
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/site.asp?cid={2D7ACB14-C665-4F41-B929-D823F66DB943}&m1={6F505623-C2C3-4667-BD90-B9F5C133BF1D}&m2={C2C14EF2-646F-4B61-9EC6-F19586574105}&s=presse

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/site.asp?cid={619092EF-DB0C-4FF8-A182-D20FCEA38E73}&m1={6F505623-C2C3-4667-BD90-B9F5C133BF1D}&m2={FF7C213B-844F-4F8F-8E8F-9E0258EF9589}&s=presse


And less detailed images, maps, and interactive panoramas can be found here:
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/site.asp?s=visuelt&m1={AFDCD840-9B88-4CED-A1E4-C7D9B7F0C333}

I'll now deal with some of the smaller areas of the Fjordcity, some that there are not much developed plans for yet.

Loenga 7,51 hectares
http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65707/loenga%20lite.jpg

Loenga is the name of one of Oslo's oldest cultural historical area - Among them the mideval ruins wich I presented in my "Gamle Oslo" thread. The area is of high importance for goods-traffic by rail.

Future use of the area is still uncertain. There has been made a scetch with 200 dwellings, but the design of this area depends on the future highspeed rail-line between Oslo and Ski(a suburb).


Kongshavn 13,24 hectares
http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65709/Kongshavn.JPG

Kongshavn is today an important harbor. In the future it can be used to residential, commercial and recreational purposes. This seems now more possible, as it is decided that ferryterminals will not move here. A final decition still depends on a final location of a container-terminal. Unstable soil can be a complicating factor.



Sjursøya 37,47 hectares

http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65708/Sjursøyalite.jpg

Sjursøya is today the most important oilterminal in eastern Norway. Large storagefacilities for petroleum products have been constructed in the rock under Ekebergåsen. Up until 2012, container-activites will consentrate into this area. A consequense of this is that they need to expand the island with 665 x 25 meters towards the south, as well as filling in the sea between the island and the mainland.

http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65708/sjursøyalite2.jpg


Ormsund-Bekkelaget 15,68 hectares

http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65710/Ormsundlite.jpg

Ormsund-Bekkelaget is the southernmost part of Fjordcity. The area is dominated by a modern container-harbor. The area has been sugested to be changed to residential and commercial (as if it was a surprise ;) )

There has been made a scenario for the area, but they are kinda vague:
http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/Image1.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/Image4.jpg

Well these were perhaps the most uninteresting parts of the Fjordcity, but I felt like presenting them nonetheless. Next post in this thread will be more exiting.

But 16 floors is aproved, not 14! ;) :cheers1: It was the most debated issue in Oslo city council when they aproved this plan at 27'th august 2003. Ap and Frp wanted 19 floors, and SV, V, Krf, RV, and H(wanted 20 but settled for 16 for diplomatic reasons) went for 16 floors: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article613536.ece

However, the originally proposal conained 25 along the railroadtrack, wich would be much better, IMO.
"Området får stigende byggehøyder fra 4-6 etasjer mot fjorden, til 8-12 etasjer langs hovedgatene og fra 13 til 25etasjer mot sporområdet"

The original proposal as of 24th march 2003: http://www.bjorvika-info.no/site.asp?aid={1E0F109E-E33E-4202-8751-E78DB4C834D5}&m1={8EF9F1A7-1AD5-426C-9808-460CE55F7079}&m2={9840782F-0BBA-44AC-B102-9663293E2F88}&m3={667CB4F8-D84D-4183-982F-A25CF455CBBF}&m3s={942D7C94-93D6-4F97-A7CF-0CCE76CB0089}&s=regplan

ok, but im really surprized that V and RV was agreed for 16 floors, thouse two politican parties is most agains high-rise buildings in Oslo and every where in Norway. They have clearly say'd that they is against all high-rise buildings over 15 floors in the Bjoervika area. I didn't think they was agreed with the plann of building high-rise up to 16 floors in the Bjoervika area. But miracles does happend...luckly!! ;)

/\ Yeah, but you know politics is about compromising. Høyre(Conservatives) wanted 20 floors, and Venstre(Liberals) wanted as low as possible, so I guess they agreed on something in between. Too bad Venstre(not the same as Venstre in Denmark btw ;) ) is the most anti-highrise party. Their politics really is the best, except for on this area.

Thanks for showing us the southern areas of Fjordcity, NorthStar.
Not many actual plans yet, but surely a lot of potential...

Very interesting, especially because the exact same thing is going to happen to Hki's harbours, too. Okay, I won't continue my Finland spaming anymore. :)

Thanks for all the information! I would've certainly missed the whole project if you had not told about it. The scale is pretty huge, but judging by these renders the general plan looks nice. It's very urban and city-like.

Very interesting, especially because the exact same thing is going to happen to Hki's harbours, too. Okay, I won't continue my Finland spaming anymore. :)

Thanks for all the information! I would've certainly missed the whole project if you had not told about it. The scale is pretty huge, but judging by these renders the general plan looks nice. It's very urban and city-like.


I wouldn't consider it spamming ;) I, and probably others, would be happy to hear about such plans! :)

About it being urban; yeah! Bjørvika will sort of become a new part of downtown.

I have not told about all projects here yet, but I will hopefully have time soon. The weather has been so insanely good lately that I've prefered beeing outdoors (I even got sunburned yesterday) :cheers:

Tjuvholmen 3.33 hectares

Right outside Aker Brygge lies Tjuvholmen. Last week it was announced that building will probably start already
this year, given that the city council will aprove the plans (:| ). It will take some time to get the area finished though, as there
are lots that need to be destroyed, and sea that needs to be filled. Buildings will be up to 12 floors, but most of
them on 8-9 floors. There will be 900-1200 apartments, and areas for a kindergarden, shopping, offices, hotel,
restaurants and culture. There will also be a beach! Total construction will be on 148.000 sqaremeters, where 108.000 sqm
will be residential.

In the plans is also a landmark, a tower on 60 meters altough they are not mentioning it in the
article(http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article794734.ece). I can only speculate if they left it out of the article consiously ;)

I took this picture of the plan from the paper-version of the article, thought that revealed more details than the digital one
http://www.pbase.com/image/29647189/original.jpg

For more info on this project, take a look in the thread dedicated to it:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=17231319#post17231319

Looks really nice. Hope the landmark will materialize :)

PS Does Tjuvholmen mean the same thing in Norwegian as in Swedish - The Island of Thieves?

PS Does Tjuvholmen mean the same thing in Norwegian as in Swedish - The Island of Thieves?

Yes it does :)

Acctually, I just searched it up to find how it got its name: "Tjuvholmen har fått sitt navn fordi det opprinnelig var et gammelt avstraffelsesområde for tyver. På Tjuvholmen ble tyvene straffet med døden".

A digress: I found this image in an article about Bjørvika. Nice isn't it?
http://www.nrk.no/img/372173.gif

ah, Tjuvholmen may become a very beautiful in the future. The buildings looks so nice and becomes even more beautiful with all the green areas and the water around the buildings. :)

http://www.tjuvholmen.com/data/b/0/00/34/3_2701_0.jpg

cool drawing
it's like Venice only with lost of modern architecture :)

It's about bloody time I update this thread!

There is one area I have not talked about yet, and that is:
Filipstad 31.89 hectares

This is an area situated west of Tjuvholmen. Today this area hosts the terminal to the Kiel-ferry, and some containers.
http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65679/Filipstad%20mai03%20lite.jpg

The plan is to start selling of this area from 2006, for the purpose of residential and commercial activities. It is suggested that it's room for 2-4000 housing-units. There could also be place for a ferry terminal, and E-18 may be put in a tunnel here aswell.

This is how it may look in the future.
http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65679/Ntorpfilipstad2.bmp

http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65679/Ntorpfilipstad1.bmp

I've heard very little concerning the development at Filipstad, only some short articles now and then. This area will also become very nice in the future if they actually built it as nice as they paints and says, i especally see several buildings in the second drawning which can become very interesting later when they develope close images.

But then i also hope they don't built whole Filipstad with flat buildings 6 and 7 floors, hopefully with some taller buildings up to 15 floors, i don't think it will hurt the surrounding area, especally not the eastern area closing Tjuvholmen and Aker Brygge.

But anyway, this area will probably become awesome without high-rises;)

this project is massive, i love oslo but i strongly remember the port, it was not all too impressive, as we where to gon a boat, to denmarki really hope they will dig or atleaast cover up that rail yard it is hidderous, and oslos tunnels keep amaze me, and one more i really miss the smell in oslo of the salt water

"Tjuvholmen, the Alcatraz Of Oslo"

There has been a debate in recent weeks on whether the stone-cladding for the new opera should come from Norway or from China. 25.000 square meters of the building is to be covered with stone. The Chinese stone costs 30 million NOK (3,6 million EUR), compared to the Norwegian that costs 80 million NOK (9,5 million EUR).

The solution seems to be to use both. Because the amount of stress will vary on various parts of the building, solid norwegian rock will be used where it is needed, and cheap chinese stone elsewhere.

*I do however think that this is more an issue of national pride ;)*

Some images and videos was relized by VG concerning the Bjoervika Project, here are some videos and panorama images.


Panorama image:

http://www.vg.no/foto/panorama/popup/oslopanorama.html

Videos: (The quality is well, broadband++ only)

Read first:
Press on one of this titles on the page:
- "Bli med på flytur over den nye Fjordbyen!"
- "Bli med på en gondoltur til Ekeberg!"
- "Bli med på en gåtur gjennom Bjørvika!"

http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=233529

Some rederings from Bjørvika architect competition.

One proposal which became quite popular for the Bjørvika developments was Dark Architects proposal. Dark made a model of a very modern Bjørvika with quite a lot of high-rise buildings, but thise high-rise buildings is quite a lot more amazing that the traditional architecture.


DARK Architects, A-lab Architects both from Oslo, Norway, and MVRDV from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, work together on the project for the new waterfront in Oslo.


This new townplan situated at the Björvika-Bispevika fjord, comprises an urban development vision on 220.000 m2 mixed program and an architectural plan of 55.000 m2.

The Bjørvika area straddles a unique point in Oslo, between the expanse of the fjord and the infrastructural node of Norway. A series of plots with an address both on the fjord side as well as the railway side can achieve a maximum view towards the fjord, maximise the number of 'addresses' at the waterfront and maximise the amount of flexible space to be used for housing, offices and commercial and/or cultural spaces.

Every plot in this new area can be different in access, shape, size, functionality providing for all possible uses. On ground level an alley quarter provides access and throughways on as many places as possible. By surrounding the site with a road, all plots can be accessed from the railway side. Avoiding interior roads it creates a continuous pedestrianised urban space, a pedestrianised island.

The realisation of the first office buildings by MVRDV+ a-lab + DARK Arcitects are to be expected in 2006.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/barcode_01.jpg

http://www.dark.no/filestore/barcode_02.jpg
Check out that building way to the right, its a S turned 90 degreed left, my favorite :)

http://www.dark.no/filestore/barcode_03.jpg
Notice the really, really large building in the middel with its roof hanging far over and far from the walls of the building, nice one;)

http://www.dark.no/filestore/barcode_sitplan.jpg

Well, i would love to see some more rederings from this proposal, its was my favorite once, sad it was rejected :(

To me, it seems like that project won! Look here: http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/default.asp?page=/Delomrader&id=65706 .
http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/bilder/artikler/65706/BARCODE.jpg

And GOOD NEWS FOLKS. The plans have been given final aproval! It is now not possible to stop or change the plans for the biggest construction project in Norways history! In todays Aftenposten, there is an article saying that the construction will start next autumn, and is planned to be finished 1.january 2007. The tunnel is planned to start construction spring next year. In a survey, 21% of all people in greater Oslo said they would want to live in Bjøvika. (http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article856193.ece)

An illustration of part of the project.
http://www.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00217/_Nyhet_15359_jpg_217253h.jpg

BTW, this is only the first part of Bjørvika. 20% will be dwellings, the rest will be commercial in this part of the project.

Today, a competition to design the squares and harbour-promenades has begun.
Red - squares and the likes, orange - harbour promenades
http://www.arkitektur.no/images/byrombjorvikakart.jpg

If this project actually becomes built, i would :dance: forever....djeesesh, its probably the most spectacular project i've ever seen from Norway, tough the towers isn't the tallest in the world. Im really looking forward to see some more regerings from the project if they continue this plan. :)

Today a company named Fjordby DA announced plans to make an artificial island in the fjord, 200 meters from the shore. 80 dwellings will be built on the island. And there will be a marina with place for 1200 boats. The idea is to make a hall in the mountain, to fill out the fjord, and use the hall for winter storage of the boats. There will also be a parkinghouse in the mountain, to serve a beach that will also be made.

If everything go "maximum smoothly" as the ideamakers say, everything will be finished in 4 years. And most of the politicians that have made statements today are positive to it.

http://www.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00220/140666a040_1055362__220737h.jpg
http://www.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00220/Fjordby_fugleperspe_220746h.jpg
http://www.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00220/Fjordby_1055352_jpg_220749h.jpg
http://www.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00220/0809utbygging_220771a.gif

Final aprovement of Bjørvika was given by city council friday. Don't ask me what the difference between this final aproval and the other final aprovements is. Anyways, Aftenposten writes that maximum height now is set to 16 floors:(

They also write about the following milestones:
* first half of 2004: construction of apartments and offices on "branntomta", wich is the area where the tallest buildings will be. I still have not seen any construction there, nor any renderings on how it will look like :?
*Q1 2005: construction of the motorway-tunnel starts.
*2005/2006: Frameworks on the opera finished.
*2006: first people can move in on "branntomta"
*20 september 2008: first play in the opera
*2011: tunnel is finished

You can now see a quicktime-animation of how the tunnel will be here:
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article863121.ece

Aww... so much construction. I sure hope these plans will be realized. I´m not quite sure if I like that ultra-modern style though. Well, at least it´s interesting :)

http://www.osu.no/arch/img.asp?file_id=197781&ext=.jpg

Yesterday, the financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv announced that the company Oslo S Utvikling will start construction of the first part of Bjørvika, area B10, within first half of next year. B10 will consist of about 40.000 sqm offices when finished. The company will invest about 1 billion euros in Bjøvika the next 12 years, and probably build up to 315.000 sqm of the 840.000 sqm of offices and residentials that will be built in Bjørvika.

B10 is the area marked with red
http://www.osu.no/arch/img.asp?file_id=195835&ext=.jpg

There has not been a traditional architecture competition for the area, but rather a concept competiotion. As mentioned earlier, the concept Barcode has won. The idea is to build tall, slim buildings, that are slimmest in the north-south direction. This concept allows a great variety of buildings, and most importantly, will allow polluted air from the city to flow between the buildings and out in the fjord. There are two alternatives for height restrictions here.
Alternative 1: 1 building with max height of 67 meters, and the others at 51 meters. Max area will then be 43.000 sqm gross + glass-covered tops with 6.000 sqm.
Alternative 2: All buildings will be on 67 meters. Max area 51.000 + glass-covered tops with 6.000 sqm.

Alternative 1 makes it impossible to fullfill the 840.000 sqm for all of Bjørvika if the current restrictions for the rest of Bjørvika is to be upheld. If the commune does not allow this total area, they will have to pay a "fine" to the entrapeneurs, by paying for more of the infrastructure. So it is therefore highly possible that alternative 2 will be chosen.

Here is one more illustrations on how Oslo S Utvikling is visioning the Barcode consept.
http://www.osu.no/arch/img.asp?file_id=197492

Edit: shite, hit the submit button to early. More to come on the various alternatives.

Good news, and it looks like their earlyer decission for a border at 14 floors is gone for sure...:)

Map of B10, current situation.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/bjrvika.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/b10Existing.jpg

Possible future
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/b10future.jpg

Affection on the skyline with one of the 1. alternatives. The buildings in question marked with colors.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sreng-alt1.jpg

Same with one of the 2. alternatives.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sreng-alt2.jpg

The barcode idea allows for a range of different shapes of the buildings. Here are some scetches that is beeing used in the idea process.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch9.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch11.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/sketch12.jpg

Different scenarios under alternative 1(1 building 67 meters, rest on 51). The buildings will not look exactly like this ofcourse. But the colors used indicate the different materials that will be used in the buildings.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario1a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario1b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario1c.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario1d.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario1e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario1f.jpg


Scenarios under alternative 2(all buildings up to 67 meters)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario2a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario2b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario2c.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario2d.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario2e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/bjorvika/scenario2f.jpg

Sources: http://www.dn.no/eiendom/article362952.ece
http://www.osu.no/

Nice, i really hope they make this concept good enouth. They have some very good concept here, i really don't hope they ruins it by choosing the wrong type of facade when they comes to that decission.

http://www.osu.no/arch/img.asp?file_id=197781&ext=.jpg
Like this one, it can become a beautiful tower, but this tower can also become a copy of KPMG Bygget, and that would start a huge opposition again. Well, they will probably start some opposition anyway...;)

True.

Well, this will be exiting times:)

^
Yep. :) Thanks for the yesterday's heads-up in MSN. As I said there, Oslo's cluster is growing a bit.

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/2007_1.jpg
Looks nice, that area definitely needs more taller buildings. :yes:

3 different teams have been brainstorming over how to develop former harbor areas in Oslo. The 3 teams are named “Oslo Large”, “Oslo Network” and “Oslo Park”, and they have based their suggestions on different sets of totally unrealistic assumptions. Here are their suggestions:

Filipstad

Oslo Large's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/6484/OsloLarge-Filipstad.jpg

Oslo Network's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/1957/OsloNetwork-Filipstad.jpg

Oslo Park's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/3451/OsloPark-Filipstad.jpg

Vippetangen

Oslo Large's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/7013/OsloLarge-Vippetangen.jpg

Oslo Network's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/9140/OsloNetwork-Vippetangen.jpg

Oslo Park's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/5046/OsloPark-Vippetangen.jpg

Kongshamn

Oslo Large's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/1337/OsloLarge-Kongshamn.jpg

Oslo Network's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/535/OsloNetwork-Kongshamn.jpg

Oslo Park's suggestion
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/1810/OsloPark-Kongshamn.jpg

Here are my opinions of the different areas:

Filipstad: This area needs a much higher density than any of the plans suggest. I like the idea of digging canals though, but would prefer if they made the whole area into an island, preferrably with skyscrapers on. Like a small version of Manhattan :)

Vippetangen: This area calls for non-intrusive architecture, and the plan presented by the “Oslo Large”-team seems to have taken this into account.

Kongshamn: The “Oslo Park”-team's suggestion with a row of residential highrises overlooking an artificial beach is awesome. This idea should definitely be further developed.

Edit: Here is an article (Nor) (http://www.tu.no/nyheter/bygg/article30586.ece)

lol Filipstad is a town not far from here,.It lies between Karlstad and Uppsala/stockholm. I guess there's a whole bunch of them here in Scandinavia

Thanks NiceGuy! I've read about these 3 scenarios, but not seen any scetches of them.

The 3 teams are named ?Oslo Large?, ?Oslo Network? and ?Oslo Park?, and they have based their suggestions on different sets of totally unrealistic assumptions

Yeah, that's what I thought aswell!

There will be an exhibit that opens today at 16:00. It would be cool to show up and have a chat with Grete Horntvedt and Ellen S. de Vibe about city planning... :)

http://www.oslo.kommune.no/fjordbyen/Default.asp?page=&Id=97109

That would indeed be interesting. Ellen S. de Vibe has spoke possitively about building higher before. So has Plan & Bygningsetaten, wich she administrates. You can find all the document they made about highrises here: http://www.plan-og-bygningsetaten.oslo.kommune.no/default.asp?page=/&id=36192. Unfortunately politicans in this city are not in touch with realities, and think that to continue building 5-6 floors will be sufficient to satisfy the need for housing in the future:crazy:

I can not make it to the opening today, but will surely try to go visit it another day, as it will be open until 19 dec...:)

they have based their suggestions on different sets of totally unrealistic assumptions.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Sorry, NiceGuy! :) But I just had to say this. So many plans are based on unrealistic assumptions! :( And, based on those faulty assumptions, alas they're bound to do more harm than good. :(

That really is a shame and a disgrace. :bash: Cities are able to collect accurate information and should do so before giving the go-ahead to plans that are not backed up by accurate information. :rant: So the citizens should hold them to doing just that. Otherwise city government is irresponsible.

Wishful thinking and inaccurate analysis are a bad starting point for any planning effort. :down: I can sing a song or two about that experience myself. :(

It's not really assumptions like that, but rather different ideas of in what ways Oslo should develop, in a 20-30 years perspective.

Now that makes things even more complicated! :eek:

Different perceptions are sometimes hard to reconcile. :angel1:

I will try to translate them later today:)

That would be very helpful, NorthStar. Thank you! :) And of course it would take a knowledgeable local to interpret all this stuff for us, and we're lucky to have you! :okay:

On the other hand, I'd love to hear Nice Guy's perspective as well. :cool:

/\ me too! Two heads think better than one, as we say:okay:

In other words: any light you gentlemen can shed on these plans is warmly welcome and appreciated, even if you might have different opinions! :)

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Sorry, NiceGuy! :) But I just had to say this. So many plans are based on unrealistic assumptions! :( And, based on those faulty assumptions, alas they're bound to do more harm than good. :(

That really is a shame and a disgrace. :bash: Cities are able to collect accurate information and should do so before giving the go-ahead to plans that are not backed up by accurate information. :rant: So the citizens should hold them to doing just that. Otherwise city government is irresponsible.

Wishful thinking and inaccurate analysis are a bad starting point for any planning effort. :down: I can sing a song or two about that experience myself. :(

I totally agree with you, but the politicians that are in charge are unfortunately hopeless idealists that have some really strange ideas about how the world works. It also seems like they have a general dislike of hard facts.

These plans are by no means final, and none of them will be implemented. I actually think there will be competitions for the different areas (Filipstad, Vippetangen, Kongshavn) later, maybe in a few years time. This was more like a brainstorming session, meant to inspire to further debate and give an idea of what we can expect. They did, however, base their suggestions on different scenarios of the future needs of the city. This is what the different scenarios meant for city planning:

(translation from http://www.tu.no/nyheter/bygg/article30586.ece )

Oslo Network: The seafront is a sequence of different neighborhoods with their individual character and identity.

Oslo Park: The seafront is an arena for physical activities and events. Oslo's image as the blue and green capital is emphasized through the construction of an international theme park on Filipstad, multicultural zone along Vippetangen, and a maritime park between the fiord islands and Kongshavn.

Oslo Large: The seafront is developed with focus on new experiences, with research & development, large institutions, versatile industries, and tall and dense residential areas. Filipstad is developed as into an Energy-park.

(/translation from http://www.tu.no/nyheter/bygg/article30586.ece )

Thanks for explaining and translating NiceGuy. I agree with every word you said there. No need for me to come with further inputs:okay:

Meh, I hate when architects go "Oh, let's be artsy and create these renders / drawings that have absolutely no basis on reality" (like http://img84.exs.cx/img84/535/OsloNetwork-Kongshamn.jpg and http://img84.exs.cx/img84/1957/OsloNetwork-Filipstad.jpg). Give me proper models any day over these ones. :)

Thanks for explaining and translating NiceGuy. I agree with every word you said there. No need for me to come with further inputs:okay:

Thanks :) I would also like to state some of the hard facts that I think should have been taken into account though.

First of all, people nowadays seems to prefer to live in the actual city center. It didn't use to be like this, and this have lead to a shortage of apartments downtown. The result is astronomical real estate prices, and now even the cheapest flats cost more than 2.000.000 NOK (245.000€) in the city center.

Secondly, there is no need to build more office buildings in Oslo. There is actually so many vacant office blocks in this city that some of them had to be rebuilt to apartment blocks to prevent the owners of going bankrupt.

Thirdly, current city planning is not very good for the environment as it relies too heavily on cars as the only means of transportation. The Oslo Suburbia now stretches up to 100 kilometers away from central parts of the city and it is getting worse every single year. (http://www.orapp.no/oversikt/2002/131/dinokonomi/264) An average car releases 3 times its own weight in CO2 each year and this makes the car the main polluter in Oslo. A denser city plan would reduce the average transportation distances and thereby also the pollution.

Fourth; trying to preserve Oslo as it is today is completely ridiculous. We simply don't have any old historical city center in the same way that cities like Rome, Amsterdam and Tallinn do, and we will never be able to successfully brand our city as an old city. We do on the other hand have a good chance when it comes to making our city modern and futuristic. That should be our niche.

Fifth: The only thing that in my humble opinion make Oslo a unique city is the hundreds of square kilometers of evergreen forest surrounding it. This forest should therefore be protected at all costs, but this will limit our city's geographic growth.

In my opinion, all the facts point in one direction: more dense modern housing downtown. No matter how you look at it, residential skyscrapers (http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/tp/ty/rs/) is the most efficient way of accomplishing this. The ideal areas for this is in my opinion Bjørvika and to some extent also Filipstad.

:applause::applause: :cheers1: :cheers1: :cheers1: :master: Bravo!!! Ohh, man you said it!! Finally someone that shares my view! A majority of new apartment projects are quite central though, but still far from enough! There are plans to build 40.000 apartments before 2015, but that is only enough to keep the preassure from getting higher....given a weak population growth. And then what? Where should we start building after 2015? The forests? Even more parks? It seems like they(our politicians) are willing do anything, as long as they don't build high.

However, I do think that some areas, like parts of Grünerløkka, Frogner, Kampen etc. is worth preserving.

I've been suffering from those insane housingprices for years now. That, and the other factors you mentioned, was some of the reasons why I became interested in highrises in the first place. I'm relatively satisfied with the price on my new apartment at Etterstad though, wich I will move into in 1 1/2 months:)

:cheers1: Great that we have a shared view on city planning in Oslo :drunk:

I have met lots of other young people that agree with me on these issues, but the generation currently in charge (the old hippies) seems to think of cities as something bad and evil. They will therefore do anything in their power to prevent the city from looking beautiful and impressive.

Sure we can preserve some individual buildings, and even certain areas of the city, but I do feel that the current mantra of “siktlinjer” (≈lines of vision, don't know the English word) is seriously flawed.

I was in Hong Kong two years ago, and this enabled me to see what city planning should be like. Like Oslo, most of Hong Kong is hills and forest, but it actually covers fewer square kilometers even though it has 10 times as many inhabitants. Some residential areas in Hong Kong have a density of 200.000 inhabitants per square kilometer, and I think this gives a clear indication on how big the potential of Bjørvika really is.

I have met lots of other young people that agree with me on these issues, but the generation currently in charge (the old hippies) seems to think of cities as something bad and evil. They will therefore do anything in their power to prevent the city from looking beautiful and impressive.

Exactly to the point!:okay: Kjetil Kolsrud described this perfectly in Aftenposten some months ago. I published it here, but it's gone now.


Oslo trenger skyskrapere
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00216/sp38e3d6_F06_ya2408_216873h.jpg

Ikke noe galt med gamle og ærverdige bygninger, med ornamenter, søyler og grunnmur i granitt. Men skikkelig høye hus er tøffere.

Det beste stedet å se det fra, er fra sørøst. Helst med Øya-festivalen som bakteppe. Stående mellom de eldgamle ruinene i Middelalderparken, med en øl i hånden og dundrende musikk på alle kanter. Mens solnedgangen speiler seg i glassfasaden på Oslo Plaza, tennes neonlysene høyt der oppe, og byens fortid møter byens fremtid i en nesten rørende klisjé. Høye hus kan være fryktelig fine.

Mennesker har alltid latt seg fascinere av digre konstruksjoner. Kampen om å ha verdens høyeste bygning har pågått mellom storbyer i århundrer, og i tetskiktet er de ikoner nesten alle sammen. Empire State Building i New York. Petrona Towers i Kuala Lumpur, Malaysias stolthet. TV-tårnet i Toronto. Det var med rimelig stor stolthet vi slepte Troll-plattformen (472 m) ut en trang fjord på Vestlandet i 1995. Havets skyskraper - bygget av nordmenn. Så stor at Discovery Channel lagde film av det. Høyere enn Twin Towers på Manhattan.

Hvorfor vi lar oss fjetre slik av høye bygninger, er ikke godt å si. Men mennesker liker nå engang å sette rekorder. Og antagelig er det denne iboende dragningen mot det spektakulære som gjør at man i Middelalderparken, nå med en ny øl i hånden, fort kan få seg til å tenke: Burde vi ikke egentlig få oss enda høyere hus her nede i sentrum?

Å sette verdensrekord er neppe noen god idé. Et 500 meter høyt tårn kunne muligens virket malplassert. Men hva med en nordisk rekord? Et par-tre 50-60 etasjer høye bygninger til å omkranse de to vi allerede har på Vaterland? Som svaier i kastene og ruver over ruinene i Middelalderparken med demonstrativ futurisme, som monumenter over livet i byen og troen på fremtiden?

Man kan tenke slikt, men man børster det selvsagt bort ganske raskt. Vi besitter alle en grunnleggende bonderomantikk, og vet at alt som er på landet er ekte, og at storby er noe skittent man helst bør forlate hver helg for å gå alene i fjellet mens det regner. Høye, blinkende tårn med kontorer og bissnissfolk er vulgært juggel. Sånt som amerikanere driver med for å vise seg frem. Alle nybygg bør helst være middels høye, middels brede og middels uvanlige, slik at de ikke stikker seg mer enn sånn middels ut fra resten, men likevel er ganske fine.

Men neste sommer er det festival i Middelalderparken igjen. Og solnedgangen kommer til å la kitsche farger sildre nedover Plaza akkurat som i år. Og skyld gjerne på alkoholen, men ved Vannspeilet kommer det helt sikkert til å sitte et rockende kjærestepar som fullstendig har glemt hele sin kulturarv, og rett ut ønsker seg noen flere idiotisk høye silhuetter å beundre mot den lyse sommernatten.


http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentarer/article855142.ece

but I do feel that the current mantra of “siktlinjer” (≈lines of vision, don't know the English word) is seriously flawed.

The term is quite simple & straightforward, NiceGuy: it's sight lines. :)

May I once again take the opportunity to welcome you here at s&B! :wave: :cheers1:

I've been following the conversation you and our good buddy NorthStar have been having here with great interest. Fascinating! :okay:

Thanks Whose Homepage. It's nice to know that someone(not sOmeOne) take an interest:D

Sorry, I have to quote part of NiceGuy's fine post again although NorthStar already did so, because I have a different point to make. :)

the generation currently in charge (the old hippies) seems to think of cities as something bad and evil. They will therefore do anything in their power to prevent the city from looking beautiful and impressive.

Lol, NiceGuy! That is very nicely put, and alas so true!!! :laugh:

Moreover, I'm afraid that goes not only for Oslo but for many other cities as well. :rant: I may be an aging hippie myself ;), but I fully agree with you on that incisive assessment of yours: those people are RUINING our towns! :cry: And they are wasting a whole lot of time and money in the process! :bash:

A wreck of an old boat was discovered on friday, while digging at the construction-site for the new opera. It is a small boat, 16-18 foot, probably around 150-200 years. It looks like it originates from Hardanger in western Norway. The wreck was removed from the site immediately, and has not caused a delay in the construction.
(okay I only write about this because I wanted to post the pictures that was attatched to the article;))

http://www.bygg.no/ImageResizeCache/e26750f42ec63138517b5a8a2431fbdc.jpg

http://www.bygg.no/ImageResizeCache/a86d9489ff420bae756caadb887871d2.jpg

http://www.bygg.no/news/newsshow.asp?AreaID=1&NewsID=11658

More news on Tjuvholmen
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen10.jpg

The cranes will soon start to rise over Tjuvholmen, and therefore, more info on the project have become available lately. They have just started tearing town what was there before(ugly harbour buildings), and construction of the first step will start second quartal this year, and will be finished in 2007. The entire district will be completed in 2012(don't know if I have written it before). It is Selvaag Gruppen and Aspelin-Ramm Gruppen, in cooperation with the internationally acclaimed architect Niels Torp, that will develope their proposal "Utsyn".

Tjuvholmen will contain:
Residential 100 000 m² - 72%
Restaurants/shopping 12 000 m² - 8%
1st Class Int. Hotel 12 000 m² - 8%
Offices 11 000 m² - 8%
Art Museum/Event Centre 6 000 m² - 4%

From the developers website, I read about the following cultural attractions that will be there:

"International Centre of Art
The Tjuvholmen Centre of Art is being developed in co-operation with Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen.

Event Centre
Exploria; planned new Event Centre at Tjuvholmen, developed in co-operation with Event Communications Ltd., London.

Sculpture Park
A green lung on the water with sculptures by leading international artists.

Tower (panoramic view)
A new landmark to the Oslo skyline. From this unique vantage point, visitors will be able to see all of Oslo and the Oslo fjord.

The Tjuvholmen Square
A place for shopping, lunches and outdoor performances by musicians and other artists.

Restaurants, shops, galleries
Feed the mind and body in a Tjuvholmens wide selection of specialty shops, galleries and high-end eateries.
"

Add to that, that there are 7500 restaurant seats, 2-3 minutes walk away at Aker Brygge, I think this will be a fairly popular area :D

Some images of the progress of the work, taken from the developers webiste. All images in this thread are (c) Tjuvholmen.com
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen9.jpg

Here are two animations that flyes over the area, for those of you specially interested
http://www.tjuvholmen.com/default.aspx?aid=9041855
http://www.tjuvholmen.com/default.aspx?aid=9041856

Wow, this project is awesome :yes:

:yes: i really like waterfront projects

Beautiful, some nice renderings from Tjuvholmen finally...:okay:

The Tjuvholmen project is realy something. I wish I had a chance to get a nice appartment there:)

Tjuvholmen looks amazing. I wish they built something like that to Jätkänsaari, but I doubt it. They probably just make something dull like always. Looks like Oslo is booming, tons of new housing planned. :okay:

I can see a highrise in a render! How tall?

I can see a highrise in a render! How tall?

Its a 12 story tower...:okay: And thats quite good to be Tjuvholme, and Nils Torp as the architect. Nils Torp is a really good architect, but he stay a bit critical to high-rise buildings. But he also has a 12 story approved residential tower in Sandefjord as well.

What! How can this be a 12 story highrise?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen10.jpg

What! How can this be a 12 story highrise?

Oh...!! Thats the observation tower, 60m tall.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/tjuvholmen9.jpg
This one to the left is a high-rise building on 12 floors.

Oh! ok!

Vestbanen
Next to city hall
http://www.statsbygg.no/prosjekter/vestbanen/vestbanen.jpg

I found out that this project has not been presented in this thread before(I was alittle in doubt wether to
present it here or in the general Oslo developement thread.) It has been presented before, but that is a
long time ago.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/oversikt2004_max.jpg


Vestbanen is a former trainstation that lies between the city hall and Aker Brygge. The plan for the station
itself, is to make it into a Nobel peace centre. This will open this summer already. Behind Vestbanen, a huge
cultural center will be built. Here, a large library will move in, and so will Stenersen art museum. City council
will decide this spring if the Munch museum should be moved here aswell. The robbery of the scream painting
is now an excuse for those that want to move the Munch museum out of inner Oslo east, to this more
central location. They claim that will be safer, and the amount of visitors will increase. That may be, but I think
it is sad that one of the only cultural institutions located on the east side of town should be moved. And it's not
like it is very un-centrally located today eighter, it's only 3 minutes by the metro from Oslo S.

The cultural center will have a floor space on 45.000 sqm, and the 3 institutions mentioned only use
31.000 sqm today. One suggestion is to also include a huge cinema complex in the basement. The project also
contains some retail, apartments, and quite alot of officespace. Originally, there was a 18 floor hotel in the
plans aswell, but it has been removed completely, after it first was reduced to 12 floors. The architects behind
the entire project is the dutch Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.).

I've copied and resized the original gigantic illutrations to 1/4 of their size, from statsbygg.no

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/Situasjonsplan_fotomontasje.jpg

Facade looking from Dronning Mauds gate
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/fasadeDrMaud.jpg

Facade looking from city hall
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/fasadeRaadhuset.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/MunkedamsvnOst_max.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/diverse/gatebilde_max.jpg

Yea, i've posted a few threads about it before, but i see there is a small change in these renders. The 12 storey high-rise building is gone...:eek:

Yes, the hotel is not part of the project anymore :ohno:

OMG!!! What do I see when I open Aftenposten.no right now this very moment??? The hotel may be back in the plans! But lower, and with a much, much more extreme design! Now the hotel "king" Arthur Buchardt, wants to invest 300 million kr and build a hotel there. He has, in all secret worked with the architects Spacegroup for a year now, with this hotel. This has so far got a positive response for the resposible authorities and politicians.

This hotell will be shaped like a sculpture and be a mixture between a waterfall(!), park and hotel! The park will be full of colorfull artworks by Marianne Heske.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00257/_A04foss0402_jpg_257215g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00257/_vestbanen_front_jp_257216g.jpg

Hmm, I am not dreaming, and it is not 1.st of April yet....

@ Christian
Don't worry, parts of the cultural center itself are about as tall as any ordinary 12 story building, and that new hotel design NorthStar presented is far more exciting than a 12 story box, even if it's shorter.

12 story buildings really just disappear in the mass in densely built urban areas.

The 12 storey hotel design was good, but i actually enjoy this design more. None the less, great news...:okay:

Edit: Too obers reply, i agree...;)

Wow, i have actually never turned alot of notice into this thread, now i read the entire development through, im amazed, it bears a striking resembelance to Tallinn's own Coastal area urbanisation(which is btw 500ha)! And yes, in Tallinn development they also plan to have a opera theatre, this is great :)

Some news from the Barcode concept development...:)

Europas mest energieffektive næringsbygg, Bjørvika

Oppstartseminar
Åpen prosjektkonkurranse
NAL utlyser i samarbeid med Oslo S Utvikling (OSU) og Enova en arkitekturkonkurranse om Europas mest energieffektive næringsbygg. Konkurranseområdet vil være en av stripene i BARCODE – vinnerforslaget til MVRDV/a-lab/Dark om områdeutvikling i Bjørvika.
Konkurransestart: 1. april
Oppstartseminar: 19. april
Innleveringsfrist: 7. juli

Tid: 19. april
Sted: Arkitektenes Hus, Josefinesgt. 34, Oslo
Frist: 7. juli

Oppstartseminaret vil være åpent for alle interesserte. Utvalgte europeiske prosjekter som representerer state of the art blir presentert. Seminaret vil for øvrig presentere konkurranseområdet, opplegg for energi- og miljøberegninger av konkurransebidragene og konkurransens målsettinger både innenfor arkitektur og miljø.

Hensikten med konkurransen er å realisere et referansebygg som forener god arkitektur og energieffektive løsninger. Konkurransen skal lede fram til et konkret prosjekteringsoppdrag. Bygget skal kunne brukes som et visningsobjekt både for arkitekter, øvrige aktører i byggebransjen og publikum. Løsningene skal være reproduserbare innenfor normale byggekostnader slik at realiseringen av prosjektet får mest mulig ringvirkninger.
Energibruk er hovedtema i konkurransen, men også materialbruk og universell utforming skal fokuseres.

Juryering: August – september
Prisutdeling: 14. oktober, under Arkitekturdagen i Oslo

Juryens formann er arkitekt Winy Maas fra MVRDV.

How exiting! For those who don't understand norwegian, they are having a architec conpetition for one of the buildings in the Barcode. There is quite alot of prestige here, as this building will be the most energy efficient building in Europe!

Four norwegian and one danish entrapeneur wants to join the tender on the sea-part of the suspension tunnel(is this a
word in english, "senketunnell" in norwegian) under Bjørvika. These are NCC Construction, Skanska Norge, AF Gruppen,
Veidekke Entreprenør and the danish Pihl & Søn.

It's possible to encounter archaelogical founds during this work. Consideration to these founds and enviromental
concerns are very important in the tender(the sea-bottom here is full of old polluted mud). The suspension tunnel
will be on 675 meters and have a cost of 3.9 billion kroner(479 million euros). The whole tunnel will be on 1.1 kilometer. In addition to this, comes 7 kilometers with smaller roads, small tunnels and on-ramps.
http://www.bygg.no/ImageResizeCache/43739dd96c73b7b973a2bd37e0d0d74e.jpg

I may have shown this before, but this is how the traffic-flow is estimated after the tunnel is finished.
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{B7F02750-9151-4B44-982C-2E4E72743D07}.jpg

Current situation
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{BB32A42B-8CDE-4D4E-A781-3CD5E6EC2508}.jpg

What we won't miss when the tunnel is complete;)
http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{8842BA67-9495-4547-9F9B-7D527D782010}.jpg

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/{339AFF65-849E-453D-BC34-49DD03A60BA3}.jpg

The construction of the "real" Bjørvika-project starts May 2'nd

Or to be more precise, the demolition of this building will start then. It used to be a railway-school, and I'm glad it will be gone, because it doesn't fit the area at all.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00274/_A14jernbaneskolen0_274069h.jpg

PriceWaterhouseCoopers will be tenants for the entire new building that will be built in its place. A 12 floor building, wich will be finished at 1'st of december 2007. The design doesn't look revolutionary, imo. But we'll have to wait and see for more renders I guess.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00274/_A14nyttbjoervika06_274070h.jpg

I'm a little disapointed that the first building isn't higher than that, given that there will be some 17-floor buildings on the site. But it is still unclear where the tallest buildings in the barcode concept will be built. The developers, OSU(Oslo S Utvikling), wants to get big, profiled tenants, and custom-design buildings for each of them. They are working hard to make Røkke move Aker's HQ and their 2.000 employees down there.

Of the total 940.000 sqm floorspace that will be built in Bjørvika, 200.000 will be part of the bar-code area. This first building will be located where you see the black building in the middle of this render. The developers are stressing that the only thing that is certain about the design of the bar-code concept, is that it won't end up looking like this.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00274/_A14utbygging0604_j_274071h.jpg

Source and images: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article1010789.ece

30 billion nok(3.65 billion euro) is to be invested in Bjørvika over the next 15 years, mostly by privates. For the first time, foreign investors are showing interest in investing.

There is a long way from interest to investments, naturally. But it seems like foreign investors are not interested in single buildings, but larger volumes. This makes Bjørvika interesting, says Paul Lødøen in OSU.

Espen Klevmark in Aberdeen Property Investment confirms this new tendency. -For the first time we notice that the interest for Northern Europe also includes Norway. And he thinks the reason is the lack of prospects to invest in on the continent(meaning central parts of Europe). -Alot of people move their saving over to property. The investors first look in their home-country, then in the countries nearby. Sweden have been focused on for some years. Now Norway is not just a laughing-stock.

The entire article in norwegian: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article1010789.ece

@NS: That's a lot of money. I bet they get something big done with that. As far as I know Björvika isn't that large an area, so they have to build tall. Sounds very promising to me. :)

^Yeah, it is nearly a million square meters of floorspace that are beeing put up, afterall....;)

Good to hear that Bjørvika moves into the construction fase :)
And I'm sure someone will provide us with LOT's of construction photos... ;)

that is ALOT of money... you could build Tallinn with that money ;)

^Indeed, but consider that alot of this is infrastructure. New roads, motorway-tunnel, tram-tracks, landfills etc.

@turnesol: I'll do my best ;)

Price Waterhouse Coopers

46m/ 12 stories tall office tower. Approved, and with construction start in january 2006. The agreement between PWC and Oslo S Utvikling AS was signed on march 18th. The building will be the first high-rise building to be built of the new high-rise clouster in downtown Oslo. Construction of the tower scheduled completion is 2007. The main facade material will be glass, with a outside skin of sun shading elements.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Architecture/PriceWaterhouseCoopersHeadquarters1.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/264/pricewaterhousecoopersheadquar.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8397/bilde10go.png

__________
And i guess i have too write a few words here. The idea of this building is good, but this design which has been choosen is too simple. This building will most likely look like many other office buildings which exist around Oslo today. It reminds me a lot of KPMG bygget, especally with that glass covering the facade. It makes the offices and building structure to be seen really well from the outside, which isn't good. But then, this is just a rendering, and the results is never the same as the rendering anyway.

That hotel on the top of this page, does it have a water fall down the side, or does it just look like that?

And i guess i have too write a few words here. The idea of this building is good, but this design which has been choosen is too simple. This building will most likely look like many other office buildings which exist around Oslo today. It reminds me a lot of KPMG bygget, especally with that glass covering the facade. It makes the offices and building structure to be seen really well from the outside, which isn't good. But then, this is just a rendering, and the results is never the same as the rendering anyway.

I second that.

That hotel on the top of this page, does it have a water fall down the side, or does it just look like that?

Yes, the proposal has a waterfall on one of the sides. It remains to see what really happens on the site though.

In typical Norwegian style, the politicians have started to argue about something they have already agreed upon. The height limit for the buildings in the Bjørvika-area.

During the last election a conservative coalition were re-elected by a margin of just a few hundred votes and they are now arguing bechause the biggest party, Høyre (Conservatives) , wants to increase the height they agreed upon.
2 years ago they finally agreed to have a max height of 51 meters with the exection of one building that would be a highrise. But now they want to increase the limit to 67 meters. The problem is that this is just enough to block the view of the sea from large parts of the inner city:

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00283/_A07utsikt1105_jpg_283854h.jpg


Personally i think that the best idea is 51 meter max and one highrise. I dont see the point of increasing the height by just a few floors and then block the view from much of the city behind it. I had hoped that they had learned something from the Galleri Oslo building, bechause it has blocked off the whole Grønland area to the sea.

skog

I disagree. It is much better with 67 meters and some air between the buildings than a solid wall of 51-meter buildings. I think that 67 meter is way to low though, 150 m would be perfect. Our city hall is 66 meters tall; why should we build any lower than this in Bjørvika?

i think height limit is of the devil... just a tool to make a skyline look painfully pointless... i would agree though if there was a area in the height limit zone where there is no height limit

I had hoped that they had learned something from the Galleri Oslo building, bechause it has blocked off the whole Grønland area to the sea.

I hope the same....that they learn that low and loong buildings are blocking the view. Galleri Oslo is by far the ugliest building in town, and it is, what, 6 floors, and a few hundred meters long? It's not the height of Galleriet that have blocked off Grønland from the sea, but rather the lack of height. My point is that low, fat buildings block the view, feels inhumane and blocks pollution from city to blow out in the fjord, wheter it is 20 meters or 51 meters tall. A few slim, taller buildings however, does not have the same negative impact.

Same can be said about the Gjensidige-building at Lysaker. It is a horrible ugly building, at ~5 floors and hundreds of meters long, that blocks the entire view to the fjord. I often sit on the train and think how much better it would have been with a much slimmer and elegant building on say 20-30 floors there instead.

I hope the same....that they learn that low and loong buildings are blocking the view. Galleri Oslo is by far the ugliest building in town, and it is, what, 6 floors, and a few hundred meters long? It's not the height of Galleriet that have blocked off Grønland from the sea, but rather the lack of height. My point is that low, fat buildings block the view, feels inhumane and blocks pollution from city to blow out in the fjord, wheter it is 20 meters or 51 meters tall. A few slim, taller buildings however, does not have the same negative impact.

Same can be said about the Gjensidige-building at Lysaker. It is a horrible ugly building, at ~5 floors and hundreds of meters long, that blocks the entire view to the fjord. I often sit on the train and think how much better it would have been with a much slimmer and elegant building on say 20-30 floors there instead.


Well from the pictures of the Barcode buildings it seems like there is a lot of air between the buildings. But i dont think they should be high anyway :)

Oslo has a unique oppertunity to create a harbor area like no other in the world. And i think that blocking the view from a major part of the city is not a good thing.

Well from the pictures of the Barcode buildings it seems like there is a lot of air between the buildings. But i dont think they should be high anyway :)


Those pictures are just suggesting how the area might look. No matter what happens, Oslo city have committed for a certain building volume to be built in Bjørvika, around 900.000 square meters. If this is not fulfilled, Oslo is in for some hefty lawsuits from the entrepreneurs. If there is a max height of 51 meters, the barcode-buildings will have to be fatter than if some buildings up to 67 meters is allowed. I still think 67 meters is a ridiculous low height to object to. Have anyone ever though of the city hall blocking the view to the fjord from Karl Johan?:sly:

The Galleri Oslo building is indeed not a building of beauty! Though, i think parts of Bjørvika can handle tall slim buildings over 100m, perhaps even up to 150m, especially in front of Oslo Atrium and to Akerselva. Its a far better alternative than building huge low rise buildings, they usually destroy the waterfront much more from all angles. As the Nedre Elvehavn project in Trondheim, i wiuld enjoy to see a tall slim building instead of their Gjensidige Nor headquarter which is a huge 6 story tall building.

Took a walk in the Medieval Park on my way to work this morning, to give you some photos from the developements in Bjørvika. I managed to take pictures of 9 cranes from the same spot, wohoo:D

Standing in the park, from the left. I don't really know where these cranes work.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010102.jpg

The new opera, that topped out on 45 meters last week. The 4'th crane's position is unknown to me.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010111.jpg

The old railway-school beeing demolished, to make room for the PWC-building. More destruction later :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010107.jpg

On my rightmost, two big apartment-projects at Grønland. Entire city blocks beeing erected there. Grønlandskvartalene (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=2340213&postcount=65) with 800 apartments, and another project I have not written anything about, containing lots of apartments, shoppingcentre and a bazar
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010110.jpg

Another one of the opera.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010092.jpg

A closer look at the cranes over Grønland
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010120.jpg

The new opera is going to have some very noisy neighbours the first 4 years of its existance. 100.000 cars pass by here daily.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010123.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010128.jpg

These guys must have the best job in the world! :D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010126.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010130.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010136.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010137.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/oslo/april/P1010138.jpg

The fjordcity-office have made a model of the future Bjøvika in scale 1:2500, or 135 x 280 cm, wich is now beeing presented in "The 2nd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam".

The theme "The Water City" is presenting waterfront projects from 10 cities around the world, Barcelona, Baltimore, Hamburg, Singapore, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Valencia og Glasgow and Oslo.

Pictures of the model, taken from http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/losartikler/article45070-14298.html

http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/Prosjektfjordbykontoret/Internett/Bilder/Modell%20005_for_web_550x.jpg

http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/Prosjektfjordbykontoret/Internett/Bilder/Modell%20006_for_web_550x.jpg

http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/Prosjektfjordbykontoret/Internett/Bilder/Modell%20011_for_web_550x.jpg

http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/Prosjektfjordbykontoret/Internett/Bilder/Modell%20016_for_web_550x.jpg

Tjuvholmen construction start

The construction start for the first three buildings on Tjuvholmen starts quite soon. 170 apartments in Bolette brygge 1, Bolette brygge 3 and Lille Stranden 1. Bolette brygge 1 is a 6 story tall, Bolette brygge 3 is 8 stories tall while Lille Stranden 1 is 8 stores tall as well. These buildings will be completed already to the spring in 2007.

http://www.tjuvholmen.com/arch/_img/9043116.gif
The first construction phase.

Renderings of the buildings etc. will be released 26th of May while the salement of the apartment starts 31th of May.

Lille Stranden 1
Tjuvholmen - Oslo

Among the three first buildings to start construction in phase 1 in Tjuvholmen is the 8 stories tall Lille Stranden 1 with 18 apartments. HRTB Architects (Grünerløkka Studenthus (http://home.online.no/~runness/ch/images/Oslo/Grunerloekka%20Studenthus%202.jpg), Porthuset (http://infoside.no/hrtb/image1.gif)) is behind the building which will start construction this summer and is expected to be completed in spring 2007.

http://www.tjuvholmen.com/arch/_img/9043116.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/LilleStranden1x2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/LilleStranden1x1.jpg
Render from HRTB Architects.

Bolette Brygge 3
Tjuvholmen - Oslo

Among the three first buildings to start construction in phase 1 in Tjuvholmen is the 8 stories tall Bolette Brygge 3 with 17 apartments. HRTB Architects (Grünerløkka Studenthus (http://home.online.no/~runness/ch/images/Oslo/Grunerloekka%20Studenthus%202.jpg), Porthuset (http://infoside.no/hrtb/image1.gif)) is behind the building which will start construction this summer and is expected to be completed in spring 2007.

http://www.tjuvholmen.com/arch/_img/9043116.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/BoletteBrygge3x2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/BoletteBrygge3x1.jpg

Thanks for the update, Christian. The two buildings look very much the same, but I think they look okay. All in all, the area is gonna rock!

Thanks for the update, Christian. The two buildings look very much the same, but I think they look okay. All in all, the area is gonna rock!

I was not too impressed with those renders, it looks a bit to simple in my eyes. But i think they will look far better then these low quality renders none the less. Im trying to find pics from Bolette Brygge 1, but haven't found any yet.

A small piece of information about the Price Waterhouse Cooper building. (The one that will stand where the old railway school is torn down)
Or maybe more a confirmation of former given information:
The building will have 12 floors and be 46 metres tall. Completed in 2007, and a maximum gross floor area of ca 15.000 sqm.

:)

Sale on Tjuvholmen started on Thuesday

28 of the 47 apartments in the first construction-phase was sold on 4 hours. Some people had slept outside for 5 days to get the best apartments. Unfortunately for them, the developers had already got 8 of the best apartments for themselves:lol:

In an article related to this, Dagbladet (http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2005/06/01/433418.html) presented this render. There are also a cool video flying over the developed Tjuvholmen in that article.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/TjuvholmenOversiktFraNord.jpg

-----------------

The 3 architect-offices Snøhetta, LPO and Arkitektskap will present their proposals to develop Sørenga at Bjørvika tomorrow. I do not know for sure when I will be able to look for renders and present them, but here are one already released of the proposal from LPO.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/_A10s_renga0106_jpg_290047r.jpg


The plans are to build the area with 1200 apartments. The first apartments will be finished in 2009. Some are concerned with how the sale of these will go, as there are so many plans for quite expensive apartments beeing realized in Oslo now. The fact that this area will be a huge construction-ground for years adds to the concern. The developers however, are not concerned.

http://forbruker.no/bolig/nybygg/article1050877.ece

--------------------

The tunnel wich will go under Bjørvika, has already now, before construction, become 330 million nok(40 million euros) more expensive than planned. One part of the project, also at Sørenga, was estimated to cost 824 million nok. However, the lowest tender was at 950 millions. The tunnel itself was estimated to cost 750 millions, but the lowest tender is at 953 millions. Another reason is that the price on concrete has gone up by 22% the last year.

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1050515.ece

Samlokalisering av fergeterminalene i Oslo lagt død

Igjen er debatten rundt samlokalisering av fergeterminalene i Oslo lagt død.

Byutviklingsbyråd Grete Horntvedt sendte nylig brev til havnedirektør Sigrid Hamran, der hun bekrefter at "alt arbeid i Plan- og bygningsetaten vedrørende alternativ lokalisering av fergeterminaler er avsluttet".

I tillegg til de to eksisterende terminalene på Hjortneskaia og Vippetangen, er det nå planlagt ny cruiseterminal på Akershusstranda. Det er i den forbindelse naturlig å etterlyse en diskusjon rundt muligheten for en eventuell samlokalisering. Color Line-eier Olav Nils Sunde var senest ute i Dagens Næringsliv den 28. mai for å varsle om Color Lines planer om kjøp av nye større cruiseskip. Dette tilsier at de vil trenge mer plass. Ved en samlokalisering er det mulig å tenke mer rasjonelle, helhetlige løsninger. Det er hensiktsmessig å konsentrere virksomheten ett sted både når det gjelder drift og arealutnyttelse. En samlokalisering vil optimalisere fergedriften og styrke fergenes posisjon i byen. Videre bør en fremtidig samlokalisert fergeterminal fysisk henge sammen med bykjernen, slik at den kan sees i sammenheng med øvrig byutvikling.

DFDS og Stena Line har skipene sine på Vippetangen. Parkeringsarealet de disponerer til tungtransport, står tomt deler av døgnet. Området er okkupert uten at arealene brukes på en effektiv måte. Dette er sløsing med verdifull bygrunn.

Byutvikling handler om å få eksisterende by til å fungere med ny vekst enten det er boliger, næring eller nye terminaler. Et optimalt fremtidsscenario vil være å få til et terminalområde som kan sees på som et nytt sted i Oslo, der aktivitet, funksjon og mennesker i transitt møtes. Et sted der overgangen mellom by og terminal viskes ut gjennom interessante løsninger basert på kontekstuell bevissthet. De 2,6 millioner reisende hvert år, er tjent med en terminal der de møter byen på en god måte og samtidig får de reisetjenestene de trenger. Ingen av dagens to terminaler ivaretar dette.

Politikerne trenger å få presentert rasjonelle løsninger med påfølgende overbevisende argumenter. De burde i mindre grad la seg styre av fergeselskapene eller Havnevesenets argumenter om at fergenes ankomst og avganger kræsjer med hverandre om de lokaliseres ett sted. Tjener Havnevesenet i tillegg store summer på å ha delt løsning?

Fjordbykontoret - Plankontoret for Oslo sjøfront - ble opprettet som en konsekvens av bystyrets vedtak om gjennomføring av Fjordbyen. De bør i større grad få undersøke hva en samlokalisering innebærer. De sitter på alle utredninger tilknyttet havnearealene, og burde få gjøre jobben med å finne potensiell lokalisering for nytt terminalområde. At de nylig ble fratatt denne autoriteten av bystyret, virker lite gjennomtenkt.

I denne saken står fergeselskapenes interesser mot byens interesser. Fergeselskapene kan ikke bestemme hvordan de mest attraktive tomtene i Oslo skal utnyttes. Skal Fjordbyen realiseres med sine ambisiøse programmer, må deler av arealet som er båndlagt til fergeterminaler, frigis.

Aftenposten, 3 juni

Hey guys, doesn`t this project remind you about the norvegian one`s?

http://www.omni.lt/includes/img/330_282524_komentarai_virsus_kultura_architektura_1.jpg

Made by Niels Thorp ;)

^There are some common features ;)

Last week the proposals for Sørenga at Bjørvika was announced. The 3 architect-offices Snøhetta, LPO and Arkitektskap have made a proposal each.

Here are some rather large renderings of the proposals.

LPO's proposal, "South Park":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/9bb83a35bedfd4077f10ecd0871194bd.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/LPO2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/LPO1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/LPO3.jpg

Snøhetta's proposal, "Enga for alle". Unfortunately the only illustration I have found of the proposal:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/51072b06e033096bce414595b9903470.jpg

Arkitektskap's proposal, "DEXA":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/arkskap7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/arkskap6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/arkskap3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/arkskap5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/arkskap4.jpg

These proposals will be on display on the new Opera's visitor centre until 19'th of june, and it is possible to vote on them there. I will go for LPO's "South Park", because I think it looks much better than the two others, and I like that park in the middle. IMO the two other proposals looks like old commieblock-districts.

^ I'm happy to report that the best proposal won the contest ;)

------------

Aftenposten has in the recent days "revealed" that two 8-story officebuildings are planned right in front of the new opera. This will make the opera pretty invisible from the downtown-area. Pretty sad, considering it is supposed to be a signal-building marking Norway as a cultural nation, and since alot of money is beeing put down in the opera and making the motorway go in a tunnel instead of right next to it.

And suddenly all political parties are villing to take another look at the plans they aproved just months earlier(I wonder how they missed to see these buildings earlier....). However, the problem is that these buildings will give a profit on 30-60 million euros that is going to help financing the infrastructure in the area. So if these buildings are to disapear, someone have to dig deep in their wallet, and I think most agree that using municipal money on this is a really bad idea. Those money is better spent on something else.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00299/_3006Bjorvika_Page0_299062h.jpg
The buildings in question

Now Progress party wants to build higher in other parts of Bjøvika to compensate for this. Conservatives are also open for this. The Liberals and Social left thinks the planned buildings in Bjørvika is already too high. But Labour has earlier shown to have a more pragmatic view on this issue, and if they agree with Progress party and Conservatives, it would be a clear majority in the city goverment for taller buildings. We'll have to wait and see how this soap opera ends...

Lots of articles in Norwegian here (http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article1073911.ece?)

Bjørvika may get 2 buildings on 26 floors

Aftenposten reports that there is now a proposal for building two towers on 26 floors in Bjørvika, as tall as Oslo
second tallest building, Posthuset(often called Postgirobygget). And there's a chance it might get aproved,
after city council abandoned all height restrictions in Bjørvika last week. There are already one
building on 19 floors aproved.

The renderings on the net was pretty bad, so I bought the paper edition and took a photo of it.
The tallest building on this render is 16 floors.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/P1010033.jpg

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article1108975.ece

well... Oslo.... trying to compete with Tallinn and Vilnius here ay? GOOD! We welcome the competition ! :D
anyhow plz post the net pic? does it have the 26 floor buildings?!

I so much wish they replaces the two two 16 story thick buildings with two 26 story narrow buildings. But i think they will meet a lot of opposition with such a proposal.

They say its as tall as Postgirobygget, which is 111m, so the proposed twins is both over 100m?

I was reading the "peoples opinion" on this, half is positive while the last half is negative. The people against the project use the normal argumentations, "listen to the people, and stop this skyscrapers proposals".

WTF is it with those people :bash:

well... Oslo.... trying to compete with Tallinn and Vilnius here ay? GOOD! We welcome the competition ! :D
anyhow plz post the net pic? does it have the 26 floor buildings?!

No, it was just the same render.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00315/_hoyhus_2_jpg_315982g.jpg

I was reading the "peoples opinion" on this, half is positive while the last half is negative. The people against the project use the normal argumentations, "listen to the people, and stop this skyscrapers proposals".

I tried to write my opinion on the article earlier, but after having worked real hard to get it under the maximum 500 characters, something happened with my internet-connection, and I wasn't able to post. I gave up the whole thing:( Well, atleast most of my opinions are already stated there, and it seems to be a trend that more and more people can see the benefits of tall buildings(and don't believe all the negative propaganda).

Are these buildings residential or commercial buildings or both?

^ I think all the buildings in the barcode-project, meaning all the buildings on that render, is intended to be commercial.

Northstar presented the proposals from the Sørenga competition a few weeks back. The proposals contained mostly residentials and LPO Arkitektur & Design won the competition. Today however, Entra Eiendom, Dark Arkitekter, a-lab and Placebo Effects has presents a new proposal to Sørenga which contains large cultural usage with a new stadium, a new Munch Museum, swimming center, aquarium, hotel and offices.

The stadium will have 20 000 seats and will be a stadium for sports such as football, handball, motorcross and cricket. The stadium will also be used as to concerts, theatres, opera and a lot more. The hotel will be situated next to the stadium wil a capacity of 400-450 beds.

The southermost point of Sørenga will be occupied by a swimming center and a small dock. The center contains a 50m long indoor fresh water pool, and several outside pools. A technopark is also included the proposal. The park will be a public technopark or a adventure center with the latest tecnology. The new proposal also contains a aquarium.

http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00209/s_renga_209240c.jpg
Overview.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/badet.jpg
The swimming center.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/hotel2.jpg
The hotel.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/munch.jpg
The Munch Museum.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/Stadium.jpg
http://www.dark.no/filestore/stadium-persp_messe.jpg
http://www.dark.no/filestore/stadium-persp-dag.jpg
http://www.dark.no/filestore/Stadium-persp-konsert.jpg
The Stadium.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/Technotek.jpg
Tachnopark.

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5369/akvarium15ky.jpg
The aquarium.

http://www.dark.no/filestore/Stadium.jpg
I don't like Entra Eiendom's ideas at all. What Oslo needs is more apartments, not more public buildings. Putting a stadium on a plot that has a great view over the fjord is simply ridiculous. Building a stadium there will also mean that the area will be dead most of the year. Entra is as far as I know owned by the government, and have like most government institutions in Norway a strong hatred towards Oslo.

I don't like Entra Eiendom's ideas at all. What Oslo needs is more apartments, not more public buildings. Putting a stadium on a plot that has a great view over the fjord is simply ridiculous. Building a stadium there will also mean that the area will be dead most of the year. Entra is as far as I know owned by the government, and have like most government institutions in Norway a strong hatred towards Oslo.

I agree about the stadium, but i think the rest of the proposal is good. I would be positive to the project if the stadium was replaces with residentials instead. This area fits perfectly for cultural and public buildings, which i think Oslo could need some of. Oslo is a much greater need of apartments though, but Bjørvika isn't a very good location especially due to land value.

I think Oslo should speed up some residential development projects which has been dead for years if they are in such a desperat need for apartments.

I agree about the stadium, but i think the rest of the proposal is good. I would be positive to the project if the stadium was replaces with residentials instead. This area fits perfectly for cultural and public buildings, which i think Oslo could need some of. Oslo is a much greater need of apartments though, but Bjørvika isn't a very good location especially due to land value.

I think Oslo should speed up some residential development projects which has been dead for years if they are in such a desperat need for apartments.
May I remind you that we are already building an Opera, a cable car, and the swimming place there? I think that is more than enough, and that the rest of the space should be used for apartments. I don't see what is wrong with building apartments on the most expensive plot in the city either - apartments are far better than offices and public buildings in my opinion.

http://www.ohv.oslo.no/data/b/0/14/94/0_2701_0.jpg

NiceGuy, you are completely right when it comes to Entra. It is owned by the state. City council leader Erling Lae speaks very critical about this proposal in today's Aften aften. An architect-tender has already been held, and he thinks, as you, that it's odd that the state is using time and money trying to destroy plans made by the municipality of Oslo. I must say I agree, and the timing wasn't exactly the best either.

"Byrådsleder Erling Lae mener innspillet både er dårlig og kommer for sent.

- Bystyret har sagt klart fra hva de ønsker på Sørenga. Det er allerede gjennomført en arkitektkonkurranse med utgangspunkt i dette, sier Lae, som ikke tror planen vil bidra til mer liv i området.

- Når det ikke skjer noe på stadion, vil jo alt ligge dødt etter mørkets frembrudd. Dessuten vil det være helt galt å la et stadion ligge som en festning på denne flotte tomten. Og Munch-museet kan de bare glemme, der kan vi ikke vente på en avklaring.

Byrådslederen synes det er merkelig at et statlig selskap bruker tid og penger på en tomt kommunen eier.

- Jeg trodde ikke det var en statlig oppgave å skyte ned kommunens planer."

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/oslo/article1119468.ece

As a Vålerenga fan i think it would be fantastic to get a new stadium in the center of town. After all the club has existed for almost 100 years and has never owned its own stadium.

However i do share the concerns that it wouldnt be a very people friendly area when there was nothing going on in the arena.

If they had cafes and shops all around on the outside maybe it would work.

Today Dagbladet reports that shipping billionaire John Fredriksen, who grew up in the Vålerenga area has offered to pay for the entire stadium if the project gets the go-ahead.



However it sounded like the plan was completely useless when Erling Lae spoke earlier, but Dagbladet has done a little research, and found out that Fremskrittspartiet and SV (!) wants the stadium, Arbeiderpartiet are divided, and Høyre are against. So its very close.

How do you think about Venstre's proposal to build it at Ensjø? It is afterall closer to Vålerenga.

How do you think about Venstre's proposal to build it at Ensjø? It is afterall closer to Vålerenga.

I don't know if that's realistic. There's good connections with public transport there, but VIF would require something like a 20.000 seater stadium, and the traffic problems would be immense in such an area anyway. Besides, there's always the problem with neighburs, as Norwegians tend to oppose any building in their surroundings no matter how small an inconveniance it would pose to them.

That's the main reason why a stadium at Jordal next to the hockeyrink will not become a reality, bechause the local labour party held protest meetings (at 1 o'clock on working days) where all the old people came out and were concerned about noise and that it would block the view of.. The roof of the ice rink i guess.

^Yes, that is a generally a problem when building anything in Norway.

Boxes!
Boxes EVERYWERE!
:gaah:

Postgirobygget was synonymous with ugly as long as it was it's 84,5 m original. The voices silenced somewhat when it was changed a couple of years ago. So: If a 19 floor box can attrackt so many negative remarks, how can they know that removing 3 floors will not do the same to these new buildings?? A truely tall building will at least be impressive, even if the architecture is ugly as hell. Why couldn't they at least diversify the style a little? I think that in 25 years, Bjørvika will be known as the ugliest part of the city (and being Oslo, that says a lot).

And btw how come that all Osloers think that they can move into an urban area and expect that no construction will take place anywere near them ever?!?

Sorry about being so negative about this on a first post, but the "public opinion" is just so frustrating...

URBAN ENERGY & BARCOAT

The two winners of the competition in Bjørvika, Europes most energy-effective sustenance building was announced in Oslo City Hall today. The Norwegian proposal, Barcoat and the danish proposal Urban Energy won the competition and received a price on 350 000NOK.

Barcoat is a proposal from Lund Hagem Arkitekter AS and Urban Energy is a proposal from Transform and Lemming & Eriksson Rådgivende Ingeniører AS.

http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/crop/vinnerne-osu.jpg

Thanks Christian. I don't remember where this building will be located, is it next to the PWC-building? And how many floors?

Thanks Christian. I don't remember where this building will be located, is it next to the PWC-building? And how many floors?

Not sure how tall they are, exept from counting the floor number on my own: 16-17 floors on Urban Energy and 12 floors on Barcoat. Not sure about the location either, but it looks like its in the middel of the high-rise complex.

Barcoat
http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/crop/bar%20forside.jpg

Urban Energy
http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/crop/urban.jpg

Other proposals:
http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/medium/6490.jpg http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/medium/won%20ekst%20copy.jpg http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/medium/rock.jpg

http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/medium/25%20ekst.jpg

/\ whatever gets built... these will be COOL! :D Seems like Oslo, Tallinn and Copenhagen, and Malmö are all doing extraordinary architecture in the harbourfronts!
(just nothing that tall will ever get approval in Tallinn's waterfront!)

A model has been built of the stadium propsal on top of the central station.

Doesent look THAT good but better than photoshopping the Maracana in there.

http://www.valenga.no/index.php/content/view/full/15267

That's great I think!

http://www.valenga.no/var/storage/images-versioned/72358/1-eng-GB/stadion_11_medium.jpg
That is a much better suggestion than the other one, although I would of course prefer a bunch of narrow residential skyscrapers there instead. (Yes I am looking for a new apartment...)

But is it possible? Building a structre like that, on columns, must be incredibly expensive?

http://www.vifstadion.no/Bilder/FremtidigeArenaer/Bjorvika.jpg

This is another suggestion, in Bjørvika. Don't know who's behind this proposal.

It seems to block the view of the seaside buildings, so this is highly unlikely. If there is one thing Norwegians are protective of, its their view :)

To built that stadium on the railroad will be a very attractive project, i just hope they don't built yet another stadium who looks like any other Norwegian stadium.

If they don't intend to lower the level of Oslo S, the stadium will act like a "wall" for those who are behind it, "cutting them off from the sea" and "taking their view". Also, it will "generate strong winds", and create "long, ugly shadows". Not to mention how bad it will "comunicate with existing buildings". It will be "ugly" as well, no matter how they design it, because it will stand out. So if they must build, make sure the lights (or any other highest point) is not more than 3 floors above ground (train level included).

Only serious objection is: where will they stack all the cars?

The curtain will be able to rise earlier than planned at Oslo's new Opera House. Construction is running ahead of schedule and the project, one of the biggest in Oslo's history, is also meeting budget targets.

The new Opera is under construction along the waterfront at Bjørvika. It's already ahead of schedule, thanks to an almost surprising lack of building problems or delays.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00346/_045066228_jpg_346861h.jpg
Oslo's new Opera House is expected to revitalize the harbor area east of downtown.
PHOTO: TONE GEORGSEN

The structure itself now is expected to be finished by the summer of 2007, thus allowing Norway's National Opera to start the finishing work inside. Opera chief Bjørn Simensen said on Friday that he and his staff should be able to start moving in by January 2008.

That means the first performance can be held in April 2008, instead of the September 2008 opening date initially announced.

Simensen said he wasn't prepared to go into detail about the opening program for the spring of 2008. "But this is something that ballet chief Espen Giljane and I are working with, both day and night," Simensen said.

The new Opera is expected to cost around NOK 3 billion (USD 450 million) and is the cornerstone of a planned redevelopment project for the entire waterfront area east of the Akershus Castle and Fortress.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1175730.ece

I get this free newspaper at my door, called Østbyen, a local-paper for my borough. Bjørvika is actually located
in my borough. And they had an article about Bjørvika there today.

It features an interview with Paul E. Lødøen, chief of Oslo S Utvikling, that will be responsible of building
250.000 squaremeters offices and retail, and 500 apartments. He promises that it will be a "24-hour city",
and not just a dead office-park. Various cultural and service facilities will occupy 10-12.000 square meters,
and in addition they are working to get a cinema-complex there. He confirms that a few buildings will reach 67
meters tall, although the architects would have wanted between 90-100 meters, wich allows for more space
and lights between the buildings.

Here is a photo I took from the article:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/bjorvika.jpg

It still looks like a load of boxes, but I think and hope the final designs will look better, as these are intended
to be "signal-buildings", each of them beeing something special. The overall skyline though looks exiting, imo.

The PriceWaterHouse building, wich is the first to be built, has been presented here before. On the renders,
it looks like 12 floors, but this article says it will be 17. The construction will start this January:banana:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bjor2.jpg

Visma will move into this building. Looks like 16 floors altogether.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/bjor1.jpg

It's a miracle. The politicians have all of a sudden, unanimously decided that Vålerenga will get a new stadium somewhere in Oslo.

Labour and Socialist Left proposed it, knowing that they would get support from all parties to the right of them.

This means that the politicians have actually agreed that a new stadium will be built. They have finally realised what have been said for 10 years, that this city needs more than one football stadium. We have 2 top teams currently playing in international competitions, and also the national team playing there, along with male and female cupfinals, all in one stadium.

They underline that they do not want a stadium at Sørenga (Bjørvika), but Grete Horntvedt from city planning will already this week invite the state railroad department (agency?) to talk about the possibilities of building a new stadium on top of the ugly rail yard at the central station. This would still be just a free kick from the waterfront, and we would get rid of one of the ugliest features of the city all in one go.


Example of what it could look like:
http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00222/vifarena300_222706c.jpg

That is great news! So that means that all parties except RV voted for it?:D

Fantastic. Now, all we have to do is convince the politicians that there is not a single valid argument against going as tall or taller than Plaza...:D

That is great news! So that means that all parties except RV voted for it?:D

RV rarely gets any mention even though they are represented on the city council. I would imagine that they were positive to such a thing, atleast the Oslo S alternative.

But when it comes to sport it's difficult, bechause most politicians arent interested in sports, so they dont realise what an impact it can have in terms of "city patriotism" and such things. Most of the time i think it only comes down to a few of them with that special interest, and in this case they have convinced a lot of the others.

Great news, both with the stadium and the high-rise buildings! I really hope they decide to built as tall as Plaza, but they will meat heavy opposition if they do so. But to build the stadium over the train yard is a great idea, as i have already said. :)

nonsese :D The public has been misled on high-rises, that's all. It's time we started "Aksjon stopp-stoppblokk" or something http://www.informatik.uni-halle.de/~krause/Smilies/biggrinbounce.gif

Visma Hovedkvarter

Visma is building their headquarter in this 17 floor tall/ 15 000sqm office building. The agreement was signed between Visma and Oslo S Utvikling AS on september 30th. Construction start in 3rd quarter of 2006, with completion in late 2008.

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/5251/vismabygget16qd.jpg

Again, thank you Christian. Maybe we should keep updates in this thread and let "Oslo's new skyline" die.

Again, thank you Christian. Maybe we should keep updates in this thread and let "Oslo's new skyline" die.

Yes, the other thread was a small "enlighten outside people" thread, and now that they now the current situation it can die out! :D

PricewaterhouseCoopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers Norway will build its new 46m/ 12 stories tall headquarter in Bjørvika, Oslo. The agreement between PWC and the owner Oslo S Utvikling AS (http://www.osu.no/) was signed on March 18th 2005. The building will be the first high-rise building to be built of the new high-rise clouster in Bjørvika, downtown Oslo. Construction of the tower started in january 2006 and is scheduled completion is 2007. A-Lab (http://www.a-lab.no/) is the architect firm and the main facade material will be glass, with a outside skin of sun shading elements.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/PriceWaterhouseCoopersHeadquarters2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/PriceWaterhouseCoopersHeadquarters3.jpg
> Enlarge (1100x825) (http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/264/pricewaterhousecoopersheadquar.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/PriceWaterhouseCoopersHeadquarters1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/PriceWaterhouseCoopersHeadquarters5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/PriceWaterhouseCoopersHeadquarters4.jpg

Barcoat

Barcoat won a very debated architectural competition ("most energy-effective sustenance building"-competition) in december 2005. Barcoat is a 12 story tall office building, a work by the Norwegian architect firm, Lund Hagem Arkitekter AS.

http://www.arkitektnytt.no/images/crop/bar%20forside.jpg

Personally I don't find the Barcoat building very nice. It looks a little like a mad architects wet dream or maybe sick fantasy. But maybe it's just me beeing conservative. (Although I'm afraid that many buildings like that will make the population even more against high-rises.)

Great work on the information finding Christian:)

^hehe, I partly agree. I don't understand why everything must be so bloody squarish! But it's better than nothing. It's fun to see that something is finally happening.

Yes, the other thread was a small "enlighten outside people" thread, and now that they now the current situation it can die out! :D

Exactly:okay:

btw, do you know how tall the Visma-building will be?

I don't think the Barcoat building look very good in that drawning either, so i was hoping "Urban Energy" to win, though i looks a lot like PWC building. But im really looking forward to see more images of Barcoat, because they may make that building quite special and nice as well, and such a building will look pretty impressive in 'real life'!

And i don't know how tall Visma building will be, there is little information yet, exept the news articles. Not even Dark Arkitekter have updated this building in their homepage yet. :)

6 architects have now shown their proposal for the tender in Filipstad.

Mingling by Niels A. Torp Arkitekter
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/filip1.jpg


Chinapas/Filipstad by Arne Henriksen Arkitekter
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/filip2.jpg


Å Tenke Stort. by LPO arkitektur og design
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/filip3.jpg


En tomt på kanten by Space Group
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/filip4.jpg

Byen som møtested i det 21. århundre by Juul & Frost
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/filip5.jpg

Filipstaden by Narud Stokke Wiig
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/filip6.jpg

Space groups proposal looks really interesting. Ull & Frost and LPO's proposals also look interesting by for me i really wants to see more from Space Groups proposal. :)

I liked Space group's proposal best too.

btw, it's Juul & Frost, not uul & Frost as I wrote first, my bad.

Here's the article where I found it: http://bygg.no/news/newsshow.asp?AreaID=4&NewsID=17876

Here is some more renderings from Space Groups proposal:

This is a few images by one of the proposals, by SpaceGroup Architects.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/cityz/Urban/Oversiktsplan.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/cityz/Urban/Oversiktsbilde.jpg
> Download large image (3696x2292 | 3.6MB/zip-file) (http://www.spacegroup.no/download/1OVERSIKTSBILDE.jpg.zip)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/cityz/Urban/Hi-Techplassen1small.jpg
> Download large image (3208x1928 | 2.8MB/zip-file) (http://www.spacegroup.no/download/7VINTERKVELD.jpg.zip)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/cityz/Urban/Bystrenden1small.jpg
> Download large image (2273x1353 | 1.1MB/zip-file) (http://www.spacegroup.no/download/2SOMMERDAG.jpg.zip)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/Bilde5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/Bilde6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/Bilde7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/Bilde8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/Bilde9.jpg

btw, it's Juul & Frost, not uul & Frost as I wrote first, my bad.

Yeah, im more familiar with them than uul!

Ohh, hmm, now I'm abit more sceptical. I don't like those star-shaped buildings, but it could just be because I associate it with the very ugly "stjerneblokkene"("star commieblocks") we have in Kristiansand... here is one of them

http://home.no.net/heia/stjerneblokka/grafikk/foto/blokka2.jpg

Personally I agree, I like Space Groups proposal best.

As my everpresent complaint; I would wish they would stop making everything into one architectural contest. Evidently, architects have found that proposals that are made in great order with many similar and matching buildings always fare best. But in real life, I haven't seen many places were the commieblock feel is avoided.

In general, I think Oslo is worse of than most, because the hostility towards construction is so great (and often even limited not only to the neighbors) that we often see large redevelopment schemes, rather than a continuing renewal. A pity.

That being said, I think many of these will turn out to be OK (not to mention provide badly needed housing). It sure beats what's there now, anyway!

I don't like any of the proposals that much. My two favorites of the ones presented is the "Mingling"-proposal by Niels A. Torp Arkitekter and the "Chinapas/Filipstad" by Arne Henriksen Arkitekter. What I would prefer is to make all of Filipstad into two or three islands, and then fill them with lots of narrow residential skyscrapers in colors like lime, orange, blue and red. Here is a render I made a while ago that sums up some of my ideas. (http://img497.imageshack.us/img497/842/mixedskyline3gh.jpg) I think the Space Group Proposal is horrible. Whitish high-rises surrounded by green grass reminds me of commieblocks and the deserted office areas along the Oslo-Bærum highway.

Edit: After a closer look I think Chinapas/Filipstad is the best alternative. It certainly adds something to the city that Oslo lacks. We need canals, and we need lots of them. I think they have to build taller than 4 stories to make a profit though, but the idea is good.

Of all the combos that exist around the world, skyscrapers and canals would be quite unique. Sort of Amsterdam, but modern and with skyscrapers :) It looks real nice. I really mean that. And about as realistic as seeing Sven O. making a good impression on TV. :(

I think they should preserve the Joh Johansson / Ali Kaffe building and turn it into apartments:
http://www.prosjekt-fjordbyen.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/Prosjektfjordbykontoret/Internett/Bilder/_Fra%20konvertering/Filipstad%20mai03%20lite.jpg

Sørenga - The two finalists

LPO
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00372/_1282039_jpg_372907g.jpg

Snøhetta
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00372/_1281771_jpg_372906g.jpg

http://oslopuls.no/nyheter/article1235723.ece

I wasn't really impressed by either of the proposals, but LPO's was somewhat better. Snøhetta lacks any form of imagination in their proposal. Their proposal looks a little like Sjølyststranda, only less diversity(And like every other housing project across Norway atm. Can't we have some exiting architecture for a change!)
Strange that none of them have included any high-rises at all...

KPMG - Bjørvika - Under Construction
http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/4736/ucbjorvikakpmg2to.th.jpg (http://img49.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ucbjorvikakpmg2to.jpg)

I guess that would be PWC(Price Waterhouse Coopers) ;), but thanks for the update.

Oslo Opera House nabour?

Three new architects has proposed some new buildings to be the Opera House's closest nabour. The original plann proposes two huge office boxes behind the Opera House, which will make a 10 story large wall of building. After a heated discussion last year some new proposals has been made, with more air and open space.

Here are the three proposals.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06opprinnelig1804_390022g.jpg
Original proposal.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06jarmund1804_jpg_390028g.jpg
Jarmund-Wigsnæs architects proposal.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06minijarmund1804_390030g.jpg
Jarmund-Wigsnæs architects proposal.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06planB1804_jpg_390026g.jpg
Plan B's proposal.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06miniplanB1804_j_390025g.jpg
Plan B's proposal.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06metropolitan180_390023g.jpg
Metropolitan Group's proposal.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00390/_A06minimetropolita_390024g.jpg
Metropolitan Group's proposal.

Didn't really like any of them. What I had hoped for was the same volume, but much taller(ofcourse). These are just a giant wall!

Didn't really like any of them. What I had hoped for was the same volume, but much taller(ofcourse). These are just a giant wall!

I agree, Plan B was the worst proposal, maybe Jarmund-Wigsnæs the best, but i would want a more spectacular proposal, low facing west, and very tall on the eastern side of the plot, right behind the Opera.

I know its not going to happen, but i think that there should be a park behind that opera house. I dont like the way it's getting boxed in.

This article (in Norwegian) is about a possible finding of a medieval wreck on the dig for the new tunnel that leads the E18 road, that now passes directly over the lfjordcity site, under the fjord.
http://oslopuls.no/nyheter/article1312059.ece
Apparantly, the contractor had already taken into account four months delay for archeological findings. The contracor has put aside 25 mil NOK for excavating and pay (!) 40 mil NOK for the archeologists overseeing the dig.

Apparantly, the contractor had already taken into account four months delay for archeological findings. The contracor has put aside 25 mil NOK for excavating and pay (!) 40 mil NOK for the archeologists overseeing the dig.

That is the law in Norway. If you're building a house on your own property, archeologists can take command of the whole thing and make you pay millions.

Ofcourse the effect is that when people find interesting things they bury them again.

Love the Opera House!!

Can't wait to get to Oslo - went to Bergen (FANTASTIC) last October. You guys have one of the best countries in the world.

That is the law in Norway. If you're building a house on your own property, archeologists can take command of the whole thing and make you pay millions.

Ofcourse the effect is that when people find interesting things they bury them again.
I know... Not only is it unfair to the one unlucky enough to find something on their property; it's damn stupid. Just imagine how many archeologically significant finds like stone age carvings that are dynamited by the owner before anyone finds them.... :wallbash:

Here is Oslo harbour authorities's new plan for Filipstad. 150 000 square meters of public bath, floating islands, english garden, etc. They claim they can have it all done by 2008, if they get the green light fast. They are probably doing this to get public support to build the area behind it fast, because some politicians want to wait with the construction there until everything in Bjørvika is finished.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323306_jpg_407289g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323303_jpg_407286g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323308_jpg_407110g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323305_jpg_407115g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323310_jpg_407116g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323304_jpg_407288g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00407/_1323311_jpg_407287g.jpg

Here are more renders of this floating park
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2006/05/31/467735.html

I don't know what to say really. Its a great idea, floating islands with parks and other activities on, but i do not like their design idea. They haven't done much on the buildings yet though, and i can see a big empty area, whats gonne be there, parking lots?

That was announced on a press conference on Thuesday. 1500 apartments will be built, and also some office area. Construction will start in 2007-2008.
http://bygg.no/ImageResizeCache/4e7a7359f2e01b2c6bfe16b9e11c9b0d.jpg

http://bygg.no/ImageResizeCache/b0bf695e5fbf5acd39315e58be35846d.jpg

This is a tragedy for Oslo. Sørenga and the area along the Mosseveien would be an ideal place to build highrise buildings. They could start with a few skyscrapers and big parks, and then just add more highrises with the demand

^ I am not very satisfied about how Sørenga is been designed either. Sørenga needs more parks towards the harbour front, and some more unique buildings, than a large dense area with 3-7 story tall residential buildings.

It could certainly be better, but I think this proposal was the best of those that were proposed. It's quite typically, really. Here we are building a brand new part of the city, that is supposed to be sort of a landmark for the city, and we manage to fill it with ordinary, boring buildings. Quite typically Norwegian!

btw. muster; welcome to the forum, are you from Oslo?

I agree that this proposal was the best. The Snøhetta proposal was without passion, I think. It could have been so much better!

Northstar, yes I live in Oslo but I am a "Vestlending". :cheers:

Nice, another Norwegian, welcome to the forums muster! :okay:

Northstar, yes I live in Oslo but I am a "Vestlending". :cheers:

Cool, I'm a "Sørlending" :cheers:

Thanks Qazaq and Northstar. I like what you have done with the Norway/Oslo threads :master:. Keep on the good work! :okay:

Took a walk down to Bjørvika this morning to see the progress. These photos are only resized, not edited further, as I have no tool avaliable at the moment.

Things are staring to happen at Sørenga
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde007.jpg

The behind of the new opera
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde006.jpg

Not really part of Fjordcity, but pretty near, apartment-buildings at Grønland going up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde014.jpg

And then, Price Waterhouse Cooper-building (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=7122775&postcount=159)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde009.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde015.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde017.jpg

Seems like the nearby site is beeing prepared for another highrise-construction :cheers:

Nice. Here is a part of the new tunnel being towed up the Oslo fjord. It won't be put in place for another two years, but it's good to see some progress is being made.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00435/_075264_jpg_435297r.jpg

This is how it's done:
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00438/_a08tunnel1508_jpg_438073g.jpg
You dig a trench deep and wide enough for the 30m wide and 15 m high tunnel segments. You put in place the segments, lock them together, fill in dirt and gravel around them, and puch a hole through. It has been done for over 100 years, and should be simple enough, except for the soil, which is supposedly not ideal for this kind of construction. The whole thing is expected to be complete by 2010, and will allow the old road now cutting the city off from it's waterfront to be demolished.

Took a walk down to Bjørvika this morning to see the progress. These photos are only resized, not edited further, as I have no tool avaliable at the moment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde016.jpg

Seems like the nearby site is beeing prepared for another highrise-construction :cheers:

Great, the tower is rising, gonna be great when we see this one been topped out and Visma rising next to it! ;)

Seems like the nearby site is beeing prepared for another highrise-construction Great, the tower is rising, gonna be great when we see this one been topped out and Visma rising next to it! ;)

Here is the photo that was supposed to go along with that text, but somehow mysteriously did not.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/prosjekter/Bilde019-1.jpg

Are there really any people complaining about the heights of these towers? I mean Gronland is miles away on the other side of the railtracks. they wouldnt even notice them there. I think this is the best place to build higher buildings of all the sites within the fjordby-project. But I dont agree there should be any tall buildings at sorenga.
amyway, thank you for the pics

^I remember lots of people complaining in debates in the papers(mostly Aftenposten), and on the net.

I read yesterday in a local free newspaper (Østkantavisa I think it is called), that a new proposal is to be aproved by the city council in December. This proposal will allow buildings up to 22 floors for all the barcode area. They argue that if more buildings are allowed to be built in that height, they will be able to have more space between the buildings, thus reducing the impression of a big wall between the city and the sea. My question is; why not go much taller on some of the buildings?

Anyway, here are some webcam-photos from the developement.

PWC-building
http://www.bg14.no/image/webcam/cat_3.jpg

The opera
http://www.bg14.no/image/webcam/cat_2.jpg

Here is a render that have not been shown before I think, of the Visma-building. Construction will start around newyear, and take two years. Total floor area will be 25000 sqmeters, and it will be 17 floors.
http://www.osu.no/var/storage/variations/php_45238ac894886_250x1000.png

This one is old, but it shows the entire area under planning/construction
http://www.osu.no/var/storage/variations/listebilde13_400x1000.png

^ Great pics, PWC is comming up fast! :yes:

Well, if all the Barcode buildings is around 40m to 60m tall it will surely look like a wall between the city and the fjord, i hope they deceide to built some of the buildings up to 22 stories, if not even higher.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/cityx/Oslo%20city%20archive/Proposals8.jpg

More about the architectural competition "The most energy effective trade building in Europe?" and all its proposals and winners. The PDF have all info avaliable, and all 23 proposals is in there, including the winner, and the awarded ones.

View PDF (6.7Mb) (http://www.arkitektur.no/files/file61917_nak401.pdf)

I like the new render of the Visma-building, but 25-30 floors would be even better :cool:


The fjordcity is really starting to shape, with Tjuvholmen, The opera and the Barcode rising!
Here are some news from Aftenposten the last two days: First, The opera seems to cost less than the prognosis (about 500 mill NOK). Now some people wants to use these money, to make the owners of the site between the Hotel opera and The opera build smaller: http://oslopuls.no/nyheter/article1528057.ece

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00476/_A06ny1011_jpg_476074g.jpg


Second, the new Astrup Fearnley museum in Oslo will be located at Tjuvholmen(on the green island) , and the architect is the famous italian Renzo Piano. The museum owns the most important collection of contemporary american art in Europe, with main works from artists as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. The first drawings of the building are ready, but they will not be shown to the public before the final approval. But Peder Lund, the adviser of the prosject, says that it looks just as spectacular as they had hoped for:nocrook:
http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/article1528880.ece

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00476/_m46tjuv1111_jpg_476474v.jpg

I just can`t wait!!!

Splitte mine bramseil!!! :gaah: :hammer: :nuts: :nuts: :ohno: :wallbash: :wallbash: :crazy2: :puke: :weird:

What do I see in todays Aftenposten, two retired politicians (Berntsen, Willoch) wants to stop the highrise buldings in Bjørvika. One architect is also speaking his mind about how terrible this is for Oslo. I am almost speechless, is there no end to the madness???

Anyway, I recommend everybody in SkyscraperCity to send a mail to Aftenposten at aftenforum@aftenposten.no with all your pro highrise arguments . They wants comments from the readers about this..

^ miseable article. I hate it how these old retired politicians always have to be so loud about their opinions. They are finished in politics, and should get over it.

But I must admit that I can somewhat understand people who don't like how this plan will block parts of the city from the sea. More variation (read: more height and some more air) surely wouldn't hurt!
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00478/_OLD010122_jpg_478198g.jpg

yes, but only if you stand where that photo is taken, close to the railtracks, this area is amost empty of people. It is not a very attractive place.
if you are at gronlands torg for instance, where people are alot more likely to spend their time, then it makes no difference, you wouldnt know the towers were even there.
But yes, I agree, taller and slender buildings would be better.

Oslo do have a unique layout, in the sense that it is shaped almost like an amphitheatre. I think the best thing would be to make the buildings as slender as possible, and higher instead, as you NorthStar. I'm worried that this will increase the effect that the awful Galleri Oslo has had on that part of the city. Even the air has become worse in there bechause it doesent escape. Galleri Oslo should be torn down as soon as possible.

Oslo do have a unique layout, in the sense that it is shaped almost like an amphitheatre. I think the best thing would be to make the buildings as slender as possible, and higher instead, as you NorthStar. I'm worried that this will increase the effect that the awful Galleri Oslo has had on that part of the city. Even the air has become worse in there bechause it doesent escape. Galleri Oslo should be torn down as soon as possible.
I'm with you on that. It is the only sensible thing to do, no matter what part of the fence you're on. The problem is that nimbyism in Oslo has become a religious matter. :(

^ I know this architect, and she told me this weekend that getting anything built in Oslo is a nightmare for architects. Even small single houses. Neighbours in villa-areas throw in loads of lawyers if you want to build anything other than a standard block watne house.

/\ And i guess the same people complain about Oslo being ugly... :|

Osloians have too much time on their hands. What we need is, and it's sad to say it, outside national politicians who don't have any feelings for the city to cut through and make it easier to build on your own property.

Osloians have too much time on their hands. What we need is, and it's sad to say it, outside national politicians who don't have any feelings for the city to cut through and make it easier to build on your own property.

I'd say it's the other way around. Not just Oslo, but this enite country has been run by politicians from small shit places for ages, and not enough care has been put into this city. The huge influx of people from outside the city that just comes here for a job, and then sits at the pub complaining about having to live here, doesent help either.

The only sensible thing to do would be to completely redesign the area behind the opera, and make the buildings more slender, and turn them 90 degrees so that the view from the city opens up. Maybe even make the buildings E-shaped (tilted 90 degrees) with grass underneath, so that people could walk freely under them for example.

I read that the development of the property is completely in the hands of a company that only thinks about maximising profit. When you want to develop the most important piece of real estate in the country, that's not the way to do it!

I'd say it's the other way around. Not just Oslo, but this enite country has been run by politicians from small shit places for ages, and not enough care has been put into this city. I totally agree, and it is also an undeniable fact that Oslo's wealth level is being held down by politicians that demand high subsidies and government transfers to the small shitty places they come from. Now, what do Oslo get in return for these massive payments to rural areas? Nothing, absolutely nothing! Many may claim that the countryside is important to Oslo, because the farmers supply us with food and other products. That logic is seriously flawed, and food would actually be a lot cheaper if we imported it at world market prices. I am not saying that Oslo should declare independence from the kingdom of Norway, but I think we will hear a lot more from the pro-independence lobby in the years to come. Oslo should be allowed to grow and develop, and we need people who realize that growth is good.

I totally agree, and it is also an undeniable fact that Oslo's wealth level is being held down by politicians that demand high subsidies and government transfers to the small shitty places they come from. Now, what do Oslo get in return for these massive payments to rural areas? Nothing, absolutely nothing! Many may claim that the countryside is important to Oslo, because the farmers supply us with food and other products. That logic is seriously flawed, and food would actually be a lot cheaper if we imported it at world market prices. I am not saying that Oslo should declare independence from the kingdom of Norway, but I think we will hear a lot more from the pro-independence lobby in the years to come. Oslo should be allowed to grow and develop, and we need people who realize that growth is good.
I agree with you there, but I was talking about highrises, and it still strikes me that nimbyism is rampant here. That causes local politicians to be very careful about challenging the anti-highrise lobby, a concern national politicians wouldn't have to care about at all - given that votes in Oslo counts for shit compared to for instance Finmark. We have to face it: It's the local politicians who run the show; and if they can't do the job, someone else has to. I'm about to buy myself a new apartement; and the prices we see today just aren't sustainable... The more I think of those people who wouldn't care less if I have to pay millions to live in a dump just so they force their religiously-minded nimbyism on the city, the angrier I get. Better stop here before my rage comes back.........

Got.....to....calm....DOWN!!!!! :bleep:

*goes berserk and smashes everything in sight*

@Spearman
I agree that there is a lot of NIMBYism here, but do you really think that countryside politicians will allow Oslo to grow and prosper? Hell no, they would strangle growth the second you gave them an opportunity to do so. They will also plunder the city even more than they currently do (although it is hard to imagine more extensive plundering than the current agrarian-socialist government), and prevent construction of anything that would make rural Jante-people envious. I would also like to point out that the current city government is far less NIMBYist than all other alternatives except a clear FrP-majority.

EDITED

A presentation of Fjordbyen by Dagbladet

http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/11/20/483476.html

I would also like to point out that the current city government is far less NIMBYist than all other alternatives except a clear FrP-majority.

That would be the end of mankind!:ohno:

http://www.bjorvika-info.no/media/bjorvika/%7B807D2A3D-5978-4926-B2E0-649D072904B6%7D.jpg

Looking at this picture, it is very hard to understand the Oslo -nimbys. The 5 stories we can see on the tower at the back, is the reason to the protests. It seems more like those people are against changes what so ever..:ohno:

These last day's nimby'ism is so frustrating! 30.000 has signed the petition against "the wall". Why don't people understand that a bunch of lowrises will also make it look like a wall?? And the barcode-concept have been known for, is it 3 years now? and Aftenposten and other medias have presented them countless of times without much protest, why now when it is too late anyway?

shitty nimbys, too much time on their hands, xenophobia to the max

Support the development of Oslo

Save the Fjord-city from the anti development nimby’s. Do please sign this petition.
http://www.opprop.no/opprop.php?id=oslo

http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/12/13/485942.html

The politicians back off, and have ordered a redesign of the area around the opera.

Just so you know, this only appiles to the immidiate area behind the opera i think, and if you ask me, a redesign is a good idea.

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00490/_1389590_jpg_490311g.jpg

The Opera should have space around it, bechause it is a signature building that really should sit on its own at the waterfront (until the polar caps melt and floods the area :nuts: )

Keep in mind that this is not exactly the same debate as the anti-highrise debate. I think we should have highrises, but i dont support building these huge LEGO blocks right next to the opera.

http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/483/483476/Figur2_1164008807.jpg

^^Naah, perhaps not. But that would mean relocating the sqare meters intended for that site on top the ajacent buildings, right? Because they do know how badly the downtown area needs more usable space, right? They can't just not build, right? Right?!?

Some interesting questions and answers in Dagbladet today. This is only in Norwegian, and im not sure i will take the time to translate it, sorry!

Heisann Erling!
Betyr dette at planene om høyhus foran jernbanesporene revurderes? Høyhusrekka som har utløst kampanjer blandt befolkningen den siste tida?
Innsendt av: Gro

Ja,det er bare det første av de fire feltene langs sporområdet som er behandlet og hvor byggehøyden ble økt i forhold til det opprinnelige forslaget fra byrådet. Bystyret vedtok 17 etasjer maks mens andre bygg til gjengjeld skulle være lave. Jeg registrerer at protestene har gjort at stemningen har snudd. Dette kan føre til at de høyeste byggene i de neste feltene blir lavere, mens de lave blir noe høyere. Til gjengjeld kan bygningene da virke mer ensformige.
Hilsen Erling
__________

Selv skjønner jeg ikke hva folk tenker på når de sier nei til høyhus. Dessuten så er jo ikke snakk om høye bygninger. Var i New York i sommer, og en middels høy bygning der er jo mye høyere en Oslo Plaza. Bodde på et 25 etasjers hotell, og den bygningen var LITEN sammenliknet med alle de andre bygningene der. Jeg ser du skriver at Oslo ikke er noen landsby, noe som i og for seg stemmer, men en by er etter min mening ingen ordentlig by uten høye bygninger. Poenget mitt er at det i alle store byer rundt om i verden så er det høye bygninger, så da skjønner jeg ikke hvorfor Oslo ikke skal ha det bare fordi noen personer ikke vil ha det. Antall underskrifter som er samlet inn mot bygging av bygningene er jo ingenting sammenliknet med antall personer som bor i Oslo. Så for all del, bygg bygningene! Og gjerne et par til som er enda høyere en Plaza.
Innsendt av: Espen

Jeg mener at Oslo i hovedsak skal være en tett og lav europeisk by og ikke en amerikansk by. Hvorfor? Jo, dels pga av solforholdene om vinteren, - skyggene er lange og solen står lavt. Dels fordi Oslo ligger i en gryte med åser rundt, og vi skal ikke ødelegge den grønne "innrammingen". Og dels fordi vi ikke skal "stenge" byen inne. Men jeg har også ment at et par høyhus kunne gjort inntrykket av Postgiro og Plaza bedre. Derfor skal vi ikke være helt dogmatiske.
Hilsen Erling
__________

De som kommenterer at høyhus er en fy-ting, er eldre menn som beklagligvis er død, når alt står ferdig.
Går du rundt å leser blogger og kommentarer på folk under 30, så er de fleste positive til høyhus. La sentrum være urban og la vi oslofolk få bo i høyden.
Innsendt av: Erik

Det er riktig at unge er mer positive til høyhus enn eldre, men det kan jo også tenkes at noen av de unge skifter syn når de blir eldre..?? Men la meg ikke bare fleipe bort spørsmålet ditt. Jeg synes endel av debattantene om Bjørvika er litt for nostalgiske og tilbakeskuende. Vi skal ta vare på det gamle, men det nye må få lov til å være nytt, og Oslo er ikke Raufoss.
Hilsen Erling
__________

Jeg mener at et høyhus ved siden av Opearen kan være løsningen på problemet. Hvis man bygger i høyden i stedet for i bredden vil man få mer sikt mellom jernbanetorget og Operaen, samtidig som man får samme volum på bygningen som er planlagt (dermed like mye igjen for pengene). Høyhus er ikke nødvendigvis så negativt, så lenge arkitekturen er i harmoni med Operaen. Operahuset i Sydney er et godt eksempel på hvor fint det kan være med høyhus som bakteppe bak Operaen. Hvordan stiller du deg til dette?
Innsendt av: Erik

Jeg mener vi må unngå høyhus nær operaen fordi dette vil redusere virkningen av operaen som monumentalbygg. Men du har rett i at høye bygg, kan bety større plasser og mer åpen bebyggele. Det er dette debatten om "Barcode-rekken" langs jernbanesporet dreier seg om.
Hilsen Erling
__________

Er det umulig å tegne bygningene mot øst mye høyere/slankere og mer utrykksfulle og moderne enn de kjedelige, tunge skoeskene som til nå er tegnet. Byen må anlegge en profilerende skulpturpark og vakre sommerkonsertarenaer med f.eks amfi på tomten mellom opraen og hotellet. La Oslo få en signaturskyline med opera mot sjøen og vakre, litt dristige høybygg litt tilbaketrukket i bak kant mot sør-øst.
Innsendt av: Kenn Terje Kroknes

Dette har du helt rett i. "Skoeskene" er bare illustrasjoner som viser hvilke områder som kan bebygges, men de sier ingenting om hvordan husene skal se ut.
Hilsen Erling

New renders that is supposed to convince the NIMBYs, in an article in Aftenposten (http://oslopuls.no/nyheter/article1571411.ece) today.

Barcode
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00491/_placebo2_jpg_491314g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00491/_0000580026_jpg_491315g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00491/_0000580028_jpg_491317g.jpg

Same perspectives as above, but with a lower maximum height
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00491/_placebo1_jpg_491311g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00491/_0000580027_jpg_491316g.jpg

http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00491/_0000580029_jpg_491318g.jpg

More renders: http://oslopuls.no/nyheter/article1570401.ece

I wonder what a new yorker would make of thise debate.
a couple of odd buildings, ranging in height from 40 to 60 meters being described as an imitation of manhattan.

What a New Yorker might say is actually quite irrelevant, bechause Oslo and New York are two completely different things. Manhattan island alone houses 1,6 million people, with a population density of 25650 people pr km2. It is also the home of almost 2 million jobs. Ofcourse they have to build high. Manhattan is also completely flat, and such, view is not an issue at all. Besides, who wants to look at New Jersey?

Oslo is traditionally a low city, and is surrounded by hills overlook the city. Oslo is much like an amphitheatre.


Having said that, i do support highrises (and building in the nature reserves around the city), but when its done, it should be done well. The barcode project is ok (even if its designed by a trønder with a moustache!), but comparing Oslo to a world metropolis is just stupid. Oslo is NOT a metropolis.

hm, it seems like you missed the point of my post, which was to demonstate how the comparison between the barcode project and manhattan is utterly misplaced.

Nowhere did I suggest that Oslo should try to imitate New York.
One of the complaints against the barcode project has been that it reflects an absurd dream to emulate manhattan. But, when you look at it, the dimensions of barcode are quite modest, they dont even break a height barrier in oslo, let alone get close to anything in new york.

Among other critiscisms of barcode has been the charge that it will clog up the air, since it is a heavy trafficated area, and that it will block the view to the sea.
Incidentally, these are the reasons why it has been decided to build higher. It will allow more space between the buildings, improving the quality of the air
and the line of sight from the adjacent northern burroughs. This, of course, is more problematic when it comes to the view from the surrounding hills.

The philosophy of barcode, thus, has nothing to do with manhattan. It is not a dream of mnhattan, and it never was.

hehe, sorry, i read your post a bit too quickly.

Incidentally, i am going to NYC during the easter vacation :D

Incidentally, i am going to NYC during the easter vacation :D

Ohh, man, you have something to look forward to! It is definitely the coolest city I've ever visited! Contact me on MSN if you need any travel-advise.

And since Manhattan is beeing discussed here I'll allow myself to post a few photos from my trip, 2 years ago at easter.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010007.jpg

Yes, there are lowrises in the middle of Manhattan too(in SoHo iirc);)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010028.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010062.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010083.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010106.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010140.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010147.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010173.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010201.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010269.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010284.jpg

You won't be hungry:D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/northstar77/new%20york/P1010294.jpg

Just read that the Directorate for Cultural Heritage (riksantikvaren) has made a demur on the whole bar-code project, stating that the height of the buildings can't be accepted as compared to the rest of the city. Not just the Bjørvika area, but to the whole CITY! The last time the DCH made an demur in this area, the whole plan had to be changed.
What are these people trying to say? That we have the alternatives to either build every new building as they did 50-100 years ago, or that we would have to demolish the whole inner centrum, just to have some taller buildings?

The article sent out from the DCH (in Norwegian) (http://www.riksantikvaren.no/?module=Articles;action=Article.publicShow;ID=4235)

By the way... I'm new here, so.. Hi everyone!!!
Little presentation:
I live in Ås, a small town south of the capitol, right between Oslo and the city Moss.

Hi, welcome to the forum! :hi:

Hey IceCheese and welcome to the forums! :okay:

The Directorate for Cultural Heritage isn't to fond to any high-rise development, and they have power to stop everything. Such a shame they never allow anything too controversial and modern which Oslo needs to turn into a more modern city, because that way the developers and architects just draw simple modern boxes on a few stories which is as tall as the nabour buildings from the 19th century, they get easilly approved.

The Barcode developer have now presented new renders as an answer to the nimbys.


Nimby version:
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/486/486085/EnerhaugenBarcode1_660_1166107103.jpg


Developer version:
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/486/486630/NYbarc_ener660_1166607884.jpg

Developer version:
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/486/486630/NYbarcode_ener660_1166607764.jpg

Developer version:
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/486/486630/NYbarc_ekebwer660_1166607884.jpg

Hi, welcome to the forum! :hi:
I second that :)
The Barcode developer have now presented new renders as an answer to the nimbys.


Nimby version:
http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/486/486085/EnerhaugenBarcode1_660_1166107103.jpg

There you go; you see, it doesn't really matter what the facts are. That's for them to decide. These people have no reason for their nimbyism, other than being afraid of change. Having payed a little attention to american political debate the last year, I must say I see the nimbys have learned a lot from the anti-gay side: Be angry enough, be certain enough, and create a climate where the only socially accepted views are fanatical nimbyism and more fanatical nimbyism. And most important: Create your own facts. John Q. Idiot won't know the difference.

Construction update from PriceWaterHouseCooper!

http://www.stalforbund.com/Fagomraader/Arkitektur/Picture_arc/pwc_11_800.jpg

http://www.stalforbund.com/Fagomraader/Arkitektur/Picture_arc/pwc_10_800.jpg

http://www.stalforbund.com/Fagomraader/Arkitektur/Picture_arc/pwc_12_800.jpg

http://www.stalforbund.com/Fagomraader/Arkitektur/Picture_arc/pwc_13_800.jpg

^^ looks real sweet. Must be a great building to work in.

Totally agree! I was driving eastwards on E-18 today, and when you get out of the Festningstunnelen, the whole Bjørvika-area opens incredibly. I love the PWC! When (if) the whole Barcode-line is finished, I know for a fact that even som NIMBY's have to eat their own words from this November's debate. I have nothing more to say than I definitely think Barcode is the most beautiful project in Norway today. Though I have some fears of the Barcodes stealing all the glory of the new opera.

Totally agree! I was driving eastwards on E-18 today, and when you get out of the Festningstunnelen, the whole Bjørvika-area opens incredibly. I love the PWC! When (if) the whole Barcode-line is finished, I know for a fact that even som NIMBY's have to eat their own words from this November's debate. I have nothing more to say than I definitely think Barcode is the most beautiful project in Norway today. Though I have some fears of the Barcodes stealing all the glory of the new opera.

Oh yes, Barcode is a great project, and is the nicest project we have in norway these days, but i would not mind having a far more spectacular project with taller buildings taller than Radisson SAS! But PWC looks really nice in those construction photos, nice cladding!

Endelig ser det ut som om Oslo utvikler seg :) Håper virkelig Oslo får et par skikkelige høyhus som kan forandre skylinen totalt....Uansett skjønner virkelig ikke hvorfor så mange er så konservative angående høyhus: denne nye bydelen kommer uansett til å være helt ny, og kommer ikke til å ødelegge eksisterende gamle bygninger av høy arkitektonisk verdi, heller vil ikke disse bli overskygget eller noe, da de fleste eldre bygninger ligger lenger inn i sentrum...

Selv om PriceWaterHouseCooper bygningen er lav, så ser den skikkelig classy ut :)

Akkurat nå så ser det ut som om Fjordbyen er det største utviklingsprosjektet i Skandinavia... :banana:

Today's laugh -The Aftenposten Aften-headline: The leader of Oslo's city council wants to redraw Bjørvika (the barcode-area). The massive protests from the "public" have made the council-leader change his minds, and now he wants scetches of lower alternatives.
Other news: NIMBYs are celebrating, the project is probably delayed, and I have letten out my anger in a SMS for the newspaper's debate-pages.

^ Lol, and damn! We need to recall the stab and get that "yes to high-rise in Bjørvika" known again!

To the new guys, IceCheese and SkaNdErBeG, sign this one! ;)

http://www.opprop.no/opprop.php?id=oslo

Let's hope we're not abandoned by the right in this matter. Remeber - the argument was that the row of buildings took the view away. The shaddows "argument" doesn't really apply here, bc the shadow falls over railway tracks anyway. I actually think there is a decent chance they could decide to pull it all into two or three taller buildings, and the nimbys have no complint comming, bc they have already said they can't see over 17 floors - it should make no difference if it's even taller, and it would benifit them if they're less buildings.

Excellent about barcode and nimbys, by Oslo byaksjon in Dagbladet! http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/12/30/487378.html

And one NIMBY's answer, where he sort of claims that more people shouldn't be allowed to live in Oslo: http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/12/30/487378.html

http://gfx.dagbladet.no/pub/artikkel/4/48/486/486630/NYbarc_ener660_1166607884.jpg


Obviously, no one will have this view unless they intend to hover in midair.

If you are actually in the two blocks on either side here, you will have a similar kind of view, but from a different angle. The people with windows facing the fjord only have the view they have because of two brutish commieblocks on top of a hill. You cant see the fjord from groundlevel. The view is therefore exclusive and those commies do a thousand times more harm to a pedestrian's access to a view over the city than barcode will ever do.