hkskyline
March 11th, 2008, 09:39 AM
April opening for Norway's new opera house
Photos : http://www.snoarc.no/#/projects/15/false/all/
OSLO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - After a spirited debate over yellowing marble and mounting costs, Norway is almost ready to open the Oslo opera house, a new cultural landmark whose clean, simple lines have transformed the city skyline.
Architectural and opera buffs are hailing it as one of the biggest and most important new buildings in Norway since the Nidarosdomen cathedral in Trondheim was completed around 1300.
The opera is preparing for opening night on April 12, when 1,300 guests will be treated to scenes from a variety of operas. Opera chief Bjoern Simensen said it would be Norway's "biggest social event since the Lillehammer Olympic Games in 1994."
He also promised a magnificent acoustic experience. "There was not a dry eye in the room when we had our first acoustic test," Simensen told foreign journalists on a tour on Thursday.
During construction, a heated debate sprang up when the white marble, the main material both inside and out, started turning yellow, to the despair of politicians and the public.
Many said Norwegian granite would have been better because of the cold climate, pollution from a motorway beside the building and the waterfront location.
"We are in control of this. In April, it will all be gone," said Simensen, speaking against a backdrop of builders at work and singers and ballet dancers in rehearsal.
Simon Ewings of the architecture firm Snoehetta also called it a temporary problem.
"It is not the marble itself and it will disappear as soon as it dries," he said, explaining that the discoloration was a reaction between the foundations, the marble and the humidity.
Snoehetta, which has also designed a cultural centre for the site of New York's World Trade Center skyscrapers destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, won the competition for the opera house from among 230 entries.
The cost of the building was originally estimated at 2.2 billion Norwegian crowns ($422 million) in 2002, but the budget has since doubled.
Construction costs in Norway have risen much faster than those of other industries, pushed up by an economic boom that has kept builders busy. The opera is 90 percent state-owned.
Its simplicity and clean lines make the building stand out on the Oslo skyline, the architect said. "When you have seen it once, you will remember it," Ewings said.
The flat roof -- "the building's most important piece of art", Ewings says -- is covered with 37,000 marble stones and the audience can walk around on it.
The opera has the biggest area of solar panels in Norway on one of its facades, meeting some of the building's energy needs.
Photos : http://www.snoarc.no/#/projects/15/false/all/
OSLO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - After a spirited debate over yellowing marble and mounting costs, Norway is almost ready to open the Oslo opera house, a new cultural landmark whose clean, simple lines have transformed the city skyline.
Architectural and opera buffs are hailing it as one of the biggest and most important new buildings in Norway since the Nidarosdomen cathedral in Trondheim was completed around 1300.
The opera is preparing for opening night on April 12, when 1,300 guests will be treated to scenes from a variety of operas. Opera chief Bjoern Simensen said it would be Norway's "biggest social event since the Lillehammer Olympic Games in 1994."
He also promised a magnificent acoustic experience. "There was not a dry eye in the room when we had our first acoustic test," Simensen told foreign journalists on a tour on Thursday.
During construction, a heated debate sprang up when the white marble, the main material both inside and out, started turning yellow, to the despair of politicians and the public.
Many said Norwegian granite would have been better because of the cold climate, pollution from a motorway beside the building and the waterfront location.
"We are in control of this. In April, it will all be gone," said Simensen, speaking against a backdrop of builders at work and singers and ballet dancers in rehearsal.
Simon Ewings of the architecture firm Snoehetta also called it a temporary problem.
"It is not the marble itself and it will disappear as soon as it dries," he said, explaining that the discoloration was a reaction between the foundations, the marble and the humidity.
Snoehetta, which has also designed a cultural centre for the site of New York's World Trade Center skyscrapers destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, won the competition for the opera house from among 230 entries.
The cost of the building was originally estimated at 2.2 billion Norwegian crowns ($422 million) in 2002, but the budget has since doubled.
Construction costs in Norway have risen much faster than those of other industries, pushed up by an economic boom that has kept builders busy. The opera is 90 percent state-owned.
Its simplicity and clean lines make the building stand out on the Oslo skyline, the architect said. "When you have seen it once, you will remember it," Ewings said.
The flat roof -- "the building's most important piece of art", Ewings says -- is covered with 37,000 marble stones and the audience can walk around on it.
The opera has the biggest area of solar panels in Norway on one of its facades, meeting some of the building's energy needs.