The Cultural Centre ”Buen” (The Arch) in the Southern Norwegian village of Mandal is shaped like a green blanket that elevates and integrates the building in the surrounding landscape. The glass façade opens up and exposes the lobby to the river bank allowing plenty of daylight into the building. The building is adjusted in colour, scale and proportion to the characteristic and picturesque Norwegian wooden houses by the river’s edge.
The existing house was built in 1969 as a twin to the neighboring building. It did not function well to the demands of 2008-living, neither in the room sizes nor in their solutions, and it had generally a need for restoration work.
Element won the competition in November 2004. Three offices were invited: Two well established architectural offices and Element as the “outsider”; a small office with young partners. Further planning started early 2005 and Element was invited to sit in the building committee (in this case me) where important strategic, architectural and economic issues were decided, in total 75 meetings. This was of outmost importance to Element and to the final result/quality. The local building authorities were involved in a very positive way from the very beginning. The same goes for the Byantikvaren, an authority that are interested in saving old buildings.
Elegance and conviviality merge under The Arch in Mandal, Norway
Historic white wooden houses, charming narrow streets, a river running though the center and beach and forest nearby. The town of Mandal is the essence of southern Norwegian idyll. Danish practice, 3XN, has designed the town’s new cultural center, a project which required great sensitivity to the town’s special environment.
Background
The client, HelgelandsKraft AS, is a large producer of hydraulic electricity in northern parts of Norway. In 2008 they started planning several new hydraulic power stations with high environmental ambitions. From the beginning their task for the architect was to find the best way to make their new power stations adapt to the site, and at the same time function as attractions and destinations. The general idea from the architects at stein hamre arkitektkontor, is the design of the new stations should reflect characteristics of the locations. At the same time the buildings should be spectacular. They should also tell the story about the production of power.
The building opens up as a book cover, and invites people in to read, enjoy the blues, drink coffee, watch a movie, laugh, cry, fall in love and live. All functions are on one level and they are open to the central “hinge” space. This glass roofed atrium is a hub for all functions. Library is on the left side. Reception with shop and wardrobe is in the middle and auditoriums are on their side.
Kilden, a theatre and concert hall in Kristiansand, Norway, has brought together all the city?s institutions of performing arts. Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra now has a concert hall accommodating 1200 attendees. Agder Theater, a regional group, is performing in a theater with a capacity of 700. The theater hall can be transformed to accommodate opera performances to house the ensemble Opera South. In addition, there is a stage for experimental theater and a multi-purpose hall with a level floor.
The Floating Sauna is a gift for the Rosendal community, a village at the end of the majestic Hardangerfjord in Norway. The sauna celebrates the ancient but still living connection between the human built environment and the great voice of the ocean. The Viking decedent Rosendal villagers are as natural with house building as with building their boats and the Floating Sauna lays somewhere in-between.
Our proposal for the New Church of Våler is placed in the southern part of the project area in continuity with the ancient church, attempting to recover not only the orientation of it, but also the memory. The proposed design refers at the boat: the boat as a symbol of Christianity that welcomes and protects within it the faithful; the Drakkar as tribute at the exploratory tradition of the Norwegian people.
View from the woods (Images Courtesy Sergio Capasso)
The Jøssing Fjord Center is a combined museum for mining and geology. If the outside exhibition areas are also taken into consideration, the area is really a small magma park. The museum building is set just outside Jøssing in beautiful natural surroundings, next to the former mines and the power station that produced electricity for the mining activities. The basic structure – a four-armed star plan – is cast in concrete around an intermediate massive core built from bales of straw.