Article source: KAMJZ

Enhancing Public Participation

The base for the design was the desire to create a free unrestricted access to knowledge and information, as well as a collaborative and cooperative management and decision making process with emphasis on the right to see the operations and activities of government at work. This supports government accountability and helps protect other necessary rights. The new City Hall of Sandnes would celebrate the concept of openness and transparency. Designed as a welcoming house which is as accessible as possible to it’s citizens and a building that lives up to the highest requirements for a modern, efficient and flexible office space. The volume required by the program would be adapted to the local urban conditions and modified to create connections with the surrounding area and bring the inhabitants closer to the city officials and their decision making process in the spirit of true participation. With all the office spaces continuously facing the streets a courtyard is created which would be the central area of the whole Havneparken masterplan. Walking and biking, crisscrossing from the streets, would be encouraged to reach the water promenade, creating a vibrant district for pedestrians and cyclists. The importance of the building in the area would be emphasized by it’s architectural exterior design where past tradition would be commemorated with a modern dynamic and universal outlook.

Image Courtesy © KAMJZ

• Architects: KAMJZ 
• Project: Open Sandnes City Hall
• Location: Sandnes, Norway
• Software used: Rhino, V-Ray, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
• Client: Sandnes Kommune
• Team: Marco Bellotti, Łukasz Wenclewski, Yoshihiro Kaneko, Michał Polak, JinSol Kim, Yuliya Pidlubnyak, Artur Zakrzewski
• Project Leader: Maciej Jakub Zawadzki
• Year: 2015

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