Oslo School of Architecture

The new Oslo School of Architecture is based in an existing building from 1938. It's part of a larger effort to revitalise this former industrial area for education-related use. The long-term aim is a campus for arts education along the riverbank. The project won an open architectural competition in 1998. The exterior of the existing building has a conservation status. The architects have kept the block open towards the river, and combined the new programme with the logic of the existing building together with the surroundings in one spatial sequence. An access court has been cut out of the existing 1st floor slab, marking the entrance and bringing daylight in to the ground floor foyer. A strip has been cut out of the existing slab along the inside of the existing building, bringing daylight to the surrounding functions. A simple U-shaped circulation zone is established along the strip. A new string of teaching rooms completes the U and forms a bridge across the entrance area.