Wednesday 15 July 2009

The new National Museum in Oslo












It was decided a while ago, to rather loud protests from certain quarters, that a new building for the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design will be built at the old Western Railway Station in Oslo, virtually next-door to the City Hall. The new museum should be ready in 2016 and is scheduled to cost 3.5 billion NOK.
236 projects were submitted in the architectural contest and until Sunday they are all exhibited at Cort Adelers gate 30 in Oslo. By 3 September the jury will pick 4-6 projects which will go on to the second round and the winner will be announced in March next year.
The 236 projects are rich in diversity – some more original than others to put it mildly. While some are rather dull and easy to overlook, others are startling and yet others very avant-garde. Some will stand out just by their size, while others conform better to the city’s existing skyline. The old station is a listed building which now houses the Nobel Peace Centre and some architects have chosen to integrate it into the new building, while others intend to build something separate from it.
Some examples can be seen above. The titles of these projects are, from top to bottom: 1. White box redux, 2. Monolith in the ultimate north, 3. Sy 4068, 4. O, 5. Art Court, 6. Pharos, 7. Norwegian woods, 8. Sommerfugl, 9. Peak, 10. Man subsume event, 11. Nordlicht, 12. The Crown.
See also http://www.statsbygg.no/Utviklingsprosjekter/NationalMuseum/ (in English)

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