The factory building, located in the bend of the Akerselva River, was built at the end of the 19th century and has never been used during its "life". Textile production and warehouses were located behind the brutal brick walls, and after a severe fire that happened in the 1980s, it was completely abandoned. This object received a ticket to a new life only recently, when a comprehensive renovation of industrial zones and, in particular, a quarter in the area of Nedregate Street, of which the former factory is a part, began in Oslo.
Today this part of the city is turning into a new social and cultural center, where all kinds of galleries, design bureaus and architectural workshops, museums and exhibition spaces are concentrated. This determined the new program of the reconstructed factory: several film studios, a cinema, a modern art center, offices, as well as a small kindergarten, which was located in a small detached building, were to be located on the site of the textile production.
Taking the existing building as the basis for the composition, the architects carefully preserved its brick walls, characteristic tall and narrow windows and gables. All new elements are tactfully implanted into the existing shell, and Space Group very carefully selected materials that do not come into confrontation with the brick, but, on the contrary, favorably set off its texture and solid age. In order to provide the premises of the cultural center with a sufficient amount of daylight, a new roof was designed for it - completely transparent. At the same time, following the logic of the existing pediments, the authors give it the shape of an accordion, so that only above the rounded facade facing the bend of the river, there is a lean-to transparent roof, and the space under it becomes the center of the entire internal layout.
The resulting atrium contains cafes, bars, lounge areas designed for informal communication. Film and recording studios are designed as "plug-in" elements - in fact, they are capsules made of sound-insulating materials, which are installed in the body of the former factory like art objects. Another such object is the main staircase of the complex - connecting different levels of the building, it also serves as a means of zoning the space. For example, there are cozy reading rooms under some of the staircases. The interior of the center itself, on the contrary, in every possible way emphasizes its industrial origin: it is dominated by brick and concrete surfaces, only partially softened by natural wood and glass.
A. M.
