0072 Urban Canvas

Oslo National Museum

Year: 2010
Location: Oslo, Norway
Size: 55.000m²
Status: Finalist in competition
Collaborators: Søren Jensen, Atkins, Studio Irander

Urban Canvas is shaped as an exact cube in a landscape. It hovers low over the landscape and by virtue of its size creates a monument that joins into the monument strategy of this important area of Oslo, Norway. The large cube is a simple poetic concept, bold and deliberate. It clearly distinguishes the building as a Museum. A plane described as an urban landscape connects the streets and surrounds the site. The urban landscape creates a striking and modern contrast to the more formal City Hall Square. A large area is created beneath this park landscape for the Museum’s service functions. The movement of the landscape continues uninterruptedly through the Museum building and forms the floor of the Museum’s open entryways. The Museum is organised in such a way that exhibition floors are alternated by storage vault floors, which is also part of the constructive idea of the building.