
Opera House Oslo, designed by Norwegian architets Snøhetta, opens next week.

More info, drawings and plans from the architects coming soon; meanwhile here are some preview photos provided by the opera house.











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Posted by Marcus Fairs

Opera House Oslo, designed by Norwegian architets Snøhetta, opens next week.

More info, drawings and plans from the architects coming soon; meanwhile here are some preview photos provided by the opera house.











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Posted by Marcus Fairs
April 4th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
chairs are WACK!!!
April 5th, 2008 at 12:12 am
beautiful. well done. excellent work.
April 5th, 2008 at 12:16 am
I rather appreciate the reference this building makes to a glacier formation. Even though I get the feeling that the outside is a bit too sharp and rigid in relation to the interior. I especially doubt whether the roof can become an active urban plaza (as the early renderings supposed) in the shape it is. Nonetheless: It’s a spectacular building. A shiny, white opera house with a strong language of forms on an urban water front always seems to work.
April 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am
nice work !
April 5th, 2008 at 12:48 am
… maybe they could have used some warm materials for the interiors,…. something like wood would be nice
April 5th, 2008 at 1:28 am
I heard from a Norwegian friend that the marble has gone yellow already!
April 5th, 2008 at 5:24 am
I usually like to submit positive comments but sorry this is huge ugly paved roofs and dull corridor. Old fashion!
April 5th, 2008 at 8:28 am
the third image -the roof and exterior shape- makes it dull. I agree it seems a bit 70-s/80s, but the glazing facade makes it a bit remarkable. It’s nothing new, I agree, but anyway I prefer it rather than a zaha design.
April 5th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
the 9th picture remindes me serpentine gallery last year (which was designed by them as well). the curve, materials and the prespective…
i would like to know more about details on it, technical details.
overall looks “framed” within the landscape
April 7th, 2008 at 7:56 am
gorgeous use of space
April 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Absolutely disappointing!! The building merits were better demonstrated through the physical models!
April 8th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
the sculptural form of the building is impressive
it say clearly: here is the style of the years 2000-2010…
but looking at wooden interior combined with the chairs it gives me the feeling of the 70s …
nonetheless it makes a good contribution to the landscape!
April 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I love this surface …
cooool
April 9th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
love the contrast between interior and exterior in materials and form. love the blatant ice reference, tangible to the public unlike soo many other concepts.
April 13th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I live right next to this building, and the photos does not do the building justice. The marble hasnt turned any kind of yellow….
There were a lot of concerns when it came to designing a building of this magnitude amongst norwegians. It could not be a building that appeared to belong to the “cultural elite,” it had to be accessible for everybody. It had to display norwegian cultural heritage and represent the current state of the country. It had to justify its pricetag compared to what that money could do for other social projects like healthcare or education, and there had to be a wide political agreement on the matter before construction could begin. Thats partially why it looks like it does; its a populist building.
It looks like they borrowed chairs from our public transport system though, maybe so that they could afford the kick ass fireworks last night.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I too live in Oslo and went to visit the opera yesterday. And I have to agree, the pictures actually do not do justice to the building. Being there physically the vast landscape of the building just hits you.
The glacier reference mentioned above is fitting. I have climbed on several glaciers in Norway, and this gives a quite similar experience. The large white marble space, and the vertical blue translucent windows gives the appearance of approaching a glacier from below. And it doesn’t show on the pictures, but it is by no means flat on the roof. The roof is actually quite terrained, and going up to the roof and down again I actually felt it physically. Not only is it higher than it seems on pictures, but it also left me slightly snow blind, as it was a sunny day and I forgot to bring sunglasses….
However, I felt the indoor space was more disappointing, while the wooden stair forms are beautiful the entrance gallery felt a little cramped, with some horrible cafe furniture…
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I climbed all over this roof last Sunday night. It was a fantastic experience and yes it does feel very much like a norwegian glacier. The texture and incline of the marble changes all the time. There are fault lines and polished strips over which you could easily fall or slip. And when you approach the water you have lost all sense of height. It feels like you are just about to step into a long drop.
I loved it and as I walked away at about midnight somebody was dancing in the floodlight on the rooftop creating a dancing shadow puppet that a group of children having a party on a boat opposite were all laughing and cheering about.
I love the Sage Gatehead but this building goes even further. It really is a cultural centre fo the people. It’s exciting and has an element of risk about it too. That bodes well for the art inside.