Located on a hillside in the outskirts of Molde, the single-storey house had only a small bedroom and bathroom on its western side, so Rever og Drage Arkitekter was asked to increase the size of both of these rooms.

Two towers with quarter-circle profiles were installed on the roof of the extension to function as lightwells. The first curves west to bring evening sun into the bathroom, while the second is pointed east to let morning sun into the bedroom.

The bedroom extends outwards by just over a metre while the bedroom is now more than three metres wider. Together, the rooms frame a small terrace in the south-east corner of the plot.

The clients asked for views across the water towards a mountain range, so the architect added generous windows to the southern elevations of both rooms.

The exterior of the building is clad with white-painted timber boards to reference both the white-painted brick and brown timber panels of the existing house.

"We initially wanted to make a clear distinction between the extension and the original building," explain architects Tom Auger, Martin Beverfjord and Eirik Skogen Lilledrange. "At the same time we did not want to create too much contrast in terms of materials and formal means."

The architects carried out all the construction themselves.

The small city of Molde is best known as the home of an annual jazz festival and Danish architects 3XN recently completed a cultural centre to be used there during the festivities.

See more architecture in Norway, including a wooden house overlooking the sea and a small gabled summerhouse.

Photography is by Tom Auger.

Here's a project description from Rever og Drage Arkitekter:

Extension of single-family house, Pedervegen 8, Molde

The new owner of a detached house in Molde wanted an extension of an existing bath- and bedroom. The house was still in more or less its original 1962-condition and appeared as a time-typical house from this period. That is Scandinavian functionalism with a flat roof and brown exterior panels contrasted with white brick walls. Furthermore the house had an elegant and somewhat closed composition.

Above: floor plan - click for larger image

The owner wanted to get the evening sun in the bathroom (which was on the east side of the building) and to keep the morning sun in the expansion of the bedroom without being exposed to neighbours. Views of the spectacular mountain range to the south were required from both rooms.

We initially wanted to make a clear distinction between the extension and the original building. At the same time we did not want to create too much contrast in terms of materials and formal means. We chose to use wood cladding, as the existing building, while the colour of the new cladding was taken from the original bright brick walls. We also changed the orientation of the panels. In order to solve the requested light preferences we brought in a new form, the quarter circle, which we held for a type of basic shape that could easily relate to architecture of the early sixties.

Above: cross section through bedroom - click for larger image

The bathroom has a clear everyday zone in the innermost part with shower, toilet and sink, while the outer section provides the more time-spending bathroom artifacts; a bathtub, a wide window sill with a view and a door to the garden. The latter part has a skylight in the shape of a curve facing west. The room bathes in the late evening sun when the west-coast weather allows it. Tiles are sober in the inner part, whilst the outer part has a more festive consortium. The contrast between the inner and outer zones of the bathroom was in danger of being too hard. The relaxing ambiguity is that the outer zone suggests peace of mind in its use, yet at the same the form here is intense. While the inner zone, which reflects more efficiency, has a calmer expression in terms of colours and patterns.

The bedroom is long and has three different zones. First, a dressing-section with a large mirror and a backstage-like atmosphere. In the middle a lounge area with a fireplace and a generous window facing the green to the north. At the end of the bedroom is the bed with a large window and its view to the south. Over the bed a vaulted ceiling with a window heralding the morning sun as well as giving a view of the stars at night.

Above: cross section through bathroom - click for larger image

In retrospect, we were surprised at the modest exterior contrast between the extension and the original building. To a large extent we believe this is due to the fact that the selected wood panels have about the same size as the bonds in the original brick wall, so that these two surfaces relate. This is particularly evident in the north facade. Also, the quarter circles seem to work as form and at the same time they provide the building with a touch of relieving humour.

Architects: Rever og Drage
Location: Bjorset, Molde, Norway
Design Team: Eirik Lilledrange, Martin Beverfjord, Tom Auger
Area: 20 sqm

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Rever & Drage appeared first on Dezeen.

Above: photograph by Luis Fonseca

Located on the Fornebu peninsula outside the city, the building is a workplace for 2500 employees at Norwegian energy company Statoil, which asked A-Lab to design an iconic structure amongst the scenic landscape of the Oslo fjord.

Above: photograph by Luis Fonseca

"Large office complexes like this are usually made out of one solid volume," the architects told Dezeen. "Our concept was to deconstruct the 'office machine' into five smaller volumes."

Above: photograph by Luis Fonseca

The five 140-metre-long wings are piled up in a criss-crossing formation, with two at the bottom, two in the middle and a final one at the top. The blocks overlap one another at the ends, but the shape still creates cantilevers of up to 30 metres.

Above: photograph by Luis Fonseca

"Deconstruction into smaller volumes optimises the distribution of light conditions and views for each lamella," explain the architects, comparing the structure to that of a leaf. "[It] also makes a more flexible and resilient 'office machine', as each office lamella works as an individual unit that can more easily adapt to changing needs."

Above: photograph by Trond Joelson

A glazed atrium is positioned at the centre of the building and serves as the main entrance to each block. At ground level, this area functions as an indoor plaza for lunches and informal meetings, and is overlooked by balcony corridors on the floors above.

Offices are located in each three-storey wing and feature modular ceiling systems that allow spaces to be easily sub-divided. Most of these spaces are column-free, as the stacked construction creates additional supports.

A-Lab, led by architects Geir Haaversen and Odd Klev, won a competition in 2009 to design the Statoil regional and international offices. The studio had already been working on another project nearby: the IT-Fornebu Portalbuilding business centre at the former Oslo Airport. See more architecture by A-Lab.

We've featured a few structures that appear to be piles of smaller buildings. Others include a stack of four house-shaped apartments, a hotel that looks like a pile of houses and a skyscraper made of around ten separate buildings.

Above: photograph by Trond Joelson

Photography is by Ivan Brodey, apart from where otherwise stated.

Read on for more information from A-Lab:

Statoil regional and international offices
Fornebu, Norway

The new Statoil regional and international offices at Fornebu is result of an open competition won by Norwegian architects a-lab in February 2009, with completion of the building the autumn of 2012.

Above: photograph by Trond Joelson

Statoil is a Norwegian energy producer, the 57th largest company in the world by revenue, with about 30,000 employees in 37 countries. 2500 of these now work in this unique office building, with a spectacular view over adjacent park areas and the fjord of Oslo. The iconic structure seeks to reflect Statoil's role as an innovative and internationally pioneering petroleum company as well as giving a new identity and pulse to the local environment.

Above: photograph by Trond Joelson

The Fornebu area, a previous site for Oslo's main airport, is undergoing a radical transformation into an urban area, with commercial and residential buildings and public recreation areas.

Above: photograph by Trond Joelson

A key challenge of the design was to balance size and architectural expression with its surroundings, whilst at the same time introducing new impulses that enliven the park and commercial area. More specifically: how does one design a 65.000/117.000 m2 commercial building complex to make it blend with the idyllic shoreline of Fornebu?

A large part of the site has been transformed into a publicly accessible park and promenade along the fjord. The new office building stands on the site of the old airport's multi-storey car park. The structure consists of five office lamellas of identical size, stacked on top of each other. The concept minimizes the environmental footprint of the building and gives a generous amount of space to the park.

Each lamella is 3 stories high, 140 meters long and 23 meters wide. The modules are oriented differently to optimize internal daylight conditions and views towards the fjord landscape. Inside, the modules create a communal atrium, with an "urban plaza" connecting many of the social functions on the ground floor. The design is rooted in the democratic principle of bestowing all users of the building with excellent working conditions that include stunning views and good light conditions.

The building design draws on the oil industry's own construction forms and techniques. The steel superstructure enables the different modules to cantilever up to 30 meters. Escape stairs and services are concentrated in four giant concrete cores, which also stabilize the superstructure. The façade consistes of about 1600 prefabricated elements with integrated windows, insulation and solar-shading, a highly energy efficient solution with no visible fixings in the entire facade.

The central atrium is covered by a high-tech, "propeller-shaped" glass roof – the first of its kind in Scandinavia. The geometry can be described as a "soap-bubble", finding the smallest surface area to close the volume between the modules. Considering the extra weight from snow, this construction was one of the most complex challenges of the project.

Above: photograph by Luis Fonseca

A communication tower in the communal atrium is the centre of the building's social life; everyone passes through the atrium to and from work. In this way, spontaneous encounters and exchanges are fostered, which are very desirable for an international knowledge-based company such as Statoil.

Above: site plan - click for larger image

The office building has a high degree of flexibility to ensure that it can easily be adapted to changing future needs. A specially developed ceiling allows workspaces with separate units as small as 3x3 meters, each with access to power, sprinklers, ventilation and lighting. An interior almost free of columns makes it possible to easily adjust the number and size of workstations and meeting rooms according to a project or the tenant's shifting needs.

Above: ground floor plan - click for larger image

The characteristic building is highly cost effective and has a calculated energy use of just 103 kWh/m2/yr. This is achieved through several methods, including using heat from the remote centralised heat source, 85% energy recycling and of course a well-insulated and airtight skin: The triple-glazed façade panels have an u-value of 0.6 and the air tightness of the construction aids reaching the very low energy consumption figures for the buliding.

Above: first floor plan - click for larger image

The construction of the building above ground was completed in less than 20 months, with a total of 2500 people from 30 countries having worked on site. Due to the very short construction period, most of the building, including steel and concrete superstructure, facades and glazed structures, was prefabricated off-site. Northern Europe's biggest mobile crane was used for the assembly of the steel trusses.

Above: third floor plan - click for larger image

Thanks to thorough planning, advanced BIM-modeling and a fruitful solution-oriented dialogue, the team of the architects, client and owner, construction companies and all subcontractors were able to complete the complex design on schedule. The result is a building where the owner, contractor, architects, construction companies and user of the building have all expressed great satisfaction with the project.

Above: sixth floor plan - click for larger image

Although an untraditional office building, the new Statoil offices represent typical Scandinavian values by emphasizing democratic values and social equality. Both placement and orientation reflects optimized adaptation to its surroundings. Inside, the warm oak interior and cool aluminum reflects the soft northern daylight in different ways, and create a much appreciated contrast in the aspect of accessibility and universal design.

Above: basement floor plan - click for larger image

Name: Statoil regional and international offices
Location: Fornebu, Bærum, Norway
Completion: Autumn 2012
Construction: 20 months
Developer: IT Fornebu Property AS
Client: Statoil ASA

Above: office floor plan options - click for larger image

Total area: 117 000 m2 (65,500 m2 total office area + 51,500 m2 underground parking)
Cost: NOK 1.5 billion
Architects: a-lab (Arkitekturlaboratoriet AS)
Interior architects: a-lab (No) and Momentum Arkitekter (NO)
Landscape architects: Østengen og Bergo (NO) -concept, and Rambøll Norge (NO) -detail
Construction: Skanska (above-ground commercial building) / PEAB (foundation and underground structure)
Annual energy consumption, estimated: 103 kWh/m2
Average R-values (insulation): Windows (including frames) 0.8 W/m2K. Façades 0.18 W/m2K , roof 0.15 W/m2K
Energy source: District heating (85 % heat recovery)

Above: section - click for larger image

Materials:
Superstructure: pre-fabricated reinforced concrete and steel elements
Façades: glass and aluminium

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offices by A-Lab appeared first on Dezeen.

Danish studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen teamed up with Scandinavian firm Link Arkitektur to design the Cathedral of the Northern Lights in Alta, a Norwegian town located 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

The cathedral was conceived as a public attraction for tourists visiting the natural light display, officially known as the Aurora Borealis, which occurs when particles from the sun collide with the earth's magnetic field. It can be observed frequently between late autumn and early spring.

With a spiralling body, the cathedral winds up to form a pointed belfry 47 metres above the ground.

"The Cathedral of the Northern Lights is a landmark, which through its architecture symbolises the extraordinary natural phenomenon of the Arctic northern lights," said Schmidt Hammer Lassen partner John F. Lassen.

Shimmering titanium clads the exterior and was added to reflect the vivid green colours of the lights as they flicker across the sky.

"The cathedral reflects, both literally and metaphorically, the northern lights: ethereal, transient, poetic and beautiful," added Lassen. "It appears as a solitary sculpture in interaction with the spectacular nature."

The spiralling form continues inside the building, where offices, classrooms and exhibition areas wrap around a 350-person hall, which will be used for church congregations.

This isn't the first time the northern lights have provided the inspiration for architecture. Henning Larsen Architects and artist Olafur Eliasson drew inspiration from the lights when designing the Harpa Concert and Conference Centre in Reykjavík, Iceland.

A number of architectural projects have been completed in the northern parts of Norway in recent years. Peter Zumthor built a memorial to commemorate suspected witches, while Reiulf Ramstad Architects has added platforms high up in the Norwegian mountains.

See more architecture in Norway »

Above: site plan - click for larger image

Photography is by Adam Mørk.

Above: ground floor plan - click for larger image

Here's some more information from Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects:

Official inauguration of the Cathedral of the Northern Lights in Alta, Norway

The Crown Princess of Norway, Mette-Marit, has just inaugurated the Cathedral of the Northern Lights situated in the Norwegian town of Alta approximately 500 km north of the Arctic Circle. Even before the inauguration, the 47-metre-high cathedral, designed by schmidt hammer lassen architects in cooperation with Link Arkitektur, was perceived as a symbol and an architectural landmark for the entire area.

Above: basement level plan - click for larger image 

In 2001, when the architecture competition for the Cathedral of the Northern Lights was arranged, the city council in Alta did not just want a new church: they wanted an architectural landmark that would underline Alta’s role as a public venue from which the natural phenomenon of the northern lights could be observed.

Above: long section - click for larger image

The significance of the northern lights is reflected in the architecture of the cathedral. The contours of the church rise as a spiralling shape to the tip of the belfry 47 metres above the ground. The façade, clad in titanium, reflects the northern lights during the long periods of Arctic winter darkness and emphasizes the experience of the phenomenon.

Above: cross section - click for larger image

Inside the main area of the cathedral, the church room creates a peaceful contrast to the dynamic exterior of the building. The materials used, raw concrete for the walls and wood for the floors, panels and ceilings, underline the Nordic context. Daylight enters the church room through tall, slim, irregularly placed windows. A skylight lights up the whole wall behind the altar creating a distinctive atmosphere in the room.

Above: front elevation

The cathedral, which can accommodate 350 people in the church room, also has administration offices, classrooms, exhibition areas and a parochial area.

Above: side elevation

Architect team: schmidt hammer lassen architects, Link Arkitektur A/S
Client: The Municipality of Alta
Area: 1,917 sqm
Construction sum: €16.2 million
Competition: 2001, 1st prize in restricted architecture competition
Status: Construction period 2009 – 2013
Engineer: Rambøll AS, Alta
Main contractor: Ulf Kivijervi AS
Art work: Peter Brandes

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Schmidt Hammer Lassen and Link Arkitektur appeared first on Dezeen.

The irregular arrangement of the six-metre wide cubes creates recessed openings across the facade, which MVRDV has used to add sheltered terraces to each floor and a new route from the waterfront towards the nearby railway station.

"We started with a massive slab and by removing pixels one by one we were able to create an arcade, terraces, a public passage, etcetera," project architect Jeroen Zuidgeest told Dezeen. "By carving out volumes, we made sure every floor has access to interior and exterior terraces."

The DNB Bank Headquarters is located within the waterfront development of Bjørvika Barcode that MVRDV masterplanned in collaboration with Norwegian architects A-Lab and Dark Arkitekter. Each studio has designed one building for the bank and MVRDV's is the first to complete.

At 17 storeys high, the building provides over 2000 flexible work spaces for employees and each floor accommodates a series of glass cubes where staff can hold informal meetings, have lunches or take phone calls.

Wooden bridges and staircases connect the floors both inside and outside, and it is possible to walk up one side of the building to the canteen and then back down on the other side.

"On one hand, you have this proud, strong iconography, and on the other hand you're offered social spaces and human character on every floor," said Zuidgeest. "None of the floors are the same and when you manoeuvre through the building you experience how each floor has its own character and qualities; each one has its own surprises."

The building is already in use, although the complex is scheduled to open officially in May 2013.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

MVRDV has designed a few buildings with pixellated volumes, including a pair of skyscrapers that caused controversy for bearing a resemblance to the exploding World Trade Centre on 9/11. See more projects by MVRDV »

Above: photograph is by Jereon Musch

Photography is by Jiri Havran, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's the full project description from MVRDV:

MVRDV completes DNB Bank Headquarters main building in Oslo

The central building of DNB’s new bank headquarter cluster developed by Oslo S Utvikling (OSU) is completed. The MVRDV designed main building has 17 unique floors and a surface of 36,500m2. The pixelated volume based on small-scale working units adapts to the various influences of the urban context, combining an efficient and flexible internal organisation with a variety of specific communal spaces such as the main entrance lobby, a transparent trading floor, a sheltered public passage, respect for urban view lines and collective terraces overlooking the fjord to the south. The glass and brick exterior expresses both the transparency and stability of DNB as a modern financial institution.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

The development of the new headquarter cluster is a strategic operation concentrating the DNB offices formerly spread out over Oslo at one location, aiming for synergy and a clear identity. The objective was to translate the social and democratic character of the organisation into a building with excellent working conditions and spatial qualities that would stimulate efficiency, identity and collaboration.

The design is based on an ideal work group of the bank, a pixel of 6x6 metres, whose versatility permits adaptation to the flexible nature of the organisation. Besides more than 2,000 flexible work spaces the building contains a panoramic 140 seat canteen on the top level, the executive lounge with a view over the fjord, the board room, in the heart of the volume DNB's trading room with 250 work stations, and the main entrance with the reception and access to the concourse that connects to the two neighbouring volumes. The collective spaces are connected by a staggered continuous internal route of collective terraces, all being executed as glass pixels, encouraging informal meetings and communication between employees.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

This route meanders from the reception upwards through the building, connecting all 17 levels office levels with the communal areas. A series of wooden stairs and bridges allow employees to switch levels or even to walk up to the canteen on one side of the building and down on the other side. The route accommodates communal areas to the office floors and is made homely with a series of pantries, informal meeting areas, reading-rooms, lounges and fire places. It gives access to the various outdoor terraces and roof gardens. All these collective spaces offer views to the surroundings and transparency from out side. The route is naturally ventilated and has a high performance glass fit for the cold Norwegian winter.

The generic office floors recline and are recessed in various places to answer to the urban context creating communal indoor and outdoor areas and outstanding daylight conditions. At street level the building volume is opened to give space to sheltered entrance zones, and intersected by a public passage creating a public route between Oslo Central Station and the fjord. The pixelated design allows this specific response whilst being highly efficient and flexible. As a result, every floor of the building is both unique and generic: the pixelated volume makes the generic specific.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

The structure is conceived as a steel rack wrapped in a brick skin, covering all exterior terraces, walls and ceilings with bricks, which adopts Norwegian environmental standards and gives a human scale to the building. It appears as a rock, a strong shape within the boundaries of the Barcode.

The international Norwegian financial institution DNB decided to concentrate their twenty office locations currently dispersed over the city in the Bjørvika Barcode, an urban plan by MVRDV / DARK / a-lab next to Oslo Central Station. In 2007, the masterplan team was commissioned by developer OSU to design the urban concept for DNB’s headquarter complex. A new cluster of three volumes (80.000m2) and a common basement with a 3,000m2 underground concourse, which interlinks the three buildings of the bank, was developed. MVRDV was commissioned as architect for the central main building and co-responsible for the urban concept and concourse.

Above: photograph is by Jeroen Musch

MVRDV has collaborated with Norwegian co-architect DARK Arkitekter AS and various Norwegian engineering firms. Project management is executed by Norwegian firm Vedal Project AS. The second building of the DNB cluster is designed by A-lab and the third building by Dark Arkitekter, within the overall Bjørvika Barcode masterplan. The cluster will be officially opened May 14th 2013.

DNB is the largest financial services group in Norway. The Group consists of brands such as DNB, Vital, Nordlandsbanken, Cresco, Postbanken, DnB NORD and Carlson. In 2003, MVRDV, together with Norwegian firms Dark and a-lab, won the competition for the Bjørvika waterfront development with the design of the Bjørvika Barcode; a dense, open and differentiated urban master plan along Nyland Allé, that is developed and realised by OSU in phases. DNB Life Insurance (DNB Scandinavian Property Fund) bought the 3 buildings last year for 4,8 billion Norwegian krone.

The post DNB Bank Headquarters
by MVRDV appeared first on Dezeen.

Above: photograph is by Matthias Herzog

MEK Architects, comprising Spanish studio Murado & Elvira and architect Enrique Krahe, designed the housing block for the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim as part of the Europan housing design competition.

Above: photograph is by Matthias Herzog

Rather than group the building into separate apartments, the team decided to create large social areas that would unite every student, including a large lounge and a shared kitchen where everyone has their own separate storage area and fridge.

"The shared kitchen is the space where common life is negotiated," explain architects Juan Elvira, Clara Murado and Enrique Krahe, and they describe how this ground floor space is used for social activities such as pancake contests and cooking seminars.

A lounge occupies most of the first floor and is divided into different areas, which students are encouraged to customise to suit their day-to-day activities.

Above: photograph is by Matthias Herzog

"The building can be looked upon as something that is unfinished, because it calls for permanent completion by its inhabitants in the search for a more satisfying community life," say the architects.

Bedrooms line one edge of this lounge and also fill the four floors above, while study areas are positioned in the corridors and on balcony terraces, allowing students to easily work in groups.

The building is located at the end of two existing housing blocks and copies the roof pitches of its neighbours.

The facade is clad with pine and is painted in shades of grey and black.

Other student housing projects on Dezeen include a building modelled on a stack of baskets and a tower block with a patchwork of brown panelling on its facade.

See more stories about student housing »

Photography is by Miguel de Guzman, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's an explanation from MEK Architects:

‘MySpace’ student’s housing in Trondheim (Norway) is the outcome of a winning entry of Europan 9 by MEK Architects, Clara Murado, Juan Elvira and Enrique Krahe. The competition brief called for a student house between the Nidelva River and the main University Campus.

MySpace residence proposes the compression, transfer and conditioning of the relational capacities of urban space. Soon the client (a student-run association named SIT that looks after student room availability) showed the need to fit in some extra 40% rooms within the original volume, also lowering the already tight budget.

Above: photograph is by Matthias Herzog

Assuming the existing urban conditions, the student housing detaches as much as possible from the surrounding buildings and shapes its volume in order to extract potential from the views and sun. Open-air terraces are spread around the building. Through them, students can experience outside conditions and relate with the city and the far views.

In order to stress a local initiative that intends to promote Trondheim as a wood-friendly city, and also seeking new challenges about wood use in large buildings, the entire exterior volume of the building is cladded with fir (pine) wooden planks, displaying different treatments, compositions and layouts.

As a result of a special regulation that considers Elgesetergate as a road instead a street, no windows for rooms are allowed to be opened on that elevation. The front and the rear are thus conceived as thick containing membranes, while only corridors and lounge are able to look over the street.

The core of the building contains a multipurpose lounge with no hierarchy, or spatial definition, in which different ambiances are located. Room floors surround this lounge. The general layout is articulated by stripes occupying the space as they approach or distance the existing limits. Rooms mimic the building's internal scheme, structured in functional bands (storage, prefabricated bathroom and a bed).

Since the construction started, and more details about the building were made public, a vibrant debate arose among residents-to be in specialized blogs and social networks. Architecture has still a long path to explore collecting data and seeking ways of transferring feedback into the making, just as information architects or videogame designers would do.

Above: ground floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: first floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: second and third floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: fourth floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: fifth floor plan - click above for larger image

Above: roof plan - click above for larger image

Above: cross section - click above for larger image

Above: cross section evacuation stairs - click above for larger image

Above: cross section - click above for larger image

Above: longitudinal section - click above for larger image

Above: south elevation - click above for larger image

Above: east elevation - click above for larger image

Above: north elevation - click above for larger image

Above: east elevation - click above for larger image

Above: exploded axonometric diagrams - click above for larger image

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by MEK Architects appeared first on Dezeen.