Europan Norway

The aim of this project has been to discover techniques to understand, comprehend and synthesize the marvellous nature of Tromsøya and Tromsdalen with thextremes of the arctic light using 5 teqniques:

1.Density Discovering a new natural den-sityThe simplest and most natural way to distribute approx. 55 000 built sq.m (700 dwel-lings) over a 85 000 sq.m site.

 2.Winter urbanism.To link all these similar units, we propose anurbanism with two faces: winter and sum-mer spaces, Up and Down. The basementthat connects the units will contain publiccovered areas: streets, parks, squares, con-nected to the exterior summer areas.

3. The tower. The typology of the towers is not obvious,but relates to typologies taken from lowerdensities. The tower deforms tocatch the maximum horizontal sunlight andto reflect the colours of the landscape and the Arctic skies

4.Buildings like rocksThe form of the towers takes us to those rocky ice configurations so characteristic of the Norwegian landscape.They will beseen as some natural ‘things’ placed nearthe water.

5.Mirrors to see the landscape. The reflection of all the colours on the surface of the tower will increase with the in-clination of the front and back facades.

6.Translucency.lTranslucent insulation materials such aspolycarbonate are developing fast for itsuse in cold climates, with extremely horizontal sunlight.

7.DuplexityThe concept of stacking one-family housesled us to the conclusion that the dwellingtypology of the towers should be based onthe general use of duplexes and triplexes. In this way, the relationship with the exteriorwill be more complex and rich, and the ex-terior surface of the building larger.

(Text by winnerteam EXE Arquitectos)

Our project affronts directly the theme of how to give specific meaning and quality to an intervention in a sub-urban context. The natural elements of site and climate are key elements of the proposal at two different levels:

At a general, urban level, nature assumes a role of merging, of “bringing together” elements, creating a sense of “being part of the landscape”. The integration project, site and landscape is fundamental; conceptually. The project intends not only to clarify the perception of these elements, but also to enhance their relationship.
At the level of the housing typologies, the impact of nature is of course linked to the very peculiar climatic conditions; which also imply a kind of merging: the roughness of the climate bring inhabitants together in that it implies behaviours common to all inhabitants

The project integrates the two main directions of the site, following and confirming the site’s topography. The conceptual scheme used throughout the project is that of the platform, which constitutes a generalization of the existing natural and partly artificial topography.
(Text by team)

SA023 FATA MORGANA

The lack of use of the public space in Tromsø is due to climate conditions. How can we work with this? How can we create a protected public environmentwhere people can walk, run, ride a bike, go shopping, in extreme climate conditions?

We propose to cover the streets and create a protected space. Closed in the winter and open in the summer. This way, activities can take place everyday, no matter how’s the weather outside.
The housing units follow a simple but effective strategy. To maximize exposure from the south protected from the cold north polar winds by the longitudinal pieces. These houses develop in a linear way, as the arms that protect the public space.

The outer skin, made of ice, is the result of accumulation of snow during winter time and provides the extra thermal comfort that people need. Although it seems a paradox,
Ice is one of the best natural thermal Insulation materials available, and in Tromsø it is available year round, for free. So, why don’t we use it as a building material? The colder it gets, the warmer it is…

(Text by team)