Europan Norway

This project almost presents a new city: a structure of quite small-scale mixed-use blocks and streets which cover most of the site. There is parkland in connection with the existing church and the industrial area, but the main public feature is the waterfront, which in the jury’s opinion is the strongest feature of this project. It captures the fjord and connects to the city in one simple meaningful gesture. The landmark building, the ferry terminal, is located at the end of the waterfront walk. The existing main street in the urban pattern also connects easily with the new parts as a prolonged walkway. The appealing waterfront, the strongest part of the project, holds an appropriate scale for the city. The public square is nicely connected to the water. The project must be developed with a larger green space. This proposal needs to be planned for staged development and must be taken further. The massive urban fabric proposed for this place proves a misunderstanding of the conditions in the city regarding the need for housing. But the approach towards the fjord is sensitive and well considered, and the project is exquisitely presented.

This mega-structure project has much to offer as a strategic landscape approach. It focuses on the edge of the river landscape, a condition facing the hillside. The jury has interpreted the project more as a gesture, an almost literary proposal, rather than as a structure to be built. Its ability to be realised as building would require a collection of very large and coordinated programmes, in addition to a large amount of money. Nonetheless, the jury appreciates the programmatic attention given to the river, the ambition to think big accordingly and response to the landscape as the grand gesture and an important reminder to the city of its being a very special and unique spot. This project takes some risks: besides the fact that it might look out of place or otherworldly, the scale of the operation is more appropriate and contextual in relation to existing industrial structures while also keeping up a dialogue with the surrounding landscape. The program for the public space is not very well communicated, but could be developed into a city-park. The idea of generating an open park by concentrating the built mass on one edge of the site is fairly original in such a context, creating interesting opportunities for the future. If developed, this project could become richer and more diverse.