COMPETITION FACTS
PRIZE MONEY: 1st prize: 12 000 EUR, 2nd prize: 6 000 EUR
SCALE: S
TEAM REPRESENTATIVE: architect/urbanist/ landscaper
LOCATION: Trondheim
POPULATION: 210 596 inhabitants
STRATEGIC SITE: 94 ha
PROJECT SITE: 7.4 ha
SITE PROPOSED BY: Trondheim municipality
ACTORS INVOLVED: Trondheim municipality
OWNERS OF THE SITE: Trondheim municipality
COMMISSION AFTER COMPETITION: Commission valued at approximately 400.000 NOK (ex VAT) in 2024/25 for developing the proposal further. The exact content of the follow-up contract will be negotiated with the team based on the character of the proposal, the particular skill of the team, and evolving needs of the client. Trondheim municipality retains the option to increase the commission’s size and scope with another NOK 500.000 at a later stage.
Premise
This task goes to the heart of the challenges intrinsic to the idea of sustainable development. A denser city requires more services and housing, putting pressure on existing green corridors and urban habitats. How do we prioritize, and how can sensitive and innovative architecture and programming not just mitigate the negative impacts but also create regenerative concepts for an equitable city for animals, plants as well as humans?
Lade, the peninsula on which the site is located, is an important and complex part of Trondheim city. It contains many listed buildings and historical sites dating back from Viking settlements to listed modernist architecture from the sixties. The area is known for its green landscape and rolling hills, much of which also has different categories of protected status. With Trondheim being one of the fastest-growing cities of Norway, Lade has become a strategic area for densification, leading to an increased need for municipal services, especially care for the elderly. The Østmarka area already contains a range of different municipal and governmental services such as a school, kindergartens, assisted living facilities, and a psychiatric hospital. The municipality has acquired the site with the intention of building a nursing home. In addition, they plan a commercial housing scheme on the same site. Østmarka has obvious cultural and natural values and the municipality wants to strengthen and make them more accessible.
Plans for development on the site have met resistance among neighbours. They fear the loss of precious natural and cultural environments, old trees and fertile soil. The forest functions as a green lung for the area, allowing deer to move freely and the rolling hills of the meadow landscape are home to insects and pollinators. Lade is unique in Trondheim for its soft interaction between wildlife and people and functions as an important recreational area. Also, a grassroots initiative has shown interest in acquiring the derelict old wooden houses on the site to establish a housing coop that could provide affordable housing through self-builder methods and collective practices.
Trondheim municipality is entering Europan 17 to receive ideas and concepts for how to reconcile the contested character of the site, and develop it in a holistic way that can address both the concerns of inhabitants and provide the care services the overall population needs.
TASK:
1. A design concept for a nursing home with 60 – 70 units.
2. A design concept for a scalable housing programme with that is sensitive and well adapted to the site.
Find innovative concepts that balance social sustainability with care for the ecological systems on the site.
How do we prioritise between need for housing, care services and urban ecologies?
How can the nursing home provide a meaningful home in the last phase in life?