Villa Asker

Photos: Jean-Pierre Mesinele

Kragerø Administration Building

Transformation of the harbor

With its meandering salt roof formation and colorful facade, the new administration building in Kragerø is a modern interpretation of the city's rooftop landscape and historical color tones. The building faces the sea and the sea front, and will, as the harbor front transformation takes shape, form an extended part of Kragerø's charming center core.

TYPE OF PROJECT: Municipality Building
LOCATION: Kragerø, Norway
CLIENT: Fredensborg Fritid AS
COLLABORATORS: Kruse Smith Entreprenør AS
SIZE: 3300 m² GBA
TIMEFRAME: March 2020 - December 2021
PROJECT STATUS: Completed

«The plans for Lillestrøm NXT are large and progressive and unique in the context that we want to continue our existing business, which requires extensive logistics operations, and combine it with housing, urban life and other activities that must function in everyday life»

Gunn Helen Hagen, director NOVA Spektrum

Where there is currently a huge car park, a sequence of urban spaces is formed stretching through the entire area from west to east. This links the current city center eastwards towards the exhibition area and further connects the area to the new residential areas forming in the east.

“Messetorget” closest to the station will become an important urban space in the structure, which will lead on to Parkgata where a series of outdoor spaces with vibrant ground floors undulate to create dynamism and variety. A-lab's urban floor strategists, together with the landscape architects in SOLA, have laid out an urban floor strategy with a hierarchy of urban spaces that will facilitate diversity and activity. The main entrance to the exhibition center is located towards the urban space and the station in the west, forming a portal to the area.  A new city stage will also be added here, which will be an addition to the city's cultural life and amenities in Lillestrøm.

Urban spaces

Unique neighborhoods

The new urban zone is large and is divided into different neighborhoods based on the qualities of their surroundings: In the south, the buildings cultivate openness towards the landscape and river landscape, the buildings in the east speak to the new residential areas there, in the west larger volumes are added for commercial buildings and in the north the new buildings become an integral part of an established residential area with lower buildings and sloping roofs that speak to the single-family houses. The result is unique neighborhoods, each with its own unique character, atmosphere, architecture and residential profile. Variation in design language, detailing, use of materials and colors creates a good framework for diverse urban life.

«We have gone into each individual sub-area and unique neighborhood and defined measures and qualities that will achieve architectural quality, housing quality and quality and variety in urban spaces. It is the unique differences and new neighborhoods that together create the diversity of the new city.»

Kathrine Stangeland, architect A-lab

From carpark to city

An important element of the new planning proposal is to develop the gray area that currently constitutes the parking lot at the trade fair and connect the new buildings to the river. Since the most important urban space in the project is oriented east-west, the buildings to the south are broken up to allow sunlight into the street space throughout the day. The fragmentation also means that as many homes as possible get direct sunlight and views of the river. The result is an interesting structure that has the qualities of a classic city-block building, but with a looser structure that utilizes the qualities of the site: light, air and views.