Økern
How to transform a concrete jungle into a green vibrant urban center?
TYPE OF PROJECT: Urban development
LOCATION: Økern, Oslo, Norway
CLIENT: Steen & Strøm and Storebrand
COLLABORATORS: Sweco
SIZE: ca. 325.000 m²
TIMEFRAME: 2018-
PROJECT STATUS: Planning stage
In Oslo's largest and most ambitious urban development plan "Hovinbyen", Økern has been designated as the new main center in the east – the very heart of Hovinbyen. The aim is to build a new urban center created for and with it’s users, where they can live and work in a vibrant neighbourhood with a variety of activities. Økern center will become an attractive destination, that connects the entire area - with culture and nature experiences in an urban blue-green landscape.
Proposal for future Økern
History 1 – Background
From 19th century farming and farmland to apartments, 20th century market places with shopping malls and a subway line in the 1970s, Økern has gone through several major transformations, and is now ready for its next chapter. The rich and diverse history of this neighborhood has been preserved and fortified in a climate-friendly and future-oriented urban development through which we build a new blue and green urban center full of life in Oslo’s east end.
Square for trading, 1962
Photographer: Randulf Kure (NO)
Source: Oslo Museum
Square for trading, 1962
Photographer: Randulf Kure (NO)
Source: Oslo Museum
Økern Center, 1969
Photographer: Leif Ørnelund (NO)
Source: Oslo Museum
Økern farm, 1899
Photographer: Unknown
Source: Oslo museum
Økern Center, 1970
Photographer: Leif Ørnelund (NO)
Source: Oslo Museum
Preservation and Transformation
During the dialogue-based design phase between A-lab, the developer and the City of Oslo, steps were eventually made to preserve the old, iconic office building Høyblokken at Økern.
With its 18 floors, the Høyblokken building, designed by Håkon Mjelva and Per Nordseng, was the tallest office building in Norway when it was completed in 1969. This iconic building will be preserved and transformed, and will become the central figure in this new urban center.
Some say that during a visit to Norway, legendary architect Le Corbusier designated Økern as the centerpiece of modern Oslo. With the Økern center project in mind, you could say he is closer to the truth than ever.
Elevation of Høyblokken,
Architects: Håkon Mjelva and Per Nordseng
A New Økern
The transformation of Økern Center has huge strategic significance for the northeastern part of Oslo as a whole. The site has been identified as the new heart of the Hovinbyen district in Oslo, but this area is currently a car dominated concrete jungle with a spaghetti infrastructure. Today, Økern center is characterized by fragments of different eras, and in many ways it’s a missing piece in the puzzle in an area that is lacking communication and an overarching design.
Økern, 1972
Photographer: Widerøe Fjellanger (NO)
Source: Oslo byarkiv
Økern, 2018
History 2 – Creating a City
The developer Steen & Strøm has been in the retail business since 1797, and in 2027 they were about to build a 60 000 sqm shopping mall in Økern, together with the co-owner of the plot, Storebrand. After entering a collaboration with A-lab, a new way of conceptualizing Økern emerged. Instead of creating an introvert shopping mall, they decided to create a masterplan for a lively urban center based around streets, squares and urban qualities on the street level. In order to identify what this area really needs, a comprehensive process of mapping and collaboration was initiated with the aim of getting feedback from the residents of the area. Their reply was clear: This area has an urgent need for facilities and hubs. When the Økern Center piece falls into place in the puzzle, the capital will have a new destination with cultural institutions, commerce, urban homes, modern workplaces, nature and activities in a new urban center.
Illustration of Økern identified as the new heart of the Hovinbyen district, A-lab
«It’s going to become an urban district with every facilities, where it’s nice to stay and where people will thrive. Through exciting architecture and urban and cultural activity, we will put Økern Center on the map with this project.»
— Project Director Thomas Holth, Økern Center
City floor plan of Økern Center, diagram
Communications and Mobility
This new urban center will become a hub that can be the engine for the Hovinbyen development as a whole – with bustling life around the clock and all year round, and new connections that tie the city together. Roads, bridges, green corridors, pathways, underpasses and streams interwove Økern Center with its surroundings and with the city as a whole. Økern’s status as a public transportation hub will be further enhanced with the mobility of the future, making it easy and attractive to get around on foot or on a bike.
«Økern Center will define the urban center of the largest development project in Europe: Hovinbyen. The only correct response is to build a city here. We begin at the eye-level with ground floors and streetscapes weaving the city together. I have a dream of one day riding a bike through the whole area from the north and across the barriers that are currently in place, and that Økern Center will one day become as important for Hovinbyen as Majorstua is on the other side of Oslo.»
— CEO, Geir Haaversen, A-lab
Nature and Water
It was decided to include the re-opening of two streams in the masterplan, bringing natural qualities and biodiversity into the heart of the area. The so-called blue and green elements of water and green areas have since been instrumental in shaping the urban grid, including streets and squares. Given the increased emphasis on urban resilience, the blue and green elements of the Økern Center project also contribute positively to surface water treatment, biodiversity and resilience against increased rainfall and other effects of climate changes.
«A landscape and natural elements that have been buried for 100 years are brought back, and the Hovinbekken and the Refstadbekken streams, which have previously been led through pipelines, are being reopened. I’m confident that the choices being made here will bring us many wonderful encounters with nature in an urban environment. Økern Center will definitely change Oslo’s east end permanently.»
- Landscape Architect Irene Crowo Nielsen, A-lab
The water comes first, and it has shaped the design measure of actively using the streams to give different parts of the area identity and unique character: from a wild, randomly meander around the urban homes and the neighborhood square to a more rigid and urban flow around the central square where the streams run together to create the Økerndammen pond – a tiny lake that welcomes playful and leisurely activity around urban waterways in a new city.