Tøyen Start Up Village
How to create synergies for a new start-up lab?
TYPE OF PROJECT: Co-working space
LOCATION: Tøyen, Oslo
CLIENT: IKT Norge AS
COLLABORATORS: Fuglen, Entra Eiendom, Oslo University College, Telia, IKT Norge
SIZE: Around 1500 m2 GFA
TIMEFRAME: 2015–2017
PROJECT STATUS: Completed
Regarding the establishment of a startup hub as a urban development measure, as well as accommodating chance meetings and diversity, could be the key to allow a hub of entrepreneurship grow in pace with the area in which it is located. During the planning of Oslo’s first startup hub, Tøyen emerged as a place of interest when the urban improvement initiative «Tøyenløftet» came into planning. In order to lay the groundwork for chance meetings and diversity, it was decided that its premises would be in the middle of the Tøyen square, with an open to all café on the ground floor and screened offices on the second floor. This was meant to be a place where people could either just come tumbling in spontaneously or pay for a membership and consider it their own.
Village
The name Tøyen Startup Village (TSV) alludes to the intension of building a village for startup businesses. The Trampery founder Charles Armstrong acted as a consultant during the process and saw the potential in Tøyen. Through the planned improvement initiative, Tøyen would be transformed into a modern and attractive part of the city. And already, clusters of businesses and innovators, from which the leaseholders of the future hub could exploit synergy effects, had begun establishing themselves in the area.
A mapping of the neighborhood revealed that a number of vacant spaces in the buildings surrounding Tøyentorget were regulated for business. When the members of TSV grew in size, they could move to offices close by and continue their collaboration with the local network and the hub, and as a result contribute to the improvement of the whole neighborhood. Emphasis was put on the fact that Tøyen is a transit hub with its own subway station, bus routes and easy transfer to the airport train. In addition, the establishment of two separate public library branches – one for children, one for adults – as well as a satisfying combination of food and drink and retail stores, would attract a broad range of users to the square.
«We are not only making nice spaces, we are creating active working environments. One of the goals here is to accommodate diversity and chance meetings. These are some of the most important things architecture can contribute with, and you have to consider it in relation with the development of the entire neighborhood.»
Architect and interior designer Espen Veiby of A-lab.
The right style
A modern and rough interior scheme inspires interaction and a free flow of ideas, independent of social and professional background and status. The furniture is a mix of second-hand purchases and retro classroom chairs from the 1950s. To comply with a young group of entrepreneurs, architect and interior designer Espen Veiby at A-lab has deliberately chosen an interior that never feels vain, but that still offer the correct amount of hipness.
Its location in the middle of the revitalized Tøyen square has been important. The upgrades in Tøyen as a whole has been based on a retro style where the original architecture has been preserved and purified. The TSV logo is placed on the cornice that circles around the entire square, and have the same font and design as the rest of the businesses in the square. This gives TSV an instant sense of belonging and identity as a part of the Tøyen square. Establishing a strong link between the activities in the square and the innovation hub inside was important, so the ground floor was designed to house a café, with tables on the outside to invite random passersby as well as members to stop by.
Multifunctional
In the far end of the café, you will find a plywood niche without windows, and with an elevated floor that can act as a scene for talks or performances. On most days, small tables are spread around the room, creating an intimate working zone in the café area. The plywood-covered walls, which offer space for small exhibitions by unknown artists, gives an illusion of sitting and working inside a movie set.
Greetings
The multi-functional bar counter acts as a café counter, a bar and a reception for the co-working spaces on the second floor. To get to the second floor, you walk past the bar and out the side-door. A counter that goes from the entrance area and all the way to the side-doors makes it easier to serve both café guests and members of the hub. A long, narrow bar table flanks the bar counter and inspires short and spontaneous meetings, with the square ever-present through the windows.
Rough and refined
The polished concrete floor provides a raw atmosphere, as if the urban fabric continues into the café. The bar counter has an almost over-simplified design, where the warm pinewood creates a beautiful contrast to the microcement walls and the concrete floor. The pipe system in the ceiling are left uncovered and further emphasizes the aura of process and entrepreneurship that the counter gives off. The finesse is in the detailed work in the concrete surfaces and the carpentry. The interior is not luxurious, but it bears witness of a deliberate architectonic planning.
Laid back interiors
Several rough features have been retained, such as this corner, where the tiles have been brought to the surface by pick. Letting the wooden shelf go across the crack in the tile wall emphasizes the fact that the crude and unfinished expression is a matter of design, as if it is an installation. The rear wall in this section is covered in black sound-absorbing boards that make the side wall almost disappear in the dark. The loose furniture can easily be rearrange to accommodate various gatherings and meeting constellations.
