Architectural intentions
Our intention was to create a college building that is functional while providing a meaningful and enriching experience for the occupants’ everyday use. A college caters largely for younger people; people who want to learn and acquire knowledge. We believe therefore that it is important that the building itself reflects the values of openness, curiosity and engagement. Its architecture should express an aspect of the youthfulness that it is to house. In architectural terms, this means that the building should convey a sense of openness, dynamism and robustness.
By openness we mean that the building should be seen as accessible and inclusive, not closed, unwelcoming or insular. The main entrance is intended as a natural extension of the public streetscape. The glazed atrium is designed as a vibrant common room where users, staff and students can meet and interact naturally. The design of the teaching rooms and offices should encourage contact between different users and user groups. These spaces have good opportunities for views and daylight. Our opinion is that the college should be an institution which opens up to the outside world, not one that distances itself from it.
By dynamism we mean a degree of movement in both the architectural design and the sequence of spaces, i.e. an aspect that reflects the school's activities and daily use. In an urban context, the design should appear of its time, somewhat challenging even, not as conventional, staid or ordinary. The interior is designed to feel adventurous and fresh.
By robustness we mean a building that clearly expresses the honesty of its structure and materiality. The building expresses an architectural clarity, that we hope will stimulate curiosity and encourage an understanding of our surroundings.

Architectural design
The project consists of three main building elements. Towards the rear of the site is a refurbished building that used to house Pathological laboratories. Fronting the street is a new-built curved volume and connecting them is a glazed atrium. The completed project is the development of the winning proposal for an invited competition. The two main building volumes are designed to read as clearly distinct characters intimately joined together into a unified composition.
The former pathology building represented a grand, yet heavy and massive volume. The building was extremely uninviting, almost brutal. Our intention was that this building be read in a wholly new way; to turn it into a more plastic, dynamic and coherent figuration. The existing building was stripped down to its bare concrete structure, and a new building and façade constructed around the skeleton. The new façade of this taller volume expresses a clarity and lightness appropriate for the character of this type of educational institution.
The new building fronting onto Pilestredet is given a more sculptural form derived from the curvature of the site along the road. This volume has a more playful façade that expresses the vibrant culture of a school populated by young students. It is characterized by the brightly coloured automated solar shading louvres that can be manually over ridden in each office. This gives an improved sense of comfort to the occupants and at the same time creates a dynamic façade that constantly alters throughout the day. The colour palette of reds and oranges is inspired by the redbrick facades and rendered surfaces of the surrounding buildings.
The glazed atrium forms a natural meeting place for the staff and students. The glass façade joins the two other volumes together. The pathology building's more rectilinear facade is "pulled out" along the glazed atrium gables where they overlap and then continue into the new building's distinctive, curved form. This relatively complex composition of volumes is held in place by horizontal aluminium profiles which both mark the position of the floor plates while containing the mechanisms that drive the solar shading system. These light profiles are visually connected with the gables of the former pathology building, which are also clad in the same aluminium panels. These bright gable ends form an enclosing frame around the whole composition.
The interior design is inspired by our intention to create a series of spaces that feel dynamic and vibrant. This is achieved by continuing the colour palette of the façade into the colours of the floors and furniture. The colour scheme begins in deep reds on the lower levels, becoming gradually lighter as one progresses up the building, to the bright yellows of top floors.

Program
The project consists primarily of administration, classrooms, and general facilities for the students. The larger assembly functions, e.g. cafeteria, auditorium, black box theatre, etc. are mainly located in the lower floors. These are in close proximity to each other and to the main entrance. This includes the Grand Hall of the university campus: an auditorium capable of seating over 450 people. Teaching areas are located on the 1st to 4th floors, close to the cafeteria and the entrance with a bridge that links to the adjacent college premises in the former surgical building. The upper levels are occupied by the college administration. The administration areas in the refurbished building consist mainly of cellular offices. The main plant rooms are located in the basement floors of the existing building, to minimize the length of the ducts runs to the taller building, the auditorium and the cafeteria.

Summary
The project contains a combination of central administration of Oslo University of Applied Sciences and classrooms for the faculties of nursing and performing arts. This includes the Grand Hall, capable of seating 450. The facade of the new building is characterized by a distinct use of colour inspired by the red brick character of the main university campus. These bright colours are applied to the motorized shutters of the solar shading system. The colours palette is then brought into the interior, in the flooring, office fronts, acoustic panels and furniture, with a gradual variation from dark red on the lower floors to bright yellow on the top floor. The rehabilitated pathology building has the same material quality in both the exterior and interior, while the colours are more sober.