Nothing spurs creativity as tight restrictions. And
you don’t get them much tighter than an 11 meter wide footprint for a 15 story
housing block. Add two towering, 16 story-buildings as next-door neighbors, and
it is obvious that something extraordinary had to be invented in order to make
this work.

Situation:
The Opera Quarter is a central district in Oslo. The
area is situated between the tracks of Oslo Central Station and Dronning
Eufemias gate; a new avenue that will tie east and west together. Consisting of
12 buildings, the Opera Quarter will house 10 000 seats for work personnel, and
500 apartment units. All buildings are designed in accordance to the Barcode
principal: long slender, high rise volumes with sightlines in between.

Site plan:
The master plan developed for the Opera Quarter is a
result of an international competition held in 2003, where the Barcode concept
by MVRDV, A-lab and DARK Arkitekter was selected. Demands were set for the
volumes to stretch the full length of the site, have rectangular forms and hold
uniform material expressions. The building blocks come down to form an exterior
grid of public passages. At street level, program organization aims to work
with the overall intentions for urban life and public interaction, as shops,
service and offices gives something back to the city. Asking for an exceptional
outcome is the site segment occupied by MAD’s residential building: less than
30 meters wide and flanked by high-rise office buildings with dark façade
appearances. Daylight coverage from Southeast is secured, however, by the stepped
volume of the neighboring building east from the apartments. Regulations
specify demands related to the distance between apartment windows and
neighboring buildings, and set the parameters for the extreme proportions
executed in the project.

The Apartments:
Born from this unique outset, the
MAD-building is possibly one of the world’s most slender apartment blocks. Measurements
of this 15 floor construction are 7,8 x 90 meters, and at its leanest point,
width is shrunk to an astonishing 6 meters! These high-standard urban
apartments offer exposure to daylight and connectivity to its context like few
others. Designed in a finely tuned manner, conducted by high demands for
quality and driven by its regulations, the MAD-building responds to the Barcode
concept in a thorough manner.
On a standard floor, there are six apartments of various sizes and
shapes. Each apartment is provided a separate balcony, supplemented with the
generous common gardens at roof level. All units have their living rooms and balconies facing Southeast, and
the neighbouring buildings’ geometry allow sunlight to enter all day. Large
sliding glass doors give a close connection between inside and outside. Along
the less sun-exposed Northeastern façade, bathrooms and bedrooms are situated.
A ceiling height of 2,7 meters is standard within all apartments.
Zig-zaging exterior walls within the outer aluminium leaf are tailored
to balance the individual apartments’ needs. Variations of deeper balcony areas
that emerge into slender French balconies in their stretch towards the circulation
cores offer effective balance in the interior/exterior space utilization.
Circulation cores are situated behind the outer corners in this zigzag wall; consequently,
lateral stability is secured in the full width of the construction. Last but
not least, the angular variations ensure a wider spectre of view, addressing
more than the tall rise neighbours.
The outer skin of anodized, perforated aluminium, defines
the rectangular Barcode body. Custom designed movable façade elements allow the
occupants to control to which extent their apartment is exposed to sunlight and
public surroundings. Along with being a valuable feature for residents in a
densely populated district, this living façade that keep changing is
architecturally exciting. Perforations are designed in a careful manner to
allow views from inside the apartments, while still giving the expression of
being uniform surfaces to exterior surroundings. Light filtered in interesting
patterns on the organic inner skin of warm timber cladding assure a lively
atmosphere within this sober envelop. At night, lights at the balconies leak
through the perforation, making the envelope glow. The dialogue between these
two skins, and their contrasts, are among the project’s most characteristic
features.

Commercial
Areas:
Connecting the
MAD-building to its context, floor 1 and 2 are assigned to gym facilities,
business, offices and dining. As regulation sets different parameters for
commercial areas within Barcode, this base slab is allowed to be extended in Southeast
direction. In a base that aim to interact with urban surroundings, the public
will have the opportunity to run on treadmills while overlooking the trains
passing by, or enjoying a meal on the sunny terrace of the two-storey
restaurant facing Dronning Eufemias gate.

Flanking Passages:
Thematised outdoor areas designed by MAD flank the
building. At the Southeast entrance side, a strip inspired by Norwegian nature
has the ambition of working as a buffer between private residence and the city.
It is designed to function as a passage, rather than a space to reside. A
continuous urban surface is broken up by fields of forest flowers, small
conifers, heather and moss, that will contribute to a distinct Norwegian character.
These are hardy species that will adapt to the seasons and bring a rural
experience to this district of concrete, steel and glass. At spring, a carpet
of anemone flowers; in autumn, blueberry bushes and sparkling colours; and in
the winter, covered in snow. Artificial lighting will enhance the various
characters, and effect lights at the urban surface will complete the
experience.

The Northwestern strip is thematised as a cycling
peloton. This area was a challenge: how does one create something interesting
from a 10x90 meter passage with little sun exposure, with a demand of more than
200 bike racks - a passage that will also work as the main entrance to interior
commercial areas. MAD’s simple, but genius solution was to create bike racks so
beautiful that people more than willingly would walk a detour just to look at
them! Custom designed ‘bikes’ in stainless steel offer secure bike storage,
along with a visually and spatially interesting expression. Each steel bike has
LED-lights employed; white facing the fjord, and red facing the city.

Outdoor areas:
Residents of the apartments are offered great outdoor opportunities
to sit back on a sunny day, enjoy rich views, or assemble social gatherings.
Private balconies and shared roof terraces hold various qualities:

At the 2nd floor, one can enter a shared roof
terrace directly from the stair case. A sun exposed and wind sheltered space
with large flower containers. The apartments at the 2nd
floor have additional large private roof terraces secluded from the public
ones.

At the 13th floor, a large Northeast-facing
shared roof terrace is employed, as regulation demanded the building to be
lower at this point. Afternoon sun and a tall glass railing give good premises
to enjoy the city view.

At the 15th floor, the largest roof terrace
is situated, offering spectacular views over both city and fjord. A zoned
characteristic by fixed furniture and flower containers suggests different
degrees of privacy and activity.
Apartments are moved into, and roof terraces will be
completed by 2013.Project: The MAD-building (Residential
Project)
Address: Dronning Eufemias
gate 18-26, Oslo, Norway
Date of Completion: 2013
Architect: MAD Arkitekter
Developer: Oslo S Utvikling
AS
Project Management: Vedal Prosjekt
AS
Landscape Architect:
Grindaker AS
Structural Engineer/Acoustic
Consultant: Multiconsult AS
Thermal Consultant: Erichsen
og Horgen AS
Electrical Consultant: ECT
AS
Photo credits: Jiri Havran
and Kurt Singstad