Sankt Olavs Plass Analysis_Urban Preservation_Spring2020
Publication from AHO's Urban Preservation Course Spring 2020. It presents a study of the changing narrative of St Olav's Place in the Centre of Oslo, undertaken by an international consultancy team of students comprising - Eudine Blancardi, Félix Blanchard, Kostas Argyriou, Kristofer Mattsson and Julian Riise. The project started as a normal study with community engagement and installations on site and then owing to Corona Virus, the team had to rethink the project and complete the study as a virtual project. The team were assisted by course leader Tom Davies, Viksjø expert- Even Smith Wergeland, community artists- Kim Frydenlund Grane & Torgeir Stige, Byantikvaren's Marte Muan Sæther, Post-war construction expert- Barbara Ascher, Norberg Schulz expert- Beata Labuhn, and Oxford Archaeology's Ben Ford. There are plans to realise the different 'chairs' in the report as experiences at SOP, which you can do right now by taking the publication to site and trying it out yourself. Enjoy!
Publication from AHO's Urban Preservation Course Spring 2020. It presents a study of the changing narrative of St Olav's Place in the Centre of Oslo, undertaken by an international consultancy team of students comprising - Eudine Blancardi, Félix Blanchard, Kostas Argyriou, Kristofer Mattsson and Julian Riise. The project started as a normal study with community engagement and installations on site and then owing to Corona Virus, the team had to rethink the project and complete the study as a virtual project. The team were assisted by course leader Tom Davies, Viksjø expert- Even Smith Wergeland, community artists- Kim Frydenlund Grane & Torgeir Stige, Byantikvaren's Marte Muan Sæther, Post-war construction expert- Barbara Ascher, Norberg Schulz expert- Beata Labuhn, and Oxford Archaeology's Ben Ford. There are plans to realise the different 'chairs' in the report as experiences at SOP, which you can do right now by taking the publication to site and trying it out yourself. Enjoy!
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VIKSJØ CHAIR
1800
«Hey! Do you know who I am?
1850
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2020
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My name is ErlingViksjø, I am an architect. Together with engineer Inge A.
Dahl, I designed Domus Nova which stands in front of you. The building
was completed in 1969 and hosted the Oslo Health Council (Helserådet)
for a long time. Today Domus Nova is called the St. Olav Quarter and is
occupied by the University of Oslo’s Faculty of Law. At the corner of No.
5 stands the 12.2 metre high sculpture Tetraeder (Tetrahedrons) built
in natural concrete and erected in 1969 by Spanish-Norwegian sculptor
Rámon Isern.
Look at the concrete of the building! Does it remind you of something? Y
blokka (Y Block) at the Government Quarter perhaps, yes exactly, I made
that too! I developed the Naturbetong technique together with Sverre
Jystad in 1950. The Naturbetong casting method consits of filling the
formwork with aggregates of different types of shingles and gravel. Then,
cement mortar is pressed into the formwork until all cavities between the
aggregates are filled. Once dry enough, the concrete is sandblasted until
the stones are clearly visible on the surface, which gives it this unique
texture, which you can also encounter in the Hotell 33 (Standard Telefonog
Kabelfabrik) and Bakkehaugen Church.
Before Domus Nova, a school in new roman style designed by the architect
Van Hanno stood here from 1869 to 1965. This was Gjertsen’s
school, who occupied the building until 1899. From then the building
hosted the War School (1899- 1910) and later the Seamen’s School Sjømansskolen
(1910-17). The Oslo Health Council took up residence from
1917 to 1965 in the building until its demolition.
Among Gjertsens School’s attendees, some were destined to a notable
future. Theodor Frølich was nominated for the Nobel Prize in medicine in
1938 for his groundbreaking work on Vitamin C. Also famous, was artist
Edvard Munch (1863-1944)! He used to live at Pilestredet Gate 28 and
studied at Gjertsen School together with his great friend,
architect Henrik Bull.
The building’s facade facing Pilestredet was severely
damaged during the Second World War. On April
20, 1943, Hitler’s birthday, the building, then
Oslo Labor Office’s premises, was subjected to
a sabotage campaign carried out by Asbjørn
Sunde and four members of the Osvald group
(a Norwegian sabotage organisation, originally a
branch of the Wollweber League, a subsidiary to
the NKVD). From a truck parked nearby, they
threw Molotov cocktails and dynamite through
the windows, leaving the office space completely
destroyed by the explosions and the fire that
followed.
In 1882, W. von Hanno built an extension building
between Universitetsgata and Pilestredet
gate. This building held Kunstindustrimuseet
(The Art and Industry and Museum )(1892–
1904), which then moved to the top of St Olav’s
Gate, the Art Association (1904–37) comprising
Amaldus Nielsen’s Collection of Paintings
until the school was fully demolished in 1965.