THE WOOD SHOP
PROGRAM: 4400 sqm office
CLIENT: Norwegian Property ASA
LOCATION: Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway
COLLABORATION: Zinc
RE-USE
THE WOOD SHOP
RE-USE
PROGRAM: 4400 sqm office
CLIENT: Norwegian Property ASA
LOCATION: Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway
COLLABORATION: Zinc
As its name suggests, the Wood Shop was formerly a carpenter's workshop that produced furniture and joinery for shipping vessels, and is one of the few remaining historic buildings in the former shipyard area of Aker Brygge. Dark renovated the third floor in the three-storey workshop and its six-storey neighbouring administration building with the aim of restoring certain of the buildings' historic elements, while removing previous extensions and haphazard renovations.
Dark stripped the Wood Shop of its chaotic additions and renovations, restoring its historic elements while creating a new infill building in between the two historic buildings, and modern office spaces throughout the complex. Exposed brick facades and original arches are contrasted with the transparent glass panels of the new façade of the infill-building and precise, transparent expressions inside. The separate vertical communication in the buildings was replaced by a common sculptural concrete staircase to enable flexibility and joint use of the two historic buildings, depending on the size and requirements of the tenants.
The carpenter's workshop was stripped of its cell offices and meeting rooms, so that the original open plan, with a storage and service zone in its centre, could be restored. A meeting room made of glass is hung on the exterior of the gable wall, exposing part of the building's inner workings to the public and serving to advertise the company's activities.
