2_3_ScanMagazine_Issue_81_Oct-Nov_2015_Scan Magazine 1 15/10/2015 21:37 Page 100
Scan Magazine | Architecture Special | Norway
Above: Østbanehallen, the former Oslo Central Station. Below: Choice Hotel Foketeatret
Transforming places back to past glories Mellbye Arkitektur Interiør AS offers a fully serviced project from architectural ideas to finished results, with a particular talent for transformational solutions. Whether they are breathing life into old train stations or finding new usage for a former opera house, the firm will always find the optimal solution.
hallen opened to great reviews as an oasis for foodie travellers and locals alike. “We wanted to bring back the grandness of the building, fitted with a modern use,” Aasgaard says.
By Helene Toftner | Photos: Mellbye Arkitektur Interiør AS
The Oslo-based architecture and interior design firm has long been the preferred choice of many when it comes to commercial buildings, hotels and institutions. Its biggest strength lies in the ability to transform even the dullest of projects into something impressive, and this has resulted in high-profile projects such as the revamp of the abandoned Ekeberg Restaurant into the hip and much soughtafter restaurant it is today. And let us not forget Folketeateret, the once respected opera house, which the firm transformed into one of Oslo’s highestrated hotels on TripAdvisor, Choice Hotel Folketeateret. “While we work on a variety of projects and buildings,
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the recurrent factor is transformation. A building can be used in so many exciting ways, and our task is to find the best way,” says partner Camilla Aasgaard. Back to Østbanehallen’s grand past An excellent example of this is the firm’s work on Østbanehallen, the former Oslo Central Station. The once grand train station had decayed tremendously, but in 2014 the new and refurbished Østbane-
The firm drew inspiration from the building’s former use, focusing on the traveller who is looking ahead towards new adventures, by using plenty of light and glass as well as designing the restaurants so that the visitor moves around the room the way a train does on a curved railway. An important aspect of the project was to make Østbanehallen into a destination in its own right, not just a place you pass through. “It was a tremendously interesting project to work on, and I think we succeeded in keeping the atmosphere of a grand old train station intact while giving it a new function,” Aasgaard says. Judging by the recent nomination for the Architecture Prize 2015, she is right indeed.
For more information, please visit: www.mellbye.com