Minimalistic design at Dalen school.
Design for public spaces The Oslo-based interior architecture firm CADI AS primarily focuses on public spaces – often schools and offices – and the goal is to find the best possible solution for every user of the building. Current projects range from nursing homes to Norway’s new National Museum of Art. By Ellinor Thunberg | Photos: Espen Grønli
CADI is short for Contemporary Architecture, Design and Interior. Founder and co-owner Elin Bashevkin has been running CADI since the start in 2002, initially with another partner, and Kaja Kosonen Geiran came on board in 2013. “Our commitment is to work with public clients and spaces, and CADI has extensive experience from, for example, school buildings. I also brought in some other types of projects and today we have a wide range. We are now two partners 16 | Issue 94 | November 2016
with the same goal, but from slightly different professional backgrounds,” says Geiran, co-owner of CADI AS.
Room for the individual to thrive CADI has worked on schools for kids of various ages as well as offices for adults. Many of the same principles apply in the different environments – no matter if the workspace is aimed at students or office workers. In many of the cases, CADI has come in early to work with the client from the start.
“We do not come in at the end as someone who arranges cushions, curtains and furniture. We are involved right from the start and have created schools with solutions other than the typical ones,” says Bashevkin. The approach means the traditional classrooms are disappearing more and more, without making the space too open. Instead the firm works with defined spaces and smaller additional rooms for flexible use. The individual is always in focus and the goal is to create the best possible solutions for each and every one, considering everyone needs different things to thrive at school or in an office. “We all have different tasks and work in different ways, and we should make it pos-