Oslo Opera House
Monday, 1st December 2008 by Alex Turnbull
Rising from the waters of Oslo Fjord, Norway, is the absolutely incredible Oslo Opera House. Designed to speak of the sheets of ice that formed the fjords of Norway, the huge white slab of angular building could almost be mistaken for an actual ice floe.
Designed by the architects Snøhetta, and opened in April this year, the Opera House features a huge sloping roof that runs past either side of the foyer, tapering all the way down to the water's edge. Best of all, visitors can climb all over it (possibly thanks to Norway's refusal to join the fun police - Er, I mean the European Union).
Italian marble and granite account for the striking whiteness of the exterior, but some sections are also clad in aluminium punched with spherical forms, and the interior is awash with dark, sculpted oak.
Unfortunately the Opera House wasn't completely finished in these satellite images, so it's worth having a look through this Flickr pool - as the building is truly stunning now that it's done.
Arcspace.com has a good photo tour of the whole building, The Times did a story about the launch event, and there's more at Wikipedia of course.
Thanks to James McKay.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
How long will it stay white with people walking on it everyday? Rain might help cleaning, but not very much.
also it was designed as a skatepark. What a coincidence for me to see this post here, I was just eating my lunch and reading this Wired story about it: http://www.wired.com/culture/design/magazine/16-12/pl_design
Unlike their Luzern oppos, which is (apart from the roof) jet black.
What do you mean, “fun police”? You can walk on the roof of this building in Amsterdam, even though it’s in the EU: https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=52.374219,4.912804&z=19
Proof is here.
Oh yes, that building is amazing. I’ve been there recently, it feels a bit like walking on a glacier.
Alex: Do you really think the relaxed norwegian building security standards are due to them not being in the EU? I did notice this myself: There are rather high fortress walls (not only in Oslo, but e.g. also in Bergen) that are freely accessible, with dozen-meter drops and no fence. The only “safety measure” sonsists of a couple of signs, saying something like please do not fall down. I actually liked this very much.
But then, I’ve been to official hiking trails and monuments in France with very steep drops on one side and no fences as well, and they are a founding member of the EC.
Wonderful building! I didn’t even know about it.
D
Thanks for the link-love, Alex! I posted a load of shots of the Opera house on facebook but perhaps I should get some up on my flickr account too. It truly is an amazing building – I have visited it four times now!
Please do and send photos into the Opera House pool! We would love to have your interpretation.
Enjoy more on: http://www.operaen.no/Default.aspx?ID=1141 http://www.operaen.no/Files/Billeder/Operaen/PDF/lommebok_8_locked.pdf http://www.panograf.com/kunder/no/eng/index.html