Project Text
With this new building at Fornebu outside Oslo, Statoil is gathering its international and regional offices under one roof. The innovative new offices will provide an inspiring and very flexible working environment for 2500 of the company’s employees. The design by a-lab was the winning proposal in an international competition held in February 2009.
After a detailed project planning phase and a construction period of less than 20 months, Statoil’s new headquarters were completed in the autumn of 2012.
Limiting the environmental footprintThe Fornebu area, which was previously the site of Oslo’s main airport, has been undergoing a radical transformation to new commercial buildings, residential buildings and public recreation areas. A key challenge has been to balance size and architectural expression with the natural surroundings, while introducing new impulses that enliven the park and commercial area. More specifically: how does one design a 65,000 m2 commercial building complex to make it blend with Fornebu’s idyllic shoreline?
Highly flexible solutions
A-lab’s innovative concept was inspired by construction techniques that are well known in the petroleum industry. Five three-storey lamellas of identical size were stacked; each is designed with a high degree of flexibility that would ensure the workspaces could easily be adapted to changing future needs. The placement, well away from the property’s boundaries, limited the complex’s environmental footprint and allowed it to be surrounded by a generous amount of publicly accessible green space. This also creates a large and attractive shared atrium for the users of the building.
For Statoil, it was a clear objective to gather its organisation in a single efficient headquarters. The innovative offices have an unusually low energy consumption that satisfies Statoil’s ambitious environmental demands. Impressive use of cantilevering, with up to 30-metre overhangs, and the advanced glass-roofed atrium, make the building unique in Scandinavia.
A-lab is an internationally oriented, young and innovative architectural firm based Oslo, Norway. Established by partners Odd Klev and Geir Haaversen in the year 2000, a-lab currently has 43 employees with diverse backgrounds and experience, most of them architects. A-lab’s projects portfolio is broad in scope with regards to type, size and complexity. For instance, a-lab designed the Arctic Culture Centre in Hammerfest, as well as three of the buildings in the Barcode Project in Bjørvika, Oslo. A-lab is committed to sustainable building and urban development solutions, and firmly believes that innovative architecture can have a positive social impact.
CREDITS
Place.- Fornebu, Oslo, Norway.
Developer.- IT Fornebu.
Client.- Statoil ASA.
Construction.- Skanska.
Type.- Commercial building.
Size.- 65,000 m² total office area.
Construction time.- 20 months.
Completion.- September 2012.
Architects.- a-lab (Arkitekturlaboratoriet AS)
Interior architects.- a-lab (No) and Momentum Arkitekter (NO)
Landscape architects.- Østengen og Bergo (NO) -concept, and Rambøll Norge (NO) -detail
Construction.- Skanska (above-ground commercial building) / PEAB (foundation and underground structure)
Annual energy consumption, estimated.- 103 kWh/m2
Average R-values (insulation).- Windows (including frames) 0.8 W/m2K. Façades 0.18 W/m2K , roof 0.15 W/m2K
Energy source.- District heating (85 % heat recovery)
