BEYOND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
This thesis is a reaction to the monocultural developments in Oslo city, using a Film and Entertainment Institute to create a more mixed environment. This architectural intervention hypothesises that cultural infrastructure designed with permeable boundaries can advance Oslo’s ‘Fjord City’ vision more effectively than conventional development models by:
1. Creating a civic presence that welcomes diverse populations
2. Establishing physical connections between previously segregated urban areas
3. Generating cultural exchange through public programming and media production
4. Demonstrating how Norway’s creative industries can engage with its multicultural urban fabric
5. Further making Bjorvika a prominent part of Oslo City centre
6. Fulfilling Oslo’s Fjord City goal of making the city closer to the Fjord, car-free, promoting more public transportation and pedestrian-friendly spaces.
The thesis proposes that Oslo’s ‘knutepunktsutvikling’ (hub development) strategy can be enhanced through architectural interventions that prioritise civic engagement and social connectivity over purely commercial development.
Bjørvika (the site in focus), a gateway district to the centre of Oslo, is experiencing a current transformation from railway yards and car parks into high-rise luxury developments to fulfil density goals, but it fails to create meaningful urban integration across socioeconomic boundaries.
The research tests whether a hybrid architectural typology, specifically a Film and Entertainment Institute with integrated public space, can function as both a cultural catalyst and an urban connector at this critical gateway to Oslo. By extending across the railway through a pedestrian bridge system, the proposal challenges the physical and social barriers that currently separate Bjørvika from Grønland’s diverse immigrant communities, plus a wider part of the city and the historically significant Middelalderparken towards the Fjord.
