Pressens hus
The House of Press (Pressens hus) is a transformation of two listed buildings from the 1880’s in the historic city center of Oslo. The buildings are transformed into a new hub for media and press activities, with rooms for conferences, studios, meetings, and a café/restaurant. It also includes offices for 11 important media organizations in Norway for approximately 200 people. The design was done in close dialogue with the preservation authorities to find solutions in adherence to the many restrictions due to the listing of both buildings.
The project is organized around two new built atriums, surrounded by offices, social zones, circulation, and meeting rooms. The two atriums give light to the rather deep volume and helps the visitors to orient themselves. The entrance atrium grows larger for each floor, while the auditorium-atrium works in the opposite way. The entrance atrium is surrounded by bridges that is suspended from new beams of laminated timber that holds the glass roof. This atrium has a light feeling and makes a contrast to the other atrium, the auditorium-atrium, which consists of an old, listed steel structure that is the reminiscence of the old warehouse. Here all the decks were removed to transform this into a new space of structure and light. The new glass roof over this atrium seems to grow out of the old structure creating a layered wood structure that filters the light.
A collaboration with KIMA Architecture.
Photos by Einar Aslaksen