“Architecture as a symbol of democracy”: Oslo’s new government quarter after the 2011 attack

On the morning of July 22, 2011, Norway woke up to a nightmare: a car bomb exploded in the Regjeringskvartalet government district in the heart of Oslo; in the afternoon, terror reached the island of Utøya, with a total of 77 victims and numerous injuries. After a natural period of dismay, the country rose up and decided to move forward with a strategy summarized in the words of then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: "the response to violence is more democracy, more openness, and more humanity. But never naivety". 

This vision was given shape by Nordic Office of Architecture, a firm with over 400 professionals in offices in Norway, Iceland, and Denmark, which won the competition for the reconstruction of the government district. The project stems, on the one hand, from the need to concentrate all the state offices scattered throughout the city into a single large hub and, on the other, from the purpose of transforming a closed and self-referential urban area into an open and attractive public space because, as Camilla Heier Anglero, Partner at the firm, states, “people need people”. We discussed this with the architects who, for over ten years, have developed, reviewed, and coordinated the project, which has now reached its first phase.

The Regjeringskvartalet area is pivotal in the history of modern Oslo. After World War II, the competition for the design of a new government building complex was won by Erling Viksjø, whose project included two Brutalist-inspired buildings around a square along the Akersgata roadway: one towering to the east, called Høyblokka (high block), and a curved, lower building to the north, known as Y Block, which housed murals by Pablo Picasso.

Gudmund Stokke, Nordic Office of Architecture

Over time, however, the area has become an administrative enclave disconnected from the rhythms of urban life. Nordic Office of Architecture inherited the government's controversial and fiercely opposed decision to demolish Y Block, a building of undisputed architectural value which, however, as Knut Hovland, Partner and Head of Design at the firm, observes, “was like an urban ‘cork’, out of scale and with obvious safety issues due to its location above a tunnel”. 

The void created in 2020 by the demolition of the building offers an opportunity to reconnect to the city an area that acts as a hinge between the west, historically middle-class, and the east, traditionally working-class. As Gudmund Stokke, founder and Head of Design at the studio, states: "from day one, the question was how to create a place that symbolises Norwegian democracy and identity. We were asked to design a secure government district, but also a place where people feel welcome to walk, sit, protest and remember – a government quarter that belongs to the whole of Norway”.

The disputed demolition of a valuable modernist building was echoed, however, by the rebirth of its older sibling (as for height), which originally stood on the square and is returned to the city by Nordic Office of Architecture thanks to a meticulous philological restoration: Høyblokka forms the backdrop to the complex, standing out with its imposing yet elegant volume, marked by a rigorous grid of exposed concrete facades, beyond the survived historic trees that miraculously protected it from the bomb explosion.

Arranged in a ring around Høyblokka, new buildings establish a balanced and clear dialogue with it, through a rational urban design shaping the two new squares of Johan Nygaardsvolds plass to the north-west and Einar Gerhardsens plass to the south-east. To the north, Regjeringsparken breaks up the built-up area, offering a green oasis in the heart of the city. Between the park and Johan Nygaardsvolds plass, A block, with its south-west-facing glass façade, is intended to suggest “the new face of Norwegian democracy, in the name of transparency”, explains Fredrik Haukeland, associate partner. To the east, D block, set back from A block and Høyblokka, reinterprets the latter's façade pattern in the tight concrete grid and golden ratio openings.

Knut Hovland, Nordic Office of Architecture

The connecting element of all the buildings is the “cooperation district,” a common space dedicated to multidisciplinary discussion between ministries, occupying the first floor of all the buildings linked by bridges: as Gudmund Stokke observes, “an 'arena for cooperation', because in an increasingly troublesome world, problems must be approached in a ‘holistic’ way, and so that getting together and discussing issues no longer requires crossing the city, but takes just five minutes”. Outside, a fluid design of public spaces and landscaping (in collaboration with SLA and Bjørbekk & Lindheim) foreshadows an accessible and inclusive space, where boundaries are thresholds of greenery and street furniture.

Inside, in collaboration with ID Interior Architects, local materials such as granite and wood, together with furnishings by local designers, pay passionate homage to Norwegian culture. The varied material and figurative palette, indifferent to the imperatives of minimalism and impeccably handcrafted, gives the spaces a “domestic” warmth, transposing the dense atmospheres of Arts and Crafts into the geometric patterns of the stone floors and wall coverings that combine concrete and wood. In the new buildings, the birch-clad stairwells are almost theatrical, becoming “not just transit spaces but pleasant places that encourage physical activity”, explains Knut Hovland.

The artistic program integrated into the project (curated by KORO) is the largest Norwegian public art project to date, with around 300 new and relocated works of art from previous government buildings installed inside the buildings and in public areas: among them, the vaguely "deconstructivist" memorial by Matias Faldbakken and the paving designed by Jumana Manna using stone scraps from quarries across Norway, both on Johan Nygaardsvolds plass, and Do Ho Suh's "Grass Roots Square" sculpture in Einar Gerhardsens plass, with 50,000 anthropomorphic bronze figures lifting the stone slabs of the paving and, symbolically, "the weight of democracy", as Gudmund Stokke observes.

Picasso's murals, salvaged from the demolition of Y Block, have been relocated to the southwest facade and in the entrance hall of A Block, while in the tetrahedral representative hall of the same building, AahkA (Mother Earth), Outi Pieski's imposing installation of birch poles in homage to Sami culture, evokes suggestions of indigenous futurism and the scents of Scandinavian forests.

In total, the project involves the construction of five new buildings and the restoration of both Høyblokka and the early 20th-century building (G block) located west of Johan Nygaardsvolds plass. “The new government quarter will be an institutional but not flashy place, which will help to rebuild the concept of democracy and bring national pride back once again”, says Knut Hovland.

After the completion of the first phase, which involved the restoration of Høyblokka, the new A and D blocks,  the cultural center and museum dedicated to the events of July 22, 2011, part of the park and adjacent squares, and the lowering and reconstruction of the Hammersborg tunnel beneath the government quarter, the second phase will begin in 2026 with the construction of C block, the renovation of G block, and the completion of public spaces, with work expected to be completed by 2030. The third phase, involving the construction of B and E blocks, is still awaiting approval. Once fully operational, alongside the administrative apparatus, new services open to the city, cafés, restaurants, public spaces, and green areas dotted with works of art will invite the community to enjoy an informal everyday life in the area. “It will be an efficient ‘decision-making machine,’” concludes Knut Hovland, “but it will also be a fantastic place to spend free time in Oslo, and to enjoy a beer in the summer”.

All images: ©Hufton+Crow