Architects: Space Group Architects
Area: 2,200 m²
Year: 2012
Photography: Ivan Brodey, Vegard Kleven
Project Team: Gro Bonesmo, Gary Bates, Adam Kurdahl, Anne Wordstrup, Eric Gerlach, Frederik Kjelman, Grant Cooper, Jens Noach, Jose Hernandez, Tim Prins, Wenche Andreasen
Mechanical Engineering: Norconsult
Landscape Architects: Sundt & Thomassen
Structure Consultant: Rambøll Norge
Acoustic Consultant: 3D Akustikk
Client: Signal Mediahus ANS
City: Oslo
Country: Norway
Nedregate Culture District designed by Space Group in Oslo has transformed a historic industrial area into a cultural hub. Completed in 2012, the project incorporates the Signal Mediahus, OCA offices, and a kindergarten, blending new architectural elements with the original structure.
In 2012, Space Group completed the refurbishment of a late nineteenth-century industrial building designed by Ove Ekman and Einar Smith. Historically known as NY York (New York) due to its rapid development in 1858, this area along the Akers River has been transformed into a district focused on art, architecture, and design.
Signal Mediahus, located next to the Aker River in Oslo, has a rich history of uses, including a textile industry, offices, and events. Part of the building burned down in the 1980s. The project introduces a new architectural element inside the historic shell while preserving the old structure. Both elements are clearly defined architecturally.
Signal Mediahus hosts several film production companies under one large glass roof. The program is organized around a main void that brings light from a glass roof into the deep section of the building. Cinema rooms are in the basement, edition rooms, studios, and offices on the ground floor, and offices on the upper floors, where more daylight penetrates the building. Different programs receive different material treatments.
In the basement, the space is organized around a large black box containing the cinemas. On the ground floor, two wooden-clad boxes host the studios and edition rooms, generating common spaces between the existing façade and the boxes. These boxes also serve as acoustic absorbents for the atrium. The upper floors are open and transparent, creating visual connections between tenants, encouraging exchange and collaboration.
The common atrium is the building’s hub, featuring a lounge, meeting spaces, café, vertical garden, and a centrifugal circulation designed to maximize user interaction and spatial experience.
The building is designed as one large open space in both plan and section, allowing efficient energy use and ventilation, reducing consumption, and minimizing the need for complex ventilation systems that are difficult to integrate into historic buildings.
The OCA offices aim to reveal a space where a discourse on art can be generated rather than represented. A new element, a large staircase of massive Douglas fir planks, acts as an auditorium and transitions between the OCA offices and project space. The staircase organizes the space into three zones: a room for lectures and screenings, a reading room and Library of Norwegian Artists, and the surrounding exhibition space. The project includes offices for the OCA administration, artist studios for OCA’s residence program, and a 450m² project space.
As part of the Nedregate 5-7 project, Space Group designed the “NY York Kulturbarnehage” (New York Culture Kindergarten). The space is built for children’s exploration and use, with a deliberately manipulated scale creating a sequence of compressed and open spaces. A large open room frames the space, while variations in horizontal and vertical lines create intimate rooms for small groups and secret play, accessible only to children. The kindergarten has four bases organized around a giant staircase for musical gatherings, theater, film, dance, and play. At the back of the room, a large curved wall containing all technical installations is made of stainless steel, distorting the viewer’s image like funhouse mirrors.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Nedre gate 7, Oslo 0551, Norway
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
