level

Clinging tenuously to the waterfront in Oslo is Snøhetta’s wonderfully spare National Opera House.

With the wind chill off the fjord dragging the temperature well below zero, I was layered up with just about everything I’d packed in my suitcase. Looking to all intents and purposes like some wayward Michelin Man lost on the arctic tundra, I staggered around on the sloping terraces looking for a view that hinted at the understated, yet stoic grandeur of the building.

In dramatic contrast to the almost bleak exteriors, the mercifully warmer interior was rich in colour and texture. The sweeping external walls of the main theatre were intricately clad with slats of wood, enveloping patrons in a warm embrace as they made their way to their seats.

Around the ground floor bar and coat rack areas, lattice walls of repeated geometric patterns echoed the angular forms of the overall exterior. Crystalline snow flakes perhaps, to balance the warm glow of the wood.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Architecture, Technique.