← LAX Bergen← LAX Bergen

Our competition-winning proposal with fellow LondonOn members Haptic, Gort Scott and Morris+Company alongside Elliott Wood, Urban Systems Design and VILL seeks to rejuvenate a former shipbuilding district in Bergen, Norway through refurbishment and re-use to form a creative, productive city quarter.

Building on our work at Hackney Bridge, Peckham Levels and elsewhere, we applied meanwhile thinking and placemaking strategies to this post-industrial setting, identifying sites and opportunities within and between the existing buildings and structures across the site. New interventions create symbiotic relationships with their neighbours, both through uses and appearance, and establish microclimates for science, food, performance, music production, working and living.

A prominent multi-lane vehicle bridge lands on one edge of the site, creating a vast, unused undercroft. This ‘under-bridge’ space is repurposed as multifunctional civic surface, hosting performances, markets, sports and more. Oversized curtains hung from the bridge create a striking semi-enclosed room at the scale of an urban square. The site’s seafaring connections are enhanced through the proposals, with existing slipway structures refurbished and diversified to provide opportunities for waterside events and boat-launching activities.

The wider strategy sees this former 20th century shipyard rethought to accommodate 21st century production, culture and enterprise. New pedestrian and cycle routesimprove connections to Bergen city centre and neighbouring regeneration zones, stitching the site in with its existing and emerging context. Sustainable, diversified forms of production ensure this waterfront district can adapt and thrive in a low-carbon future.