Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, together with LOOP Architects, COWI Denmark and Norway, Transsolar Energitechnik and Vugge til Vugge Denmark, has won the Nordic Build Challenge in Norway with their innovative scheme, Urban Mountain. The winning proposal, which would be Norway's tallest building, seeks to refurbish and extend an existing 50,000 square-meter office tower in central Oslo into 79,000 square-meter sustainable icon. Not only would the building be the first Norwegian high-rise to utilize natural ventilation, but the design would employ Cradle to Cradle principles and BREEAM Outstanding certification targets to significantly reduce the building’s energy consumption and CO2 footprint.
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If realized, Urban Mountain would recycle as much as 90% of its demolished existing materials into new and upgraded building materials, 80% of which would be directly used on the newly refurbished building. For example, all façade elements from the existing building would be re-used in the new façade design. Furthermore, the design concept operates with measurable C2C goals in areas of flexibility, biodiversity and recycling of water, heat and organic waste.
“An important part of this project is to allow the sustainable measures to be visible to the users and the city, hereby raising awareness of how the building works. For instance, when you look at the building from the outside the façade is characterized by a series of ‘green lungs’,” explains founding partner at schmidt hammer lassen architects, John Lassen.
The “green lungs” proposed to be an innovative part of the natural air intake in the building. With the use of regionally found plants, the green lungs would contribute to enhance biodiversity locally and to create a better and healthier indoor climate. These plants would clean, humidify and reduce the CO2-concentration of the incoming air for the comfort of the staff and visitors.
In addition to this, solar chimneys would run from the bottom to the top of the building. A greenhouse on the rooftop would capture and reuse the excess heat of the building and the solar heat gain of the solar chimneys. This would result in a recognizable building design – a sustainable landmark in the urban setting of the Oslo skyline.
Another example of visible sustainable solutions in the building is the innovative ice storage, which would be viewed through a large window by people going to and from the metro station. The more than 1000 cubic meters ice storage would be used as a heat source in an adapted heat pump design and as a source of direct cooling during the summer.
To integrate the office building into the local community at street level, public access would be given through an Urban Green Mall, selling healthy quality food and locally produced products. Here, people could meet and interact in the large atria, on terraces, in cafés and restaurants.
By winning the Nordic Built Challenge in Norway, the design team behind Urban Mountain has become one of the five teams in the running to become the overall winner of the Nordic Built Challenge Award with a prize of one million NOK. The overall winner will be announced on October 17, 2013.
Architects
COWI Denmark, COWI Norway, LOOP Architects, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Transsolar Energitechnik GmbH, Vugge til Vugge DenmarkDesign Team
schmidt hammer lassen architects, LOOP Architects, COWI Denmark, COWI Norway, Transsolar Energitechnik GmbH, Vugge til Vugge DenmarkClient
Entra Eiendom ASExisting Area
50,875 m2Extension Area
28,375 m2Total Area
79,250 m2Project Year
2013Photographs
schmidt hammer lassen architectsArchitects
COWI Denmark, COWI Norway, LOOP Architects, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Transsolar Energitechnik GmbH, Vugge til Vugge Denmark
