Slushy Scandinavia

Oslo is situated around a fjord, and it’s usually quite cold in the middle of February (so much so that our Amsterdam friends questioned our sanity when we said we were headed to Norway to go skiing during the kids’ February school break).  It’s been a mild winter, however, and when we arrived for our weekend in Oslo, prior to taking a train west to go skiing, we encountered a mix of rain and snow with relatively mild temperatures for this far north.  Slush . . . falling from the sky and piled in heaps on the street.

Grey as the skies were, the Oslo Opera and Ballet House stood out like a light, white beacon in the Oslo harbor.  Like a glacier jutting out of the sea. This is what the Norwegian architectural firm Snohetta intended--to create a "building  [that] is as much landscape as architecture and thus fosters public awareness and engagement with the arts."    

The firm won oodles of awards for this gem and became famous internationally.  They are currently designing the reconstruction of Times Square and the Ground Zero Memorial, among other high visibility projects.

Photo taken from Opera House website.

This photo from Opera House website.

Grey skies prevail in my photos.

The interior was designed so that every wall, every hallway, every courtyard was a work of art in its own right, in addition to being a part of the whole.  The mix of textures and materials are tremendous.

From the inside, looking out onto the fjord.

Hallways taking audience members to various levels of the auditorium.

Giant wall in main lobby, designed with greens found in glaciers.

Only the main auditorium supposedly prioritizes function over art, with every material (down to the seat fabric) chosen for its ability to reflect sound.  Even the amonia-treated Baltic wood enhances the acoustics. The balconies were carved by boat builders from northwest coast of Norway.

If you ask me, I can’t see where they sacrificed one bit of “art” in this auditorium-it’s beautiful. 

The architects also wanted to open up the back-of-the-house operations to the public, therefore much of the “factory,” as the call it, is exposed with open floor plans and glass windows at street level. In this way, the public can see the “art” of bringing these performances to life.  And in keeping with the spirit of inside-outside perspective, visitors can even walk on the roof without ever coming inside.