July 22 Memorial sites / Minnesteder etter 22. juli

A Memorial at Sørbråten

The permanent memorial design at Sørbråten is comprised of two simple elements on a straight, public trail that extends on axis with the island down the long ridge of the peninsula, ending at its high point. A 1.8m high by 27m long stainless steel wall, parallel to the trail, features sixty-nine names of those killed on Utøya. A square, blue-black polished stainless steel gate at the end of the trail offers a cropped view of the island through a 5 cm high, horizontal aperture. It is a cohesive memorial landscape where the memory of names merges with the site’s history as witness in the island, sky, lake and forest.

In stark contrast, but open to its natural surroundings, the long, polished silver wall features the names in a straight line of etched letters beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest victim nearest the gate. The letters are stained with white lacquer, using a contemporary Nordic font, Satyr Italics, created in Norway. The wall’s mirrored finish merges the names of the departed with reflections of what the site offers and people bring to it. It is alive with light, landscape, and the movement of visitors. It is also abrupt, blunt and slices through the land. It nearly disappears as an object, providing a passage focused on the relationship of the names and the island.

Aligned with the row of names is a narrow, horizontal cut across a polished, blue-black stainless steel gate. The gate provides a tightly controlled view of Utøya, opened only on July 22 each year for a full view of the island. The memorial does not offer a tourist overlook with a sweeping view, but provides a singular, focused moment connecting the names and island through the aperture. Throughout the year, the portal offers a poignant moment of contrast and tension in the otherwise expansive landscape. It is a space of ambiguity, deception and illusion where all is not what it seems. Reflected in the gate, visitors approach Utøya as they seem to walk from it, on a trail that connects across the water.

While the design of the trail is not part of this competition, as a procession to the memorial it will be an important part of the experience. To reinforce the character of the memorial expression, we recommend it be straight through the trees and on axis with the island. Edged in stainless steel, it would be only slightly sloped to allow disabled access, cutting through mounds of earth where the elevations are high, and raised above lower grades. This straight treatment will save as many trees as possible, give the desired effect of the path cutting through the land, and minimize disruption to adjacent farms. A signage wall could occur at the beginning of the trail. The trail could be lit with a surface coating that absorbs ambient light (UV rays) during the day and releases this energy at night to become luminous.

Eight stone benches, unnamed but recalling those killed in Oslo, are placed around the site, three across from the wall of names, two along a secondary trail leading to the water, and three among the rocks at the end of the peninsula.


A Temporary Memorial for the Government Quarter

The temporary memorial is comprised of two elements, one intimate to recognize the names of the dead and the other urban in scale to promote reflection on the attack and memorials.

A freestanding Book of Names is located in front of the Deichmanske Library entrance in Arne Garborgs Plass, the open space north of the Y-shaped building. It is oriented towards the government Highrise Tower that withstood the terrorist bomb blast. Two sheets of bent, translucent white urethane rise from the ground to form a pair of book leaves, one with the names and time of those killed at the Government Quarter and the other with the names and time of those killed at Utøya. The names are engraved in the leaves and filled with silver lacquer. A thin, illuminated LED sheet laminated to the underside of each leaf evenly lights the Book leaves from below.

A silver-gray vinyl scrim mounted to the west facade of the Highrise Tower features a graphic word cloud in reflective metallic white letters. The graphic is created from responses to a public survey in Norway of what words or expressions the memorial sites should convey. The most frequently occurring words are enlarged to form the graphic composition of the cloud. If the tower will be renovated in the future, the scrim could be relocated to construction scaffolding. If the tower will be removed in the future as part of the redevelopment of the Government Quarter, the scrim could be cut, recomposed and relocated to construction fencing.


A Permanent Memorial for the Government Quarter

The allee of linden trees in Johan Nygaardsvolds Plass pre-dates both the Government Quarter and July 22nd terrorist attack. These trees are living witness to the history of the place and can survive for hundreds more years. Whatever the outcome of the Government Quarter redevelopment, we believe the linden trees should remain at the heart of the government center. The proposed design locates the memorial with these trees to carry the memory of the persons lost in the July 22nd attack in an historic continuity of what preceded it and what will follow. It is a cohesive memorial landscape of where the memory of names merges with the site’s history as witness by the trees. Here, as the cycle of seasons changes the natural landscape so too can the city continue to heal. The stability of historic continuity was shaken. It is now made ephemeral in mystery and life amplified eternally.

The memorial features a pair of 10m high by 3.8 m wide walls, one located at the end of the allee nearest the Highrise Tower and the other between the four trees closest to Akersgata. The wall surfaces facing each other are polished silver stainless steel. The eight names of those killed in Oslo are cut out of the eastern wall closest to the bomb location and the sixty-nine names of those killed at Utøya are cut out of the western wall. The cutouts are filled with a translucent white resin and backlit from within each wall. The mirror walls, as wide as the paved walkway between tree rows, reflect each other so the facing names will endlessly interpenetrate with images of the linden trees and public visitors. Through an immersive experience, this allee of infinite memory is meant to overcome the violent explosion with its harmonic reverberation of limitless, ever changing reflections. Through ongoing memory we will always remember as an infinite community.

The outside of each wall is clad in polished, blue-black stainless steel with an undulating, dimpled surface similar in shape to the old, gnarled trunks of the adjacent linden trees and recalling the lake’s liquid surface around Utøya. This finish reflects its surroundings in a complex multiplicity of forms. Dark stone paving is extended between the walls to define the memorial domain. The pool bench ends and paved curbs are modified to allow passage on each side of the allee. Stone benches flank each end of the tree planters to offer seating close to the walls. Lights mounted in the trees precisely illuminate the path between walls.

The trees and walls define a peaceful place in the city, still allowing passage through the plaza, a space for public memorial services, and offering an area of quiet and immersive reflection. If, for some reason, a decision will be made to demolish the linden tree allee, we would recommend a location for a new allee in the redeveloped Government Quarter.