Kunnskaps- og kulturtorget / The Knowledge and Cultural Square

«Kunnskaps- og kulturtorget Kongsberg» Educational and cultural center in Kongsberg

The city of Kongsberg wants a new educational- and cultural center containing new administrative facilities, a public library, a university and cultural house with music halls and cinemas.
The main challenges in the competition was the topography with 12m in height difference on the plot. Another formal issue was the contradiction between the large program and the historical, rather small scale wood architecture in the area.
Concept for city spaces
It is importat to understand the new center as an interconnecting link between very different building and space typologies of historical value.
The church plaza (Kirketorget) north of the plot, is at the same height as the library entrance. The hights of the new building correspond with the typology at the road Kirkegata vest of the sight. Passing between the existing buildings, one enters a campus, serving the lobby for the cultural house and the university. A covered passage connects the campus with the road Hasbergsvei in the valley. The backyard structure in the lower part of Kirkegata is completed by articulating the western facade.
Arcitecture
Implementing a new building of this scale in a historical and vulnerable environment between Vestsida (the historical city area around the church on top of the hill) and Hasbergtjerndal (the vally west of the city) is a difficult task.
Not only because of the diverse environment but also because of the heterogenic program, the building has to be understood as hyper contextual and not a single grand gesture.

Seen from west the building appears as a massive brick structure with a floating wooden roof, interacting with the roof landscape of the old city. Seen from the park in the valley, the building with its green terraces landscape answers the medieval retaining walls and stairs in the west end of the park. Finally seen from the city and the space in front of the church: a building respecting the old city structure and refining the border of it with small spaces, backyards and passage.
The project contains five main functions: University, Library and learning landscape, cultural center with cinemas and music hall, city administration partly in new buildings and existing buildings.
The university’s official/administrative entrance is located on the lower floor towards west, while the daily entrance is on the upper floor, oriented towards the campus, stimulating interaction between different users. Laboratories, class rooms and lecture halls form clusters with short distances. The teachers’/scientists’ traffic is separated from the students’ traffic and joint though the educational rooms.
A light, folded wooden roof hovers above the new city library and the high school learning landscape. It is easily accessible from the church plaza, the campus and the high school. A common recreation and communication area enhances the meaning of an open, welcoming cultural and educational center for every citizen.
On the ground floor, visitors find the cultural house with a big and a small hall oriented towards the park. The multistory high lobby is accessible from the campus and from the park. From here the guest can also get to the three cinema halls. While the big hall is clearly readable as a black box in the lobby and library, the small hall opens up with a big panorama window towards the park.
The city administration uses the existing buildings at Kirkegata after rehabilitation and a new building located south of the campus.


Cooperation:

JSTArkitekter AS, BRENDELAND & KRISTOFFERSEN ARKITEKTER AS, OAB Office of Architecture in Barcelona

Project leader:
Jan Støring

Team leader:
Jan Støring, Geir Brendeland, Borja Ferrater, Ignasi Gutierrez

Team:
Olivier Herail, Silje Amundsen, Øystein Hoffart, Olav Kristoffersen, John Sanden, Nuria Ayala, Anna Pique, Montse Trilla

Assistent:
Pedro Rodriguez, Ivan Fernadez

Engineer:
Johnny Holst Teknoconsult AS