D36 Green House | element arkitekter

The plot is set along a green stretch of land in the middle of Oslo, on a waste ground that runs alongside a pedestrian and cycle path. By completing an unfinished block of buildings, we have replaced an ugly end wall with a newbuild. This is an urban repair and plays its part in creating an urban square facing the neighbours to the east and screening the rear courtyard of the neighbours to the west. The project is densification of a high quality that gives something back to the city in the form of a well-thought out placement of the structure and a beautiful and innovative facade. On the corner facing Dælenenggata a small space has been set for commercial premises, with the aim stimulating activity at street level.

The neighboring buildings are characterized by older brick constructions in distinctive colors such as goldenrod, red, beige and green. The idea is to give the green back to the city, both in a symbolic and physical sense. The "living green" will be on the roof garden, on the ground and on the wall facing the neighboring courtyard to the northwest. The "symbolic green" are the other three facades toward the street and the park made of recycled aluminum and glass with ceramic print pattern that will provide the illusion of looking through the leaves in a tree canopy. The art also helps to solve the functional and technical requirement, like railings on the balconies and noise reduction.

There is established a rooftop garden (a roof garden has greater quality than a roof terrace as it is designed with approx. 50 cm soil) on the entire building's main volume and shared outdoor area which is built to the southwest and along the length of the building towards the pedestrian and cycle paths. In addition, several of the apartments have two balconies.