These will assist with site development in Stiklestad towards 2030
As part of the preparations for the National Jubilee 2030, the Stiklestad National Cultural Center (SNK) announced a competition in the form of a parallel assignment related to site development in Stiklestad at the beginning of August. Two teams have now been selected to carry out the parallel mission, LPO /Asplan Viak/Gagarin and Pier II.
The assignment is about creating an overall concept for the battle site and the symbolic site Stiklestad from a communication perspective. Important elements will be the location and building design of the new main exhibition, as well as upgrading the existing main building/cultural center. Infrastructure between the site's various media arenas is also central.
The announcement was an open invitation, where relevant teams with expertise in architecture, landscape architecture, cultural communication and building construction could register an interest.
A total of 12 teams consisting of resource persons from several of the country's leading professional communities submitted justified qualification applications. Based on these, LPO architects and Pir II were chosen to carry out the assignment.
LPO arkitekter's team consists of LPO arkitekter, Asplan Viak, Gagarin and DIFK in collaboration with Bright Norway as and Vill Energi as. LPO arkitekter is one of the country's largest architectural offices with over 100 employees. The head office is located in Oslo. LPO has solid expertise in the design of complex buildings, development of entire museum facilities and innovative concepts for exhibitions. The company has won a number of awards for its buildings and exhibitions. Together with Bright, LPO has worked on exhibitions at Maihaugen. LPO, Asplan Viak, DIFK and Vill energi are now working together on the development of the new Skrei Cultural Heritage Center in Lofoten, which will convey the history of Lofoten fishing.
Pir II's team is made up of architects, landscape architects, structural engineers, interior architects from Pir II, supplemented by cultural dissemination expertise/technique from Jarl Korshamn Holstad, Kulturteknikk As and Light Bureau. Pir II has offices in Trondheim and Oslo. The company has a lot of experience from cultural buildings, museum buildings and large park facilities. Pir II has, among other things, was responsible for the Touring Theater in Verdal and the new building in Krambugata 2 in Trondheim, which was built over the discoveries of Klemenskirken. Pir II has won several awards for projects with energy and environmentally conscious architecture.
We are very pleased with the interest in participating in the assignment. All 12 providers are assessed as having high competence, many relevant references and great motivation for the assignment. Most of the teams scored very well on architectural and landscape architect competence. What has essentially separated the two who have been chosen from other applications is their cultural communication skills and their understanding of the task."
Parallel assignments are a form of competition that is often used in site development processes. The form of assignment provides a good supply of ideas and solution possibilities, while at the same time ensuring participation and dialogue between the client, hired consulting teams and society at large. The National Association of Norwegian Architects (NAL) assists the process. The parallel assignment is to be completed by May 2022 and form the basis for concept selection for further development at Stiklestad. The result of the work will be exhibited at Stiklestad in the summer of 2022. The aim is that the work will contribute to the further development of Stiklestad as a relevant symbolic place, a thought-provoking communication arena and an inclusive meeting place.
The assignment phase itself is carried out as a dialogue seminar between the selected teams and the client. A broadly composed assessment committee will be set up to monitor the seminars and open meetings will be held as part of the process. After completion of the assignment, SNK is free to evaluate and select the best from the teams' proposals, and summarize this in a recommended development measure for Stiklestad.
We are confident that the selected teams will contribute both with valuable ideas and to visualize the development potential for Stiklestad in a thought-provoking and inspiring way. We look forward to the road ahead!
Photo: Ole Morten Larsen