Concrete Oslo

Commissioning party: Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) – Institute of Form, Theory and History

Practitioner: Torpedo Books

Grey tribute

Concrete has finally received its well-earned recognition. With a passion for and extensive knowledge of this greyest of all materials, Concrete Oslo is nothing less than an historic guidebook to Oslo’s unique postwar architecture and all of the concrete and cement treasures found in the capital city.

Panel remarks

If you’re crazy about paper, you’re a ‘paperphile’, but when it comes to concrete, there is no ‘phile’ to speak of. And that’s a pity because the panel would have like to have had a word for the almost euphoric experience of leafing through the pages of Concrete Oslo. Not only has it been beautifully designed with respect for and a love of the material, but it also includes highly interesting and unique documentation about a castigated epoch in Norwegian architecture and gives concrete the honour and dignity it deserves as a material. Even the shape of the book - compact and monochrome - evokes associations with walls and concrete and in this way offers a subtle hint at the book’s theme. 

The fact that the book has been written as a guidebook reflects the desire of the book’s author for the book to be used and we can only hope that it finds its rightful place in the shoulder bags of architecture students.

Project group

Erik Fenstad Langdalen, AHO, Editor / Author

Léa-Catherine Szacka, AHO, Editor

Andrea Pinochet, AHO, Editor / Author

Ingrid Dobloug Roede, AHO, Managing Editor / Author

João Doria, Independent, Graphic Designer

Adrian Forty, The Bartlett School of Architecture – UCL, Author

Janna Bystrykh, OMA, Author

Even Wergeland Smith, AHO, Author

Oliver Elser, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Author

Eva Branscome, The Bartlett School of Architecture – UCL, Author