The competition is held every other year and close to 50 participating municipalities in Europe submit building sites and challenges for which the architects can submit a proposed solution. Europan Norway organises the Norwegian component of the competition. The Norwegian municipalities in Europan 15 are Kautokeino, Nore og Uvdal and Vestre Toten.
Exhibition at DOGA
Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA) is represented in the board for the Norwegian Europan and the winners and representatives of the three municipalities gathered at DOGA on 2 and 3 December for the presentation of the award and to define the next steps. The winning projects are also being shown in an exhibition at DOGA from 9–12 December.
Opening up Raufoss
It was the Spanish architectural firm La Errería that submitted the winning proposal for Raufoss in Vestre Toten. Raufoss has many good qualities, including attractive jobs in a high-tech industrial park that attracts 60,000 visitors each year. The problem here is that the industrial park is detached from the local community. The architects convinced the jury with a proposal to give the city a distinct identity, with more meeting places and connections between the industrial park and other parts of town.
Photo: La Errería* Office of Architecture
Multipurpose centre and a livelier Rødberg
Nore og Uvdal desired an innovative solution for the heart of the administrative centre of Rødberg. The winning architects for Rødberg were from the Italian architectural firm of Space Travellers Architects. The essence of the proposal is a multipurpose centre, the location of which creates a new centre of gravity and changes how the municipality is used. They also propose building new homes and a new emergency response centre. The jury appreciated how the architects took into consideration the history of Rødberg as an ‘energy municipality’ and that it should be attractive to both residents and cabin owners.
Photo: Space Travellers Architects
Sami urbanity in Kautokeino
Two winners were selected for Kautokeino in the Norwegian Europan competition: one German and one Swedish/Norwegian.
The German architects, Paul Raphael Schaegner, Teresa Timm and Merle Jelitto, propose a specific ‘Sami urbanity’ designed in collaboration between the nomadic and sedentary culture. The jury particularly appreciated the fact that the project recognises the specific historic and geographic conditions and that the architects acknowledge the challenges associated with territories and property.
The other winners, the Swedish/Norwegian architectural duo of Ona Flindall and Marianne Lucie Skuncke, also recognise Kautokeino’s complexity and the project acknowledges the importance of strengthening the link between nature and culture, reindeer herding and welfare institutions, cultural heritage and tourism efforts.
Photo: Paul Raphael Schaegner
The jury
Each of the 12 participating countries in Europan has its own national jury that evaluates the proposals. The Norwegian jury is headed by architect Gisle Løkken. Europan 15 will now progress to a phase in which the winning teams and municipalities will be working together to carry out the proposals.
FACTS ABOUT EUROPAN
Europan is the world’s largest planning and architectural competition for young architects, landscape architects and planners. It is held every other year with close to 50 participating cities in Europe. The Europan Norway foundation organises the Norwegian component of the competition. The Europan Norway board comprises representatives of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO), the Bergen School of Architecture (BAS), Design and Architecture Norway (DOGA), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the National Association of Norwegian Architects (NAL).
The architectural firm Kaleidoscope in Bergen serves as the secretariat for Europan Norway. The search for building sites for the competition in 2021 is to start shortly. Municipalities are invited to submit applicable development projects to the secretariat.