With the unique BARCODE concept, OSU has chosen to develop a top range urban area, even on a European scale.
The project itself has made its way through to all major international bureaus as one of the most exciting development projects today. The renowned design magazine Wallpaper has given much acclaim to Norwegian architecture and recently pinpointed the new PwC-building, the first in BARCODE skyline, as a work worthy of attention. (www.wallpaper.com/architecture/architecture-news-letter-from-norway/3218).
Openness
Instead of big shaded blocks with few entrance possibilities, the new area will be more diversified with room for smaller entities and a variety of fronts. This will create pleasant and picturesque “indoor” zones between the various buildings. This makes OperaKvarteret open and easy to enter from the outside world, as well as attractive for everybody to use and visit. It will also minimize the meteorological challenge of repressing air cells when the weather is bad.
New type of neighbourhood
In 2003, the Dutch architecture group MVRDV conceived the exciting BARCODE development concept, in collaboration with the two Norwegian studios a-lab and DARK Arkitekter. The goal of the concept is to create a district where availability and variation are key features.
The series of parallel blocks represents an architecture that defines openness, technology and innovation. The Barcode concept creates a new kind of neighbourhood with an identity of its own. The area is adapted and conceived for freedom and flexibility and every single building can be further developed depending of what the users want.