Cumulus is an urban strategy that conceptualizes public spaces as related to the environmental dynamics of northern living. The proposal focuses on a mixed-used development that (re)binds the different social spheres, programs, scales, and ecologies of the existing neighborhood. This manifests in a new urban center that is planned with an innovative rainwater management concept of seasonal expansion and contraction. The passage of water, in its different physical states and speeds, becomes the story of the neighborhood. As a new wintertime tradition, collected rainwater is released onto public spaces so that it can freeze into an open-air ice-skating surface. The “Day of the Waterfall” and the resulting dynamic public surface encourage interaction between existing and incoming communities, while putting the neglected area back onto Oslo’s map.
Project type: Master plan
Year: since 2007 in development
Location: Oslo Grorud, Norway
Client: Oslo kommune eiendoms- og byfornyelsesetaten
Design team: Sabine Müller, Andreas Quednau, Robert Gorny, Felipe Flores, Silvia Izquierdo, Martino Sacchi
Program: 195 apartments, 14,370 m2 retail and public program, 10,450 m2 offices, 8,500 m2 cultural and social facilities, 19,200 m2 underground parking
Site area: 5.5 ha
Study area: 15 ha
Awards: Europan 9 Competition, 1st Prize