The winning designs for a new Oslo Airport smart city in Oslo, Norway – created by Norwegian practices Haptic Architects and Nordic – Office of Architecture – have been revealed.
The Oslo Airport smart city is backed by the Norwegian government, which aims to shift from an oil-based economy and transition towards renewable energy. The city will cover 4,000 square kilometres adjacent to the airport, and will be powered entirely by renewable energy.
The proposal also includes plans for the Oslo Airport smart city to be serviced by autonomous electric vehicles and smart lighting, and incorporate technological solutions to mobility, security and waste.
What are the advantages of the new smart city?
The Oslo Airport smart city will cater to the airport’s growing workforce, which currently comprises some 22,000 employees. This figure is expected to rise to around 40,000 by 2050, when the city is expected to have completed construction and be in full operation. Construction will begin in 2019/20, and the first buildings should be completed by 2022.
The city will have the capacity to generate surplus energy, which would then be sold to surrounding buildings and even cities. It will also be a space to trial new technologies, and operate a car-free city centre, to try to reduce any negative environmental impact.
What did the winning architects say?
Tomas Stokke, director of Haptic Architects, welcomed the ambition of the project, and the fact that his company was presented the opportunity to design a new city from scratch that would establish new standards for cities of the future.
He said: “Using robust city planning strategies such as walkability, appropriate densities, active frontages and a car free city centre, combined with the latest developments in technology, we will be able to create a green, sustainable city of the future”.
The Oslo Airport smart city, he concluded, will capitalise on the availability of a highly skilled workforce in its central location in northern Europe. Stokke concluded: “This is the most exciting type of project we can do as architects and I am very proud to be part of it”.
