By constructing a traffic bridge using apartments and office space as the main construction instead of concrete or steel, the bridge becomes an object for private investment, offering a large amount of new square meters in attractive, but already dense locations. The top of the bridge would accommodate vehicular traffic, cars, bikes and pedestrians, allowing crossing passengers spectacular views of the Copenhagen skyline, across the port and all the way to Sweden. Right below the street, a layer of parking. The rest of the bridge would become a kilometer long slab of housing and offices.
At ground level, the lifted mass provides nearly % of the site devoted to public realm including two new, generous publicly accessible spaces linked together by the buildings lobby. At the north a new Bankside Square is created adjacent to the Grade II listed Anchor Pub, enhancing its setting. At the west, in conjunction with the neighboring Former Financial Times Building, a centralized, tranquil Pocket Park is created in association with a new north-south route through the Site.
Due to the unique character of Singapore’s urbanism both very dense and verdant BIG pursued the design challenge as a vertical exploration of tropical urbanism, reinforcing Singapore’s reputation as a garden city. The building’s recognizable exterior façade consists of vertical elements that are pulled apart to allow glimpses into the green oases blooming from the base, core and rooftop. A dynamic interplay of orthogonal lines and lush greenery presents itself in the contrasting textures of steel and glass, interweaved with tropical vegetation.
BIG proposes to turn the light rail line into a spine of dense urbanity with a series of peaks at the stations. By combing the rail with strategies for energy exchange, waste management, water treatment and electric car stations, the infrastructure could become the base for a new sustainable ring of development around Copenhagen, and an artery of true urbanity pumping life into the heart of the suburbs. At certain points the rail becomes a building itself almost like a Roman aqueduct passing through the suburbs, at other points it forms small pockets of urbanity around the stations.
The plan identifies four thematic areas to position Oslo Science City as a leading center for innovation, knowledge-based value creation and sustainable solutions based on existing and future activities: Health and Life Sciences, incl. Norway’s largest Life Sciences building for research and teaching to be completed by and an expansion of Oslo Cancer Cluster. Climate, Energy and Environment, establishing a campus and a power center for research and innovation between the countrys leading research institute SINTEF, The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), the Norwegian Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) amongst others. Digitalization and Computational Science, fostering collaborations between organizations such as the Department of Informatics (IFI) at the University of Oslo, The Norwegian Computing Center (NR), NORA – Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium, which explores artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics, and many others; and Democracy and Inclusion where new knowledge will be developed about the threats and solutions to strengthen democracy, the role of democratic institutions in a time of technological disruption, increased economic inequality and anti-democratic forces.