Schmidt hammer lassen architects has revealed that URBAN MOUNTAIN team won the Nordic Built Challenge in Norway.
The winning proposal includes the refurbishment and extension of a 50,000 square meters office building in central Oslo.
URBAN MOUNTAIN team includes schmidt hammer lassen architects, LOOP Architects, COWI Denmark and Norway, Transsolar Energitechnik and Vugge til Vugge Denmark.
The project employs Cradle to Cradle principles and is expected to secure a BREEAM Outstanding certification.
After completion of refurbishment, the building will reach a total size of 79,000 square metres and is expected to be the tallest in Norway.
Based on principles from Cradle to Cradle (C2C) thinking, about 90% of the demolished existing materials will be recycled into new and upgraded building materials while 80% will be directly used in the new refurbished building.
As per the plans, the façade elements from the existing building will be re-used in the new façade design.
Sustainable features of the project include solar chimneys, which run from the bottom to the top of the building, and a greenhouse on the rooftop.
Schmidt hammer lassen architects founding partner John Lassen said an important part of the project is to allow the sustainable measures to be visible to the users and the city, hereby raising awareness of how the building works.
“For instance, when you look at the building from the outside the façade is characterized by a series of ‘green lungs,” Lassen said.
URBAN MOUNTAIN team is one of the five teams in the running to become the overall winner of the Nordic Built Challenge Award with a prize of one million NOK.
The overall winner is due be announced on 17 October 2013.
