Saunders Architecture, AS

Solberg Tower & Rest Area

SOLBERG TOWER & REST AREA

Saunders Architecture

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

ARCHITECTS
Saunders Architecture: Kristin Berg, Statens Vegvesen

AREA
2000 m²

YEAR
2010

LOCATION
Norway

CATEGORY
Installations & Structures, Watching Tower

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

Text description provided by architect.

Sarpsborg is a green, flat and calm piece of South Norway and a traditional stopover for travellers on the route to and from Sweden.

In 2004, the Norwegian Highway Department together with the Regional Government approached Saunders for a new project in the area; uniquely however, without having predetermined the commission’s particular needs.

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

Focusing on the site and aiming to identify its challenges and advantages in order to define its problems and opportunities, Saunders worked closely with the client, not only to develop the optimum design solution, but also the project’s own brief.

We discussed what we needed and the architecture came out of that, he explains. As Sarpsborg is one of the first tastes of Norway the travellers from Sweden experience, it was important for the client that they would be able to slow down and spend time discovering the surrounding nature.

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

The local forest and coastline form a beautiful, yet largely unknown part of the country. The neighbouring highway’s speed and noise only enhance the traveller’s need for a break and re-connection with nature, so a green resting space was on the top of the list.

A low walled ramp spirals around the rest area, defining the 2000 sq m area’s limits, while spring-flowering fruit trees adorn the courtyard.

Within it, Saunders designed seven small pavilions working with graphic designer Camilla Holcroft, showcasing information on the local rock carvings from the Bronze Age, an exhibition, which continues on the ramp’s walls.

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

The surrounding forest is full of rock carvings but no one knows about them because everybody just drives through trying to get to Oslo, says Saunders.

The structures also offer the option for temporary artist exhibitions. The flatness of the landscape meant that the beauty of the surrounding nature could only be enjoyed from a certain height, so the creation of a tower quickly became a main part of the brief.

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

The ramp’s asymmetrical walls rise from 0 – 4m, then forms a 30m simple nine–storey-tall structure on the site’s northern edge, including only a staircase and an elevator.

Named Solberg (which translates into ‘sun mountain’), the tower’s aerial views towards the nearby coastline and the Oslo fjord are truly dramatic.

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model

Finally, the design’s style and aesthetic was developed in relation to the environs’ existing architecture; minimal and geometrical contemporary shapes were chosen, contrasting the local farming villages’ more traditional forms.

The main materials used were beautifully-ageing CorTen steel for the exterior walls and warm oiled hard wood for the courtyard’s design elements and information points. Local slate and fine gravel pave the ground level.

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag

Underlining the area’s natural and historical attractions, supported by strong architectural forms, Saunders produced a complex, in direct response to both the clients’ and site’s requirements.

A cooperation between several municipalities, the regional government and the national highways department, the Sarpsborg project completed summer 2010.

Publication material via v2com

Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag


Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag


Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
© Bent Rene Synnevaag
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model


Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
model


Solberg Tower & Rest Area
plan
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
plan
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
plan
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
plan


Solberg Tower & Rest Area
sketch
Solberg Tower & Rest Area
elevation

Saunders Architecture, AS
T +47 948 22527
Saunders Architecture, AS
Vestre Torggaten 22, 5015 Bergen, Norway