Aker Brygge is a neighbourhood in central
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. Since the 1980s and 1990s it has been a popular area for shopping, dining, and entertainment, as well as a high-end residential area. It was previously an industrial area.
Location
Aker Brygge is located just west of downtown on the westside of
Pipervika, an arm of the
Oslo Fjord, on the former ship yard of
Akers Mekaniske Verksted
Akers mekaniske Verksted (often abbreviated ''Akers mek. Verksted'' or ''Akers Mek.'') was a workshop, later a shipyard which was established in Fossveien by the Aker River in Oslo in 1841. In 1854 the company moved to Holmen on the west side of P ...
, which ceased operations in 1982. Prior to the establishment of the shipyard in 1854, the area was known as Holmen. It was then an old yard where some minor industrial activity, and a suburban establishment grew in the early 19th century.
Aker Brygge is served by the
Aker Brygge tram station.
History
The area contained shipyards and engineering industry - Aker Mekaniske Verksted AS - until 1982.
The construction of Aker Brygge was carried out in four steps by the realtors Aker Eiendom AS. A few old industrial buildings were demolished, while several of the major workshop halls were rebuilt as
shopping areas. The first step of the construction was finished in 1986, with Telje,
Torp
Torp may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Torp (surname), a list of people
Places
* Torp, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province
* Torp Court District, an administrative region of Sweden
* Torp, a place in the Norwegian municipality Fredrikstad, ...
and Aasen as architects. The fourth and final construction, the
Storebrand
Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, until 1999 and ...
insurance building facing Munkedamsveien, was completed in 1998. The area consists of a shopping center with shops and restaurants, a
cinema,
office space, and apartments. Additionally, there is a
small boat harbour, and a terminal for the
ferries to Nesodden. The area measures 260,000 m
2.
Today, about 6,000 people work in Aker Brygge and approximately 900 people have their homes here.
Aker Brygge was also the scene of an infamous gang-related shootout 19 August 2006. The shooting happened in bright daylight, with several hundred bystanders, including children and tourists in the line of fire. Only two people were wounded and nobody was killed in the incident.
The area today
A masterplan led by
Space Group Company
Space Group is an architecture office established in 1999 in Oslo, Norway and created by Gary Bates and Gro Bonesmo. Prior to founding Space Group, they worked with OMA/Rem Koolhaas, which they later on collaborated for the Vestbanen project in ...
and Ghilardi + Hellsten reorganized the area between 2010 and 2014.
Space Group worked on activating the parallel streets, and created an inside street, going through the main buildings. Aker Brygge is a leader in Norway for waterfront development and it is one of the most visited place in Oslo with 12 million visitors each year.
Aker Brygge area today consists of 13 separate units and 9 of them are divided into a total of 823 owner units. The properties are bound together through a comprehensive working agreement thereby creating a new district of Oslo which is unique in both a national and international perspective. A number of well situated public areas and arrangements have been developed through cooperation between apartment owners, and business and cultural interests. The administration of the working agreement and the carrying out of such tasks is done by the commonly owned company Bryggedrift AS.
Monuments
In 2010 a monument of
Max Manus was moved away from Aker Brygge, after members of the
Pelle group
The Pelle group (Norwegian: Pelle-gruppen) was a Norwegian resistance group that conducted acts of sabotage against the German occupation of Norway in Østlandet during the autumn of 1944.
'' Aftenposten'' called the group's 23 November 1944 sh ...
had pointed out that their group was responsible for the 1944 big
[Uverdig behandling av hvem, Moland? Hjemmefrontmuseets leder bommer fullstendig på målet i sin kritikk av vår film om Pellegruppa. Det er ikke Max Manus som har blitt uverdig behandlet.]
/ref> ship sabotage at present day Aker Brygge.
The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, designed by Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ...
, is near Aker Brygge.
References
External links
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Ferry quays in Oslo
Neighbourhoods of Oslo
Fjord City