Havnelageret (also known as Oslo Havnelager) is a commercial building located at Langkaia 1 in

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 ...

. It houses

Norwegian Defence Estates Agency The Norwegian Defence Estates Agency ( no, Forsvarsbygg) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for the real estate belonging to the Military of Norway. It is not part of the military operations, but is instead directly subordinate to the N ...

as tenants.

History

The building was erected in the period 1916-20 and designed by architect Bredo Henrik Berntsen. Havnelageret was dedicated to the huge development of

ship transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

during and after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The construction of the building was challenging and extremely difficult with contemporary technology, and with rising prices and wages during the First World War, all calculations were surpassed. From the original amount of 3.2 million Norwegian kroner, the final cost ended up at 9.3 million kroner. Construction of Havnelageret was very complicated because the building had to be built on bedrock as a result of its large size. This bedrock lay 20 meters below ground level. The difficult base conditions delayed the construction process, but in 1920, Havnelageret was finally based on the 130 pillars, which laid on 1550 piles in total. When finished, the building was so substantial that the 4th floor of Havnelageret was used as an

air-raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.The history of Havnelageret
(In Norwegian) The building has an outside surface of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

. When Havnelageret was completed in 1921, it was the largest concrete building in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the largest building in the Nordic countries. The building had 11 floors, a tower and an area of 39 708 m² in its original form. The external dimensions were reduced by dividing up the facade with crane hunts, rises and towers. When it comes to style, the building can be placed into the group of Nordic Neo-Baroque with classical elements and details of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

feel. In 1965 the building was awarded the

Betongtavlen Betongtavlen ("The Concrete Tablet") is a Norwegian architecture and civil engineering award issued by the National Associations of Norwegian Architects and the Norwegian Concrete Association. The award is issues to a structure "where concrete is ...

(an annual Norwegian prize for outstanding building architecture in concrete). It took only 60 years before Havnelageret was considered old. In the recent decades the harbour activity has decreased steadily. As a result, there has also been less demand for storage space, and current needs are mostly met outside the quay area itself. After a total renovation in 1983 (carried out by the firm Arkitektene as), the "Jacob's dream" re-emerged; a pink-coloured office building filled by financiers, ship companies and oil companies. Because of its unusual color, the building is often called "The pink palace in

Bjørvika Bjørvika is a neighborhood in the Sentrum borough of Oslo, Norway. The area is an inlet in the inner Oslofjord, situated between Gamlebyen and Akershus Fortress. It serves as an outlet for the river Akerselva. Since the 2000s, it has been und ...

".Havnelageret at bygg.no
(In Norwegian) In late 2003,

Entra Eiendom Entra ASA is a Norwegian real estate company, headquartered in Oslo, Norway and is as of 22.06.2020 19.25% state owned. Operations The company was founded in 2000 when all commercial real estate owned by the state through Statsbygg was transfe ...

bought Langkaia 1 from Steen & Strøm ASA and had it thoroughly renovated in the following years.Renovation of the Havnelager building in Oslo
(In English)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Information about Havnelageret on Entra Eiendom's website
(in

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

) Buildings and structures in Oslo Baroque Revival architecture Commercial buildings completed in 1920 1920 establishments in Norway Art Nouveau architecture in Oslo Art Nouveau commercial buildings