Aker Brygge Masterplan

Aker Brygge has been a leading business and commercial centre in Oslo for almost 25 years. The typology is unique not only on a national level, but even internationally Aker Brygge is renowned as a preeminent example among waterfront commercial developments. A generator for transformation of the Oslo West waterfront, Aker Brygge is now flanked by the new Tjuvholmen development, and awaits a major cultural injection on Vestbanen. Filipstad stands next in line, poised to profit from the new waterfront expansion and specifically tapping into the Central Business District quality of Aker Brygge.

Meeting the future for Aker Brygge requires a step-change:

All roads lead to Aker Brygge
From Rådhusplassen to the National theatre, Tjuvholmen to Skillebekk, to the Oslo fjord – all roads lead to Aker Brygge. Understanding the immediate context provides the impetus for a new reading of Aker Brygge, no longer a quarter on the edge but a centre. This reading we have translated into the Aker Brygge Star. The star eliminates the dichotomy of inside out, haves and have not’s, front and back. Every part is vital and contributes to the whole identity of Aker Brygge.

Tabula Rasa
Our ‘compact’ strategy for Aker Brygge, predicated by the current inefficiency of multi-layered commercial space, and the incongruities of the ground floor, clarifies the urban layer – a tabula rasa – commercially and urbanistically. This provides two unique opportunities: first, a ‘clean-cut’ trajectory through a densified shopping street, and secondly ‘corporate’ lobbies for the offices (everyone with an address).

While maintaining the physical constraints of the basic building structures and servicing, a new layer is superimposed, more logical, more precise, and more deliberate. The urban carpet is articulated through patios, gardens, courtyards, and transformed streets.

Between the existing blocks, the side streets of Aker Brygge become prime, new business fronts.

Aker Brygge’s future will be defined by transparency, congruency, synergy, openness, and connectivity – AB 2.0.