Signal Media-house

Signal Media-house sits next to the Akerselva River in Oslo. The original industrial building dating back to the 18th century has rich history of uses. Part of the building burned has burned down in the 1980ies. The project, while preserving the historic, inserts a completely new architecture inside the shell of the old. The two correlates while both being clearly architecturally defined.

The Signal Media-house hosts several film production companies under one large glass roof. The programme is organized around a main void that brings light from the glass roof into the deep section of the building. The void is intercepted by crossing stairs and the stairs becomes the social space.

The project’s open space allows for effective displacement and pressure ventilation that both reduce energy consumption and minimize the need for ducts, which are difficult to integrate into the historic building: The new beams under the glass roof doubles as air ducts. Because of the facades’ historic character, daylight is mainly supplied through the roof, which also determines the building’s organization with cinema space in the basement, recording studios on the ground floor and offices and meeting rooms above. The building contains offices, recording suites, sound editing rooms, animation space, 25 people cinema, meeting centre and common areas under the glass roof next to an interior green wall.

In 2012 the refurbishment of the former industrial buildings, designed for the textile firm Indigo by architects Ove Ekman and Einar Smith and erected from 1896 to 1899, was completed. This area along the Akerselva was historically referred to as Ny York due to its explosive development in 1858. Like its sister city, today the area reflects a similar transformation towards a district focused on art, architecture and design, including DogA, AHO, KHiO, and Dansens Hus and now OCA. In collaboration with our client Lars Hellebust, the buildings of historical value were transformed into a new cultural area.

The project has been developed in a close collaboration with the local heritage authorities to maintain the buildings’ and area’s characteristics. The transformation was rewarded with Oslo City’s Architecture Prize in 2012.