Nordre Gate Street

Open House Oslo
Norwegian. English subtitles available.

Nordre gate 9 - Colour to the People! Colour Concept Architecture 

These five town houses in a row are situated in a busy city street at the area of Grünerløkka, a dense and lively neighbourhood in the eastern inner historical city of Oslo.
The houses used to be bleak and smeared with plenty of careless graffiti; unfitting and anonymous, but today they tell a different story. As the dwellers became more and more frustrated with and tired of washing off ugly tag´s from the walls - and felt depressed with the bland, greige and dull facades, they decided to do something. They got in touch with KOI Colour Studio in Oslo, where Dagny Thurmann-Moe is the creative manager. She and her team came up with a brand new colour scheme based on a lot more soulful shades of green, blue, yellow, orange and pink.   

The inspiration was found in the surroundings, from Grünerløkkas existing identity and history with traditional Nordic colours. That way, the project won´t be out of fashion or outdated any time soon. Rather on the contrary, it will merge with it´s surrounding as a fun, dignified and timeless performance. By elaborating on the architecture, colours and material used in the local areas, new architecture can harmonize with the old.
- Architecture evolves, and that is exactly how it´s supposed to be. Colours and materials, however, they are more or less stable over time. In our projects we aim for a contemporary solution but with historical references. If we disregard historic use of colour and materials, our cities, streets and public spaces will end up lacking identity, says Dagny Thurmann-Moe, featuring in the short film.
  The residents at Nordre gate 9 gave her and KOI Colour Studio free reigns on the project; originally it was designed by the architect to be kept in natural, untreated wood, but the developer changed underway and suddenly it was all painted greige. This gave nothing to the surrounding hood and nothing to the dwellers.
  Today, though, they feel happy every time they open and pass through their doors.  Really happy. The missing puzzle for the area has been found. Nordre gate 9 sparkles, gives meaning and a kick of energy to everyone who passes by. 

Customer: Sameiet Nordre gate 9
Year: 2020

Colour Project: KOI Colour Studio