NedreGate Culture District
In 2012 we completed the refurbishment of the XIXth century industrial building for the textile firm Indigo designed by architects Ove Ekman and Einar Smith. This area 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 focus on art, architecture and design. Nedre Gate includes the Signal Mediahouse, the OCA and a kindergarten.
The Signal Mediahus 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 new intervention leaves offsets around the existing windows, creating light shafts and visual connections between different programs.
The building is designed in both plan and section as one large open space. This architectural solution allows for an efficient use of the energy and ventilation, reducing consumption and minimizing the need for ventilation technical installations. It hosts several film production companies organized around a central atrium that brings light through the building. According to the best use of light, the cinemas are located in the bottom, the sound studios in the ground level and the offices and meeting rooms at the top. The void is intercepted by crossing stairs which become the social space and galleries.
For the Office of Contemporary Art, our goal was to reveal the space where a discourse on art could be generated rather than represented. After years of exploitation, the space is again visible, the materials accentuated, and one new element is introduced, a large stair of massive wooden planks. The stair acts as an auditorium and makes the transition between the OCA offices and the project space. It organizes the space in 3 zones, providing a room for lectures, a reading room and a Library, and a surrounding exhibition space.
