176 rest areas have been created to date, and more will be added. At these sites you can take a break and observe the landscape and nature, often with spectacular views, within a framework of the best in Norwegian architecture and landscape architecture.
White Oslo wins the Norwegian Scenic Routes competition
Norwegian Scenic Routes, as a project, turns 30 this year. White Oslo’s landscape team is part of a framework agreement for the next 4 years of investment in adventure sites along Norwegian roads. We won the first mini-competition for a rest area in the village of Kinsarvik along the Sørfjorden in Hardanger in the west of Norway. The announcement came during an all-day seminar at the School of Architecture and Design in Oslo, where 30 years of scenic routes were exhibited.
A ‘rast’ (the premise for the competition) is the distance you cover on foot before you need a break. With this definition, we looked at the experience of the road that leads to the site, while at the same time studying the water’s edge and the riparian zone on the site.
Pål Dixon Sandberg, project leader and landscape architect, White Arkitekter Oslo
The rest area in Kinsarvik differs from most other Scenic Route sites by being located in a village, rather than in untouched nature. The village is a cultural landscape in a larger fjord landscape with roots going back to Viking times. The place is shaped by its connection to the waterfront, as the waterway was the main connection from Kinsarvik to the world before cart roads, and later the motor roads, were built across the mountain between east and west. We will create a space that gives those who travel through the area a strong encounter with the shore, the mountains and the fjord with a light-handed proposal.
The question we asked ourselves is what a traveler will need when he or she arrives in Kinsarvik after traveling many kilometers in this incredible landscape. What is there to discover here that can put a visitor in contact with Kinsarvik and Sørfjorden, and how can we as landscape architects help to emphasize that?
Pål Dixon Sandberg
We have proposed two straight stone walkways into the water with a connection at the rear that faces the highway. The construction frames a new, loose stone beach. The beach zone is created partly by planting native salt marshes and partly by the natural immigration of species into the intertidal zone.
The intervention is limited to a small section of the plot which the team experienced as undefined and lacking programming. The rest of the plot will be left untouched as it is already perfectly suited for playing games, walking, and lounging on a large lawn under several large trees. All trees on the site will be preserved. New materials consist of local stone, metals originating in local industry, and wood.
– We’re thankful for the trust and look forward to working with this beautiful place in our most magnificent fjord landscape, says Pål Dixon Sandberg.
Read more about Norwegian Scenic Routes here.
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