After a competition between 40 different projects, a-lab, an Oslo based architects office, has been commissioned to further their design for the StatoilHydro Oslo office.

All 40 entries were comprised of a developer and architect team competing for their design and location. The Norwegian oil company chose the a-lab project – which resembles the popular game of pick-up-sticks – as their winner meaning the new office will be built in Fornebu, western Oslo. IT-Fornebu Holding are the developers for the project.

The design was expected to match a list of criteria, the most important being that the building should be flexible, environmentally friendly and modern. The winning building answers to the company’s core values: courageous, open, hands on and caring.

At 65,000 sq m the building is put together of 5 3-story cantilevering lamellas stacked on top of each other. These lamellas form a six-story common space with a meeting-center in the middle.

The building is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2012.

The following is from StatoilHydro:

‘The office building will be modern, flexible and environmentally friendly, and it will be ready for occupation in autumn 2012.

During 2008, StatoilHydro worked on finding alternatives for its new Oslo office.

The current leases for the offices at Majorstua and Vækerø expire in autumn 2012, and the goal has been to find an office solution by that time that will enable all StatoilHydro’s activities in Oslo to be collocated.

The various alternatives have been carefully considered in relation to various selection criteria. The goal has been to find a forward-looking office solution with the best technological solutions, architecture and environmental features for the users of the building.

The overall cost, good communications and proximity to employees’ homes have also been important evaluation criteria during this process.

Based on an overall assessment, StatoilHydro has signed a letter of intent with IT Fornebu Holding AS for the lease of a brand new office building at Fornebu.

The building will be built in a shoreside location beside Telenor’s and Aker Solutions’ offices.

Environmentally friendly
Great emphasis has been placed on environmentally friendly solutions when planning the new office building.

The building’s energy consumption will be low and district heating and district cooling will be used. A park and gardens will also be built around the building.

‘The rent and operation and maintenance costs are expected to be lower than our current total costs for the offices we rent in the Oslo region,’ says Svein Harald Storli, who is in charge of property and offices in StatoilHydro.

The office building at Fornebu has been given the concept name ‘five elements’, and it consists of five wings joined together to form a star.

Great emphasis has been placed on architecture and the environment in the planning of the building.

The building is also very flexible with respect to different forms of cooperation, and in relation to the possibilities it offers for increasing or reducing the number of office workstations.

Internal cooperation has also been strongly emphasised when planning the new offices.

Initially, the lease with IT Fornebu Holding AS will now be finalised and zoning work will start.

IT Fornebu Holding AS will be the owner and StatoilHydro will be the tenant from autumn 2012.’