Barcode
The Barcode Project is a section of the Bjørvika portion of the Fjord City redevelopment on former dock and industrial land in central Oslo. It consists of a row of new multi-purpose high-rise buildings, that was completed in 2014. The Barcode buildings occupy areas B10 through B13 of the general plan for the Bjørvik neighborhood that was adopted by the Oslo City Council in 2003—in the Bispevika section, east of the mouth of the Akerselva River. The general plan was based on an international competition to plan the new Bjørvika, which was won by Dark Architects, a-lab, and MVRDV.
The general plan specified five high-rise buildings, the tallest in area B11, closest to the Station Common (a new public square and bridge giving access to Central Station, rising to 100 m above sea level (“contour 100”) and having approximately 24 floors. The other towers were specified to be lower in height: 70 m in area B13, 78 m in B10, and 81 m in B12. The buildings were described as a geometric system of volumes based on penetrating strips of empty space. The building plan for the Barcode buildings was approved by the city in March 2008 with few changes from the 2006 proposal.
The Barcode has been planned as a row of different buildings with views between them. The unbuilt spaces between the buildings are to be at least 12 m wide. Several of the buildings will have fewer floors facing the fjord than the railway. The buildings are long and narrow. The stated purpose of choosing such dissimilar building forms is to avoid a massive wall between the fjord and the buildings behind the Barcode, and that the Barcode principle, with segmented construction, will contribute to openness, light penetration, and transparency in the built-up area. The buildings will have a shared basement, entered from Trelastgata.
