AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Diploma Projects
Master of Architecture
Marked
Spirerom
Skolehage
Tverrsnitt 1
1:200
lengdesnitt
1:200
Marked
Spirerom
Skolehage
Tverrsnitt 1
1:200
lengdesnitt
1:200
URBAN GREENHOUSE IN OSLO
VERONICA BERGE
Supervisor: Neven Fuchs-Mikac
Farming practices in the urban context are very different from the regulated agricultural produc-
tion in the countryside. The fields available for farming are scarce, the land is expensive and the
existing quality of soil is not good enough for the healthy production of food. My diploma project
is a greenhouse for an area-effective production of food in a street called Schweigaardsgate in
Oslo, located on a very demanding and less attractive site close to and in-between the abandoned
Norwegian State Railways (NSB) rail tracks, in front of Oslo Central Station.
The limitations of the site constitute a strong and positive challenge for the design of the
building. The facility does not try to imitate conventional agriculture, but is rather adapted to
the chosen urban environment. It uses solar energy and the hydroponic system for growing all
kinds of vegetables, and for breeding fresh-water fish.
The hydroponic system in combination with the fish breeding, provide rich nourishment and
oxygen to the plants in a quite effective way, so that the species could grow more densely. The
hydroponics and the fish breeding work as a closed system: the fish water carries the most im-
portant substances for the growth of plants and in exchange, the plants purify the water so that
it could be reused in the system. At the same time, the ambition of my architecture is to try to
create a new type of public and social space in a densely inhabited multicultural part of the city,
where new urban spaces are highly needed. It is not just a strong productive system. It intends to
bring a better quality of life to an abandoned area that is a sort of no-man’s land within the city.
