SOFIENBERG
OSLO, NORWAY
2021 -
- A different kind of Cultural Arena -
Sofienberg Church, located in the heart of Sofienberg Park in Oslo, was decommissioned as an active church in 2019. Starting in 2021, our office collaborated with the parish to repurpose the building as a local community resource rather than a neglected space.
By 2024, we secured approximately 25 million NOK in grant funding from Sparebankstiftelsen DNB and Bufdir to develop concepts for transforming this heritage-listed church into a vibrant, multi-purpose community hub.
The arena reopened in summer 2024, continously and organically transitioning from sporadic, single-purpose use to a dynamic, everyday community space during the 2024-2027 period. The budget is dedicated to supporting relevant activities and necessary architectural adaptations, achieved through collaboration between future users and the Cultural Heritage authorities. We have a special mandate to assure the needs of the societal groups which are all too often not part of the city development.
Photography and illustrations: Jonas Adolfsen and architect
