| Om operaen fra England: The New Opera House, Oslo 27.11.2006 As recent architect visitors to Oslo and being privileged enough to be shown around the new opera house construction site, we felt you might be interested to hear our observations. We are full of admiration for the boldness of the setting and the continuing reclamation of Oslo's waterside to the benefit of opera-goers and city residents alike. The superb long and low slung building already commuicates this effect from the fine harbour to the water-borne visitor to Oslo inevitably evoking comparisons with Sydney and its opera house.
In place of the present motorway we now imagine broad open spaces, mainly green, surrounding the opera house, visually linked through Christian Frederiks plass to Jernbanetorget and the city.
We are very concerned, however, that the emerging and relatively low-rise traditional waterfront effect should not be damaged by commercial pressures to construct new high rise buildings close to the opera house in the areas now to be cleared.
We strongly hope that this aspect will be re-evaluated as the visual effects become more evident and that the opera house gets the setting it deserves. Gerald Farquhar, dip arch RIBA. Christopher Chestnutt, dip arch RIBA. Christopher Chestnutt Associates. |
