University in Oslo

The university complex at Karl Johan in the centre of Oslo is Norway’s oldest set of university buildings.

The campus consists of three main buildings: Domus Media, Domus Academica and Domus Bibliotetheca, all fronting onto the newly renovated university square.The present buildings were constructed to designs of the architect C.H. Grosch, with assistance from the famous German architect K.F. Schinkel, and are a typical exponent ofthe late-classicist era. The building was commissioned in 1851, and supplemented in 1911 with a banqueting and concert hall designed by Bødtker and Sinding-Larsen, and decorated by Edvard Munch.

To mark the university’s bicentenary, it has been decided to refurbish the buildings, interiorand exterior alike, and work is due for completion in 2011.The restoration includes roof and facades, incl. Domus Media’s magnificent peristyle, as well as the work on re-creating the overall concept of the building’s inner room structure. Matching the requirements and wishes of a modern university building to Grosch’s splendid old buildings poses a major challenge.

The complex, including the concert hall, is currently listed, and the project design work is therefore being done in close cooperation with the Norwegian Keeper of National Antiquities.

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