punk architecture - Brendeland & Kristoffersen

Most people have preconceived ideas of what a building process should look like - but this project by Brendeland and Kristoffersen in the Norwegian Town Trondheim radically breaks with all the standard ideas.

A group of squatters in the district of Svartlamon got together to improve their living conditions. The city pitched in - they saw the need to maintain the communal qualities of the site - and the design project started. The inhabitants wished for a building that would do justice to their social ideals and DIY principles.
In the plans of this building, the architects did just that. In this five-story high timber-constructed building (at time of construction the highest in Norway), every floor has a large communal room, and four to five small sleeping rooms. The private space is kept small, thus allowing for the interactions of a group of people living together. By smart double-use of spaces - where a staircase becomes a balcony, or a hallway is also a kitchen - the architects developed a way to offer luxurious ingenuity for a small price - thus proving that punk is not about dirty, worn out squats, but is about an alternative way of living together.

For more information, see the website of Brendeland and Kristoffersen