The Wooden Gown of Stavanger: Strengthening the Genius of the Morphology and Material Qualities of the City

Abstract

The aim of this article is to illuminate the effect of morphology and material used in the wallscape of urban space in creating a sense of place. The theoretical discussion is based on the concept of the 'new aesthetic' developed by Gernot Böhme. The case investigated is the town of Stavanger on the southwest coast of Norway. Stavanger was designated one of the European Capitals of Culture in 2008. One of the major projects, Norwegian Wood, was initiated with the intention of exploring the possibilities for future development of the wooden city. The background was the claim of the city to be the largest city of wooden houses in Europe. Stavanger has gone through a transformation in recent years, from being a rather insignificant city, remotely located, to becoming the ‘oil capital’ of Norway, giving rise to robust development and creating a somewhat unmanageable pressure on the development of the existing city. The emphasis on continuity of use of a traditional building material to face the open spaces could be a tool for linking new layers of urban culture to the historical structure. The case of Stavanger shows interesting efforts in preserving the atmosphere given by its many wooden houses

Notes

1. Treopplysningsådet: The floor area/land area factor (utnyttelsesgraden) is 0.4 to 0.6, about the same as the suburbs Ammerud og Haugenstua in Oslo with high rise housing, built in the 1960s & 1970s (Kollandsrud, 1978).

2. The authors’ translation from German.

3. See: http://www.arkitektur.no/?nid = 5700

4. In some places, i.e. Sokndal, the project has been shelved and several student housing projects have been postponed due to high costs and consequently difficult funding (Stavanger Aftenblad, 18 July 2007).