Office & Commercial/Interiors

Kongens gate 21 — Nordic head office

Project information

  1. Location Oslo‚ Norway
  2. Area5.000 m²

Project details

  1. Year2019 — 2020
  2. StatusCompleted
  3. Partners Vedal AS
    KIMA Arkitektur
  4. Enquiries Eskild Andersen (on leave)
  5. Scope Workplace design
    Sustainability
    Interior design
    Furniture design
    Rehabilitation

A modern and inspiring workplace in a listed building

The historical building known as Telegrafen (The Telegraph building) has been restored to its former glory and given a contemporary interior update. Upon its completion in 1924, the newspaper “Morgenbladet” praised the building as “undoubtably one of the most beautiful buildings in Kristiania”. Fast forward to present day, in the city now known as Oslo, the building remains truly impressive. One enters the building through shining copper doors from Kongens Gate, just a few blocks from the Norwegian Parliament and Oslo City Hall. Inside the building, one is met by Norwegian marble, frescoes on the ceilings and walls and a bespoke 7-storey chandelier designed by the architect himself—Arnstein Arneberg. Nordic’s new head office, located on the third and fourth floors, was designed to enhance the original structure, create a flexible and future-proof office space and elevate our ways of working.

  5. Nordic Head Office
1 5

Respectfully transformed

Nordic has been responsible for the design of the third and fourth floors, so we feel that we can truly call it our space. The office design scheme created by our team was inspired by the local and contextual history as well as the duality between old and new. Marble tiles are extensively used throughout the project, integrating with the material palette of the original building. The lighting, colour palette and furnishings have all been chosen to accentuate the original space in a respectful and sustainable manner. The building, including the interiors, is on track to be BREEAM certified.

Sentralt plassert i Kvadraturen, rett ved Steen og Strøm

History in the walls

Several listed rooms have been given new life as our meeting rooms and will again have lively discussions and plenty of ideas flowing through them. The old Director’s office is among the most notable of these—a beautifully adorned room with secrets hidden in its walls. In addition to a Norwegian-made safe, originally hidden in the wall behind a painting in true spy-movie fashion, the director had a secret door in the built-in wardrobe, from which he could make a discreet exit. We love the history in this place and look forward to creating more with our clients and colleagues.