Livsvitenskapsbygget

On behalf of HENT AS, Hille Melbye Architects has been tasked with the architectural design for Phase 1 of the interior works at the Life Science Building, a project led by the client, Statsbygg.

The impressive building, which will be Norway’s largest university and hospital complex, will accommodate both the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital.

The illustration on the project’s cover was created by Ratio Architects AS, and the copyright belongs to Kvant 1.

UiO and OUS under one roof

One of the goals is for the building to make it attractive for the world’s best researchers to work at the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, both of which will move into the new building.

“We hope that our work can contribute to cultivating a world-leading academic environment in life sciences. Construction work is already underway, and we are very excited to see how this will take shape,” says Ingvil Arntzen, Managing Director of Hille Melbye Architects.

UiO and OUS already house leading university and hospital environments in teaching, laboratories, offices, and auditoriums. The new, modern premises will open up even more opportunities for research in life sciences. The project is also part of the Oslo Science City project.

“The facilities in the Life Science Building will be highly technically advanced, yet flexible enough to facilitate versatile research and interaction between various disciplines and stakeholders in life sciences. Creating interaction and good meeting places are some of our core values at Hille Melbye Architects, and I believe we can only dream of what can be achieved when we combine and gather a broad research community under one roof, which also gets more space to collaborate,” says project manager Alf Felberg.

Strong and Large Expert Team

Hille Melbye Architects commenced work in August 2023 with a strong and large expert team. The project is divided into various disciplines, with Fatima Farran leading the laboratories team and Mattias Duong leading the offices, common areas, and education team. Additionally, Alf Felberg serves as the main project leader for the basement and technical areas.

“We are incredibly proud to be part of this project together with HENT AS. We are now fully engaged with our respective teams and have had a very good start,” says team leader Fatima Farran. “Detailed planning will begin in November, but many processes are already underway, including extensive recalculations of the project, which we collaborate closely with HENT on,” adds team leader Mattias Duong. “This is an incredibly important project for us, and we are very focused on ensuring that it adds value to cornerstone institutions like UiO and OUS. This will be a building of great societal value,” says Ingvil Arntzen, managing director of Hille Melbye Architects.

The building will have an incredible total area of around 97,500 square meters BTA, making it Norway’s largest university and hospital building. The project began in 2014 after Ratio architects, in collaboration with Cubo architects, won the competition with the proposal VEV. Ratio was then engaged through the sketch project, preliminary project, and detailed project phases in collaboration with general contractors until the execution contracts were awarded. Following this, a cost reduction phase was conducted, during which HMARK was contracted for further detailed project planning.

“The project has gone through a collaboration phase and is currently in a phase where various measures are being taken to secure the budget,” explains Arntzen. “The goal is to finalize a fixed-price contract with HENT AS by May 2023.”

When the Life Sciences Building is completed, it will be a workplace for approximately 1600 employees and 1600 students, conducting research and education in life sciences, medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy. The building is scheduled for completion in 2026.