Islamic Culture House is our second project in Larvik City besides Mesterfjellet school project.

The intention is to design a culture house that is open and inviting by placing public funcitons on the groud floor including library, bookstore, information center and a cafe.

The site chosen for the project is located in housing neighborhood in the middle of Larvik. It´s charactarized by an exciting natural landscape. The exisiting kindergarden building will be demolished, however we intened to reuse some of the materials for the construction of the new culture house. Various Architects and the client had a very positive start up meeting with the planning authorities in Larvik.

VA delivered sketch design for Lederne Head Quarters.

llThe response was very positive and detail design phase is starting up soon.

We have just received planning approval for HV Family House from the municipality of Oslo.

Looking forward to starting detail design phase.

Various Architects received a letter from Larvik Kommune with planning approval for all desiplicnes to the following companies:

Various Architects AS received approval for application sent on 14.03.2012

CEBRA A/S received apporval for appliction sent on 12.03.2012

Asplan Viak As recieved approval for application sent on 14.03.2012

Norconsult As recieved approval for application sent on 14.03.2012 (Fire engineering / Building Physiscs / Geotechnical)

Østengen and Bergo recieved approvla for application sent on 19.01.2012

 

The tender documents were sent out in March 2012. The final result of the tenders are expected to be announced during the coming weeks.

Various Architects have recently delivered a set of schematic design drawings for HV Family House. The client have been very engaged in the design process and are extremely staisfied with the results. The planning application has been sent to authorities and we expect a resonpnse within the next couple of months.  We look forward to carrying the design forward through detail design phase, and hopefully begin construction in September 2012.

Amicable split opens for new collaborations

Various Architects AS partner and co-founder James Dodson has decided to leave Various Architects to pursue new collaborations and creative directions. VA was started in 2008 by Elhayawan and Dodson after 13 years as friends and colleagues at Snøhetta where they participated in the design and construction of many of Snøhetta’s best known public and cultural buildings. For 4 years the pair have led  Various Architects to win international recognition for their ambitious, creative and sustainable designs.

 

«Starting up Various Architects with Ibrahim has been an amazing, intense, and fruitful experience that I don’t regret in the least. We have pushed each other to create a body of work which I am intensely proud of. In 4 short years we have achieved many of the ambitious goals we set for ourselves when leaving Snøhetta, despite the financial crisis. I look forward to watching Various continue to develop under Ibrahim’s leadership. I think it will also be good for us to go back to being just friends instead of friends and business partners. Ibrahim was best man at my wedding, and he and his family will continue to be an important part of my life. »  – James Dodson

«Four years ago, when we started up a new company, Jim chose the name Various Architects to reflect our idea of creating a collaborative design firm. The past 4 years have been an amazing and intense experience. We had over 22 people from 10 different nationalities working at Various. Jim has an incredible talent of connecting people together. He created an extremely valuable network for Various. It is sad to see him leaving but his vision and ideas will always remain with us. We wish him the best of luck in his future directions. I am confident that our interlinking networks will create other opportunities to collaborate together in the future. Jim has been one of my closest friends since I moved to Norway 15 years ago.» – Ibrahim Elhayawan

Ibrahim went to Taipei for the groundbreaking.

The construction of Taipei Perfroming Arts Center started on the 16th of February 2012. OMA asked Various Architects partner Ibrahim Elhayawan to the groundbreaking, which was led by Taiwan President MA Ying-Jeou, Mayor Hau Lung-pin together with OMA partners-in-charge, Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotthen. The ritual of the groundbreaking  ceremoney created a very positive atmosphere. It recieved a lot attention in the Asian and global media.

The project consists of three theaters that are plugged into a central glass cube. These theaters can function seperately or can be conneted together in many configurations including a Super Theater configuration with a 60-meter long stage. The central glass cube is lifted from the ground allowing the street to extend into the buliding and drawing people into the Public Loop where the heart of the building including the backstage areas are made visible to the public.

Ibrahim Elhayawan lived in Hong Kong for 16 months leading the Design Team through Prelimenery Services phase, schematic design phase and the early stages of detail design phase. VA partner Jim Dodson also joined the design team as an adivisor. This was the first time that Ibrahim had a chance to meet with the Design team since he moved back to Norway one year ago.

Neighbor notice sent for planning application

Various Architects have sent out formal notice to the 28 effected neighbors of Mesterfjellet School as the first step in the building permit application process. The notice typically includes a site plan, facades and snit drawings of the building. Neighbors have two weeks to make comments or complaints before the rest of the planinng documents are sent in to Plan og Bygningsetaten in Larvik.

1:25 scale model presented to users in Larvik

 

Various Architects, Cebra, and Østengen & Bergo participated in two days’ of user workshops in Larvik, hosted by our client Larvik Kommunale Eiendom. A 1:25 model of the building was carried to Larvik to allow the users to better understand the inner workings of each floor. The building’s future users were divided into groups by floor for a detailed walk-through and a chance to make comments and ask for changes. The response from the users was overwhelmingly positive, and we used up two whole packs of sticky-notes to record their comments.

 

The 1:25 model was the product of weeks of hard work from VA staff and model building helpers. The final day of building has been captured in a time-lapse film, here on YouTube.

 

«Stratigrafi» one of three finalists in Stavanger

Various Architects, together with our frequent collaborators at Ramboll UK and landscape architects Østengen & Bergo have made it to the final round of the University of Stavanger Archaeological Museum competition. 34 international architecture firms initially applied for the competition. 6 teams were prequalified and asked to submit designs for the 5500m2 extension. The jury organized by Statsbygg, the Norwegian State Building Authority, has chosen 3 finalist teams who have been asked to submit additional materials before final contract negotiations.

The three finalist projects and teams are:

Stratigrafi,  Various Architects AS, Ramboll UK, and Østengen & Bergo

Strata, Tupelo Arkitektur as, Narud Stokke Wiig AS, COWI, and Gullik Gulliksen

Rosetta, Schmidt Hammer Lassen architects – Lund+Slaatto Arkitekter, Bjørbekk & Lindheim, Seim & Hultgreen, Rambøll Danmark, and ECT

All finalist teams have all been asked to submit their additional materials in August, with a final decision of the winner to be made shortly therafter (hopefully). Various Architects would like to congratulate all of our fellow finalists. We are looking forward to this final phase of the competition. May the best project win.

Project development and a 1:25 model presented in Larvik

For our second meeting with the future users of Mesterfjellet School in Larvik, Various Architects, Cebra, and Østengen & Bergo presented the revised competition scheme as it has developed until now. A large 1:25 scale model of the southern half of the building was presented to allow the users to get a better feel for the project and the central space of the school. Kari Bergo presented the landscape plan and proposed changes to the roadway. Mikkel Schlesinger of Cebra and Jim Dodson of Various Architects presented the devleopments to the school’s interior and exterior. The gathered crowd of teachers, administrators, staff, and other interested individuals were pleased with what they saw. We look forward to their feedback, and further discussion to help us optimize and improve on our design.

Many thanks to our model builders Anders Almesveen og Eivind Danielsen, both architecture students at AHO for building the model. We look forward to completing the other half soon!

VA qualifies for our 4’th school competition

Various Architects are again invited to work on a prequalified competition in Åmot, Norway. Together with Kant Arkitekter and Østengen & Bergo, our team was one of 5 teams out of 15 invited to design a new school for the local community. Project teams were chosen based upon reference projects (30%), experience (35%), and a written understanding of the challenges of the project (35%). We are proud to have scored a full 100 points based upon our submitted materials, and look forward to the opportunity to compete for this project.

The other qualified teams include L2 Arkitekter with Gullik Gulliksen, Filter arkitekter with Grindaker Landskap, Ratio arkitekter with Bjørbekk og Lindheim and Arken arkitektkontor with Rambøll. There is a planned site visit and project kick-off on June 9’th, with competition delivery in mid-August. More details to come after the competition has been delivered.