The first Oslo Architecture Triennale was held in 2000. The theme of the Triennial was the trans­formation problems facing urban communities today. Changes in technology, the international eco­nomy and the framework of policy-making create new conditions for the design of our built environ­ment.

The Triennale focuses on the urban and envi­ron­mental challenges that Norway’s capital Oslo faces, through the presentation of scenarios and visions that can provide ideas, solutions, suggestions and input to further development.

The Architecture Triennale literally delved far below the surface – the exhibition took place in a large hall and emergency exit route under the new National Theatre station in the centre of Oslo. You had to go down there to see bold contributions to the Oslo of today and the future, and you had to go up again to see the land­scape in which the ideas can be realized.

The Triennale exhibition showed Oslo projects in the interface between conceptualism and realism; between daring experiments and concrete suggestions for solutions to existing problems. The underground location explored the critical character of the event. The exhibited projects could be understood as an interpre­tation of Oslo and as a critique of the current cityscape.

Find the Triennale publication here (in Norwegian).