A brief history of modern Oslo

The story of modern Oslo (1900 - 1980) is a story of international trends, changing and contradicting ideals, grand ambitions, maybe some less grand implementation, and the usual booms and busts. The city would undergo massive change. Sometimes in an unplanned manner and at other times, following a careful set of strategic plans.

From horse carts to trams: Early 1900s
After independence from Sweden in 1905, Oslo was established as the proper capital city of Norway. Back then it was in many ways still fairly old fashioned. All the way up until 1929 the city government actually held statistics on the horse traffic within the city. The introduction of tramways in the early 1900s would however seriously change the dynamics of urban expansion. Suddenly people no longer had to live in the dense downtown areas of the city, but could purchase land in the city's surrounding farmland, build a villa and commute to the city. This led to a fairly quick and unplanned expansion into the city's surrounding district, displacing most of Oslo's historic farms.

One of the big questions of the day was where and how to design a new city hall. The discussion went on for decades and the building wasn't completed until after the Second World War.

Harald Hals and functionalism: 1920s - 1940s
During World War 1 urban renewal was put on a hold as money and materials were redirected for basic needs and military purposes, to protect Norway's neutrality. When Germany unleashed its campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare, the price of shipping skyrocketed. Despite a serious loss of life to Norwegian sailors, the large Norwegian shipping industry profited immensely. After the war prices returned to normal and the Norwegian economy suffered a serious bust, lasting through most of the 20s.

The first major urban plan of the new century was drawn in 1929. The central figure was the urban planner and architect Harald Hals. He had studied and worked with skyscrapers in Chicago, before returning to Norway, following independence. He created a major plan for expanding the urban parts of Oslo called the "generalplan for Oslo 1929".

In the plan he criticized the rigid grid of the old Danish city for ignoring the topography of the land. Inspired by urban planner Camillo Sitte, garden cities in the UK and even Le Corbusier, Hals argued that the city should grow within it's existing boundaries on principles of monumental boulevards, parks, plazas and urban social housing, with a great attention to aesthetics. Future population was predicted to be around half a million in the 70s and 750 000 in the 2000s. The plan accounted for the increase of automobile traffic by introducing the ring road system, which is still there today.

Much of the grand plan was sadly not implemented, but in the districts of Torshov, Ila, Lindern and Carl Berner the city government purchased large plots of land and built affordable housing for the people, most of which is still intact today.

The plan of 29' was criticized in its day for not being modern or radical enough. Especially the PLAN group, consisting of young, modernist architects was arguing for a much more radical renewal and replacement policy in the downtown districts of the city. After the Second World War they would acheive much larger influence.

Apart from the implementation of Harald Hals' plan, the 20s and 30s was a period of a lot of interesting building projects. Especially in the areas of culture and recreation. The period was marked by a blend of the neoclassical, monumental architecture of the previous century and the new functionalist influences of the present. A typical example of this was the development of the new department of physics, for the University of Oslo. The initial design was classical to the core, but after the architects Finn Bryn and Johan Ellefsen visited an architecture expo showcasing modern architecture, they were inspire to redesigned their proposal:

Some of the amazing architecture built in the 20s and 30s for culture and recreation:

These are just some examples of the many interesting buildings from the 30s that you can still visit in Oslo today. Interestingly, the idea of Oslo being a city of towers was tossed about during the same period and many imaginative designs were drafted, but never implemented. To this day Oslo remains mostly a low rise city, but it would have been interesting to see if that had been different if some of these buildings had been built:

In 1934 a new plan was drafted for Oslo, with a regional perspective on city development. It laid the groundwork for how the city would connect with it's surrounding regions and was followed almost to a point in the preceding decades. It included a suggestion to connect the eastern and western train terminals through a tunnel beneath the downtown area. This massive engineering project would eventually be implemented, but not until the 90s.

In 1930 the exhausting debate on the location and design of the new city hall was finally concluded. The design by Arnstein Arnberg and Magnus Poulsson had originally resembled the Stockholm city hall, but like the physics building by Bryn and Ellefsen, the influence of functionalism compelled the architects to change their plans.

Part of the reason why the completion of the project was delayed several times was the question of what to do with the district of Vika. The authorities wanted to build the city hall along Oslo's harbor front, together with a massive new office district. This meant tearing down a major historical part of the city, known as Vika. Vika was essentially Oslo's red light district back then, and while frowned upon by the authorities, it was a much beloved venue for the avant garde. In the end they lost the battle and the first brick for the city hall was laid in 1931.

Before the city hall could be completed Norway was invaded by Germany in 1940. This put another hold on the city's development, including the city hall, which would not be completed until 1947. Despite the fierce discussions on design and location, the building was a success in the end. The combination of a strict modernist form and fine attention to detail created a unique building, which must be said to be beloved by the inhabitants of Oslo today.

Social housing and expressways galore: 1950s - 1970s
The war marked the end of an era in Oslo's history. The first half of the 20th century had seen the construction of a large range of new recreational buildings, an expansion of it's urban center and a much improved infrastructure. Yet, many were saying that the modernization was not radical enough, and the shock and upheaval brought on by the Second World War put people in Oslo and across Europe in the mood to change things radically.

War is destructive. Even though Oslo was spared most of the violent destruction which befell many other European cities, the invasion put the entire country on a hold for five long years. When the war came to an end in 1945 the country was challenged with rebuilding the economy and finding housing for a thousands of exiles and people from the countryside, who all came flocking to the city. Emphasis was put on utilitarian needs: Meaning industry, housing and infrastrucutre.

The PLAN group of architects and planners, under the leadership of architects Frode Rinnan and Erik Rolfsen had long argued for radical modernization. Due to their close association with the political left many of its members were imprisoned by the Nazis. After the war the architects and planners who had cooperated with the Nazis fell in to disgrace, along with their ideas, and the PLAN group assumed leadership and influence over planning committees.

In 1949 they released a new general plan for Oslo. The surrounding district of Aker was forcefully integrated with Oslo, substantially increasing the size of the city, and offering plenty of new land for development. The new areas were planned on a principle of zoning, meaning a distinct division of the city between office and commercial districts, industrial districts and housing districts. The plan did not discuss the idea of satellite towns in great detail, but the big shift in philosophy from previous plans was a focus on decentralization rather than urbanization. In the following decades this would become a central theme in the development of Oslo.

With a new law accompanying the 49 plan the government could expropriate the remaining farms in the Aker district. Inspired by the English concept of "New towns" and German "Siedlung" a series of satellite towns were to be built along an expanded metro network. Originally they were intended as vibrant and self-sufficient communities with populations of about 20 000 people. This was the amount needed to offer not only sufficient housing, but also independent labor markets, along with cultural and commercial program. One of the early showcases for this idea was the satellite town of Lambertseter.

Even though many families jumped on the opportunity to move out of the congested downtown districts, to buy a modern and state subsidized home in the green environments of Lambertseter, the original proposal had to be reduced in size from a population of about 25 000 to 15 000, due to a lack of funds. This meant that the new town never established self sufficiency and the inhabitants remained dependent on commuting downtown with the metro system, which was also delayed, compounding what some saw as a failure. None the less Lambertseter was built with its own cinema, shopping center and school district, and became much beloved by many of its inhabitants.

Despite some setbacks in the 50s the scale and ambition of new plans only increased in the 60s. Owning a car was now something most families could afford, and the sense of modernity and freedom associated with this led to a massive attempt to refurbish the city for car travel.

Following the outlines of the ring road system developed by Harald Hals and the regional roads from the 34' plan a new network of highways was built across the city. Many planners wanted to go further though, and plans to build traffic machines through the central city were disapproved by the public and never realized:

The 60s also saw a massive program to modernize the city center. Loads of old buildings were demolished, especially in the areas around the central train station, which had long held the reputation as a slum. The area was to be converted to an office district. But also in the inner city areas the plans had to be revized after local opposition from many districts.

A plan to replace the district of Grünerløkka with modern housing in the 60s (architect unknown).

Despite the perhaps naive belief in the positive aspects of car travel and tabula rasa architecture, characterized by the development of the 50s and 60s, the same period saw a healthy growth of the Norwegian economy. The social housing programs seriously reduced overcrowding. And while the aesthetic impact on central Oslo might be arguable, the decades were not without their own beauty and architectural quality.

One such example is the establishment of a new university campus at Blindern, outside the central city. The plans had been under development since before the war, with the construction of the physics department, but the campus was only seriously developed in the 60s. Based off a neo classical design by Sverre Pedersen, the 60s plan drastically changed the architectural style of the new buildings and moved them off the strict system of axes. None the less the new campus was beautifully decorated and designed, with boulevards of trees, fountains and cobblestone plazas. The idiosyncratic organization of buildings around what remained of the original axis stands as one of the most beautiful examples of early sixties modernist planning and design in Oslo.

Also in the downtown area there were good examples of modernist design. Architect Erling Viksjø was given the job of designing a new administration building for the government. Inspired by Le Corbusier and such projects as the UN building in New York, the architect created a brutalist "gesamtkunstwerk" in the middle of Oslo, with a distinct Norwegian twist in it's material choice of a granite facade.

The 50s and 60s also saw the beginning of the career of what would become Norway's most famous architect: Sverre Fehn. Even though he would become most famous for a range of buildings in beautiful landscapes, his career began with the design of this retirement home in the north of Oslo. Built in 1955 along with Geir Grung.

Throughout the 60s and 70s new satellite towns were established throughout the former county of Aker. Most of them were built around the southern arm of Oslo and along the northern valley of Groruddalen. One particularly distinct project was Håkon Mjelvas designs for Ammerud. Built on pristine farmland, the concept was "housing blocks among farmland" and the project contained a large range of different types of housing, all built with a very deliberate style.

As with similar developments in other European and American cities during the the same period, the nature and impact of these modernist designs remains controversial and debated to this day. Criticized by some for being dehumanizing, and in the case of satellite towns: creating isolated "sleeping towns". They were accused of simply moving and replacing one of the problems they had sought to solve: inner city slums. Yet, many of these projects unquestionably solved a need which existed at the time; the lack of affordable housing, and they did experience a period of success. To this day many of the inhabitants not only defend the life style and childhood these districts offer, but they have also been the source of several books, music and movies themed around the idea of growing up in a satellite town.

Towards the 80s the mantra of decentralization was replaced with a renewed focus on inner city development and postmodern style. Attempts to roll back some of the massive change which had taken place after the war were initiated, but in the usual manner of booms and busts to the economy, along with excessive belief in the fashion of the day, these projects would also have their good and bad examples, some of which I will discuss further in a final post on contemporary Oslo.

Sources:

https://www.oslo.kommune.no/OBA/tobias/tobiasartikler/pdf_arkiv/Tobias%202%202011%20WEB.pdf
http://bullby.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2-ByplanerOslo-RolfHJensen-rev.-aug.2016.pdf

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1634930

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=417632

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