The latest architectural addition to Norway's scenic tourist routes is a rest area featuring a toilet facility that sweeps upwards from a poured-concrete viewing terrace.
Oslo-based studio Haugen/Zohar Arkitekter (HZA) designed the Ureddplassen rest area for a site along the Helgelandskysten Norwegian Scenic Route in the northern region of Gildeskål.
Ureddplassen is popular with tourists and local residents as it provides a beautiful spot to observe the northern lights in winter, and the midnight sun in summer.
The entire space has been updated to create a better experience for travellers heading north on the coastal road.
The terrace comprises a cast-concrete slab that follows the edge of the curving terrain and separates the freshly re-laid asphalt car park from the adjacent pebble beach.
A series of prefabricated concrete steps forms an amphitheatre that extends down from the terrace to the shoreline. The steps are staggered in places to create seating platforms looking out across the water.
"The view from the steps is unique and there is ample seating well protected from traffic noise," said Steinar Skaar, route manager of Norwegian Scenic Route Helgelandskysten.
The lay-by also features a memorial erected in memory to the 42 crew members who lost their lives when the submarine Uredd was sunk during the second world war.
As part of the project, the memorial was moved to a better location and given a new base made from local Fauske marble. The same stone is used to create monolithic benches with rounded edges that are scattered along the fringe of the new terrace.
在Uredd纪念馆露台的另一端,混凝土表面似乎已经被切割并拉起来形成了一个无障碍厕所的屋顶。
At the opposite end of the terrace from the Uredd memorial, the concrete surface appears to have been sliced and pulled up to form a roof of an accessible toilet.
用浇筑混凝土实现的复杂形状为项目给人延续感和对于崎岖的周围地形的呼应。
The complex forms achieved with poured concrete lend the project a sense of consistency and a topographic quality that complements the rugged surrounding terrain.
Photograph is by Steinar Skaar
Skaar补充道:“混凝土在建筑物和露天剧场连接的工作很复杂,但我们对结果非常满意。”
“与当地的承包商一起,我们成功地达到建筑师和景观设计师所期望的品质。”
"The concrete works in connection with the building and the amphitheatre have been complicated, but we are very satisfied with the results," Skaar added.
"Together with the local contractor, we have succeeded in emphasising the qualities that the architect and the landscape architect intended."
之前的项目包括由 Peter Zumthor为历史矿山设计的细长高跷支撑的一组建筑物,以及受欢迎的瀑布附近一个可俯瞰河流的带有玻璃面板的厕所。
摄影: Lars Grimsby,标注的除外
Norway's 18 scenic routes are known for their outstanding scenery, and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration commissions leading architects to create attractions and facilities along the roads.
Previous projects have included a cluster of buildings supported by slender stilts that Peter Zumthor designed for a historic mine, and a toilet block near a popular waterfall with a glazed floor panel that looks down onto a river.
Photography is by Lars Grimsby unless stated otherwise.