Sleth, run by architects Søren Leth and Rasmus Therkildsen won the competition with their proposal Punkt, corridor & hjerte. Hovinbyen in Oslo is a 1,100 ha big industrial area in central Oslo, Norway. The challenge in the architect competition was to create a neighborhood where people want to live, work and visit.

“When viewing Hovinbyen from above today, the first thing you see is a grey mass of industry and infrastructure. The next thing you notice is its close proximity to the center of the city. The area is extremely central, approximately a 10-minute walk from central Oslo. But today no one walks from the center to Hovinbyen, and that is what we want to change with our proposal” says Søren Leth, Architect MAA and partner in Sleth.

“The strength in our concept is the simplicity. We propose that Hovinbyen is developed in 10 “districts in the district”. These districts are connected through eight corridors, which can be anything from bicycle highways to waterways. And in the middle there will be a green heart, like Central Park in Manhattan.

By working with a point strategy, the different parts of the area get unique identities in the city. This is also how Oslo’s central districts are constructed, so our concept will be a natural development from Oslo’s structure.