Norwegian-based firm A-lab and Danish-based SEA have just sent us their winning entry for a competition focusing on a new urban development in Skien Brygge, Norway. The project comprises the transformation of a former harbour area into a new urban community. The four-hectare large harbour site is framed by the water towards the west and a steeply rising landscape towards the east. Skien is one of the oldest cities in Norway established around 1000AD. It is the 11th largest city in Norway with approximately 50.000 inhabitants. Historically Skien is shaped by the development of the harbour and the activities on the waterway.
Here are A-Lab and SEA explaining their concept:

Building a sustainable urban community
The city is – and has always been – characterized by changes. Cities are living organisms that develop according to changes in the financial, technological, and social conditions. The strong point of the city is its diversity, which facilitates meetings between people across interests, age, social status and religious affiliation. The city is a meeting place. We believe successful urban planning takes as a starting point the social interaction between people. ‘A city is a human settlement in which strangers are likely to meet’ [from ‘Fall of public man’ – Richard Sennett]