The plan sketch and scale model from our project Geopark are now on view at MoMA in New York.

Geopark is a playground of transformed technology, formed by the recycled remnants of the oil industry in Stavanger, Norway’s oil capital. Elements waiting on the landbases outside the city and that are no longer needed, such as bright orange buoys, salvaged pipelines, and recycled drilling platforms, are moulded into a miniature recreation of the vast natural gas and oil field reservoir known as Troll. The geological layers hidden under the seabed are revealed through the playful topography of the park.

The transformation project was initiated by Helen & Hard and completed back in 2008. It was intended as a one year installation only. Yet today, 17 years later, this playground of oil industry artefacts still stands strong. It is a groundbreaking exploration of how Stavanger could transition from an oil-fuelled past into something more sustainable. A tangible and interactive example, Geopark sets a precedent in showing how all the technological innovation and expertise that the oil industry has provided can be reused to create a greener and more meaningful future. The design process involved workshops with the community and brought children on board. The aim was to invite a sense of curiosity and wonder, and to encourage involvement in shaping one’s own environment.

The works can be viewed as part of the Down to Earth exhibition, on Floor 2, Room 216, MoMA.

In the partnership between Helen & Hard and NEB-STAR, JammerJam shows an example of how more stakeholders can be included in early conversations about future development in a neighbourhood.

The film documents a process on-site inside a workshop. Here we draw and discuss a basis for a vision of the neighbourhood’s future, together with the municipality, a landowner, a developer, neighbours, a social entrepreneur, an artist and architect.

With drawing as a tool, architects can contribute to more inclusive processes and the concretisation of sustainability with aesthetics as a driving force.

Watch the film here: JammerJam

Film by Moxey.

Excerpt from the publishers, TC Cuadernos:

In this new volume of Contemporary Architectures, we explore Norwegian architectural identity through a careful selection of projects spanning different generations of architects.

Norwegian architecture is characterized by a deep connection to nature, articulated through local materials – especially wood – and a minimalist approach that combines tradition and modernity. Its essence lies in the work with natural light and the care given to consider the natural and urban context of a site.

The concept of folkelynne, used by Johan Ellefsen in 1927, serves as a common thread, highlighting the connection between man and his local context. Architects such as Espen Surnevik and Helen & Hard materialize it in projects such as the PAN Tree Cabins or the Woodnest Hotel Cabin, where respect for the natural context becomes the guiding principle of the design.

“Wood can connect the simple and the sublime.”

Louisiana Channel introduces – “We went to Norway to meet one of the rising stars in international architecture, Helen & Hard. With their insistence on community, sustainability and predominant usage of wood, they not only try to renew architecture itself but the way we live.“

Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf were interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner at various locations in and around Stavanger, Norway, in August 2022.

Camera: Simon Weyhe
Edited by: Simon Weyhe
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2022

Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling and Fritz Hansen. This film is supported by Dreyersfond.