Interior photo of Finn's Bakery by Helen and Hard Architects.

Finn’s Bakery

A new bakery in Stavanger’s historic center

This combined cafe and bakery is located among the historic wooden houses of Stavanger’s town center. The main challenges accomplished during this project include the conservation of 3 existing historical houses and the insertion of a brand new commercial use, all whilst keeping the historical soul of the site.

The challenge was to rebuild and extend three traditional structures into an expansive and functionally continuous space – unobstructed by columns. At the same time, it was our aim to to exploit the complex structural character of the buildings.

This was achieved by opening the ground floor of all buildings and constructively utilising the old timber dividing walls and sections of the joists. In this way the structural obstructions were removed from the ground floor, allowing the three buildings to hover over the site.

Each house demarcates its own separate functional area: the cafe in the corner house, purchasing and sales in the middle building, and the bakery and personnel department in the third and what was previously a residential building.

Sections of traditional surfaces have been exposed to view and are combined with new materials. In accordance with the wishes of the client, the interior is inspired by a “cake aesthetic”. The sales counters are made of adaptable crates, enameled to simulate the glazed colours of icing. Cake shapes are moulded into the concrete floor, the tabletops are curved and painted in ice-cream colours, and the lighting strips are moulded into the shape of doughnuts.

The wooden facade in the middle has been dismantled and replaced with a large glass facade that projects the site towards the town’s main market square, defining a new main entrance.

Exterior photo of Finn's Bakery by Helen and Hard Architects.

Team

Helen & Hard Reinhard Kropf, Ane Skarpnes Dahl, Siv Helene Stangeland

Ane Skarpnes Dahl

Senior Architect

Reach out to Ane to learn more about the project.

(+47) 406 406 81
ad@hha.no