C.F. Møller Share First Prize in Kristiansund Opera and Culture Centre Competition

C. F. Møller Architects has won a shared first prize in the competition for the new Kristiansund Opera and Culture Centre.

The vision of the new Opera House is to create a cultural power centre in Kristiansund, which has the oldest opera tradition in Norway and every year hosts the Opera Festival Weeks - one of Scandinavia's largest opera festivals.

C. F. Møller Architects has won a shared first prize in the competition for the new Kristiansund Opera and Cultural Centre. Kristiansund is the capital of the region of Nordmøre, west of Trondheim.

Kristiansund Opera and Cultural Centre will house Norway's oldest opera, dating back to 1805, which every year arranges the Opera Festival Weeks - Norway's largest and most comprehensive presentation of opera and musical theatre. Furthermore it is intended to be the new cultural power centre of Kristiansund - a landmark to the entire region.

Apart from the opera the new cultural centre will house a ballet centre, library, college centre, conference rooms, a restaurant, and a café. The task has been to integrate two existing buildings, one of them the former Folkets Hus, in the new and create a vibrant urban space around the building by connecting the cultural centre with the pedestrian streets, squares and a nearby park.

Kulturkvartalet, as the project made by C. F. Møller Architects is called, unites the different cultural functions in a dynamic and creative environment, centred round the main concert hall. The concert hall has been designed to offer sublime acoustics and super flexible theatre settings.

"Working on the project has been a very inspiring process so far. We have clearly sensed the tradition and pride, that the project is founded on," states partner Klaus Toustrup.

The Kristiansund Opera is one of several significant cultural buildings designed by C. F. Møller Architects in recent years. These include the Darwin Centre in London, the cocoon shaped extension of the Natural History Museum in London, which contains both Darwin's unique collection and a world-leading science research centre research facilities. C. F. Møller Architects has also been responsible for extension of the Concert Hall Aarhus, which has been doubled in size with a new Symphonic Hall with sublime acoustics and facilities for the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Academy of Music. Furthermore the company has won first prize in the competition for the new Odense Music and Theatre Hall, a cultural centre with four halls and facilities for the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music.

Shared first prize

The other first prize in the competition for the Kristiansund Opera and Cultural Centre goes to the Norwegian firm Space Group in collaboration with the London firm Brisac Gonzales for their project "Silencio".

The two winning teams will now go into a clarification process before one of the parties is entrusted with the task.

The other participants in the contest were:

Snøhetta AS, Jarmund / Vigsnæs AS Architects in collaboration with Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB and a team consisting of Nordplan, 70 ° nord architecture, and Mestre Waag Arquitectes.

The inauguration of the Kristiansund Opera and Cultural Centre is planned to take place in 2013.