A-lab brings Oslo to Paris. The history of the Norwegian architectural office A-lab can be seen as a reflection of the recent development of the city of Oslo. The firm was established 20 years ago as an architecture laboratory to challenge traditional approach to architecture. They saw the need for new methods to achieve the innovations required in what to A-lab saw as the power of architecture: to both improve the quality of life for its users and futureproof tomorrow’s society. They saw a bigger potential power of architecture: To improve the quality of life for its users and futureproof tomorrow’s society. Innovations were needed, but this also required new methods. Rising to the challenge, A-lab shifted the focus from “the object” to collaborative processes. Twenty years later, their projects show how these collaborations have enabled them to break new ground again and again - in different scales, from urban plans to façade elements.

“The city between the blue and the green” was set as direction for the development Europe’s fastest growing capital around year 2000; reconnecting Oslo to the fjord and maintaining the forest around it. The shift from a port city to a fjord city has ignited a paradigm shift in which one of the pivotal ideas is multifunctional areas. This vision has survived political changes and has been refined over time, much thanks to close public-private cooperation. The exhibition displays A-lab’s processes through sketches, concept diagrams, models and images. It presents how the studio’s alternativeness has resulted in projects that not only mirrors Oslo’s new era of urban development, but also how A-lab has influenced the paradigm shift towards well-functioning streetscapes and drawing nature and water into them.