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Telenor Xpress
Preliminary results 2000
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HQ FORNEBU
Designing Telenor’s new headquarters at Fornebu has been a
group project since the land was purchased in the autumn of
1997. The Telenor Fornebu project aims to create the “workplace
of the future”.
Tsunami-like curving glass façades, indoor and outdoor
boulevards, numerous cafés and restaurants, a churning
beehive of employees equipped with hot-desks, laptops
and mobile communicators: Telenor’s new headquarters
at Fornebu embodies the ergonomic and environmentally-friendly
new-economy workplace. Right now, the finished
workplace can be seen on the screen in three-dimensional
virtual reality. Construction of the glass, concrete and
steel structure began in the summer of 1999 and is scheduled
for completion in 2002 (the incremental process of
moving into completed areas starts in 2001).
A DESIGN OF, BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE
Telenor Fornebu – the future home office of approximately
7,000 Telenor employees currently working at
more than 40 Oslo area offices – will not be peopled until
autumn 2001, when Telenor Business Solutions pioneers
operations in the complex’s northwestern quarter. But,
thanks to next-generation modelling and visualisation
technology, thousands of people have had a chance to
stroll through the future 137,000m2
Telenor headquarters,
accommodating themselves to new working environments
and methods and making design suggestions.
Situated in a sylvan park area alongside the pristine Oslo
fjord at a spot previously occupied by Oslo’s Fornebu airport,
Telenor Fornebu has been designed to encourage
innovation, far-sighted planning, collaboration and environmental
performance – a workplace of the future.
The initial design of the structure resembles two cupped
hands meeting each other and can be interpreted to symbolise
the gathering of many elements into one whole. The
two complementary annexes partially enclose an open
area called Telenor Plaza, which has been designated for
foot traffic, large presentations and recreational activities.
A HIVE OF INNOVATION AND COMMUNICATION
One could compare Telenor’s vision of the workplace of
the future to a massive beehive. Cross-polination of ideas
is meant to be facilitated by an open floor plan, casual
meeting spaces and socially conducive amenities. Hotdesking,
laptops and mobile communicators will enable
work to go on wherever and whenever. Workers will hasten
off in all directions for meetings, strategy sessions and
seminars. Now, thanks to Telenor Fornebu, this can all
occur within a few acres.
PART OF AN ENVIRONMENT
Environmental performance was built into the design of
the structure and surrounding areas from day one. An
environmentally-friendly climate control system, which
uses heat drawn from the adjacent Oslo fjord, will
reduce carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and dust particle
emissions by 80 per cent compared to conventional systems.
Telenor’s ecological efforts include reusing stone
and rock excavated during construction, planting 2,500
pine trees and developing boat or bus commuting solutions.
GET INVOLVED
Visit www.telenor.no/fornebu to see what the buzz is
about on a live web-cam.
Text by: Ryan Skinner
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| THE CONSTRUCTION SITE OF THE PRESENT |
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Right now, Telenor Fornebu is one of Europe’s largest and most complex construction
sites. 1,400 construction workers are involved. 140,000 m2
of floor space. 60,000 m2
of
glass façade. Untold metric tonnes of cement, steel, wood and brick. (During construc-tion,
as many materials as possible are being culled from natural and environmentally-friendly
sources). Building the workplace of the future requires the best construction contractors
of the present, and these teams are in full swing at the Fornebu construction site.
Back in 1998, Telenor began collaborating with Silicon Graphics to bring to life the
winning Telenor HQ design from three architectural firms (two Norwegian, one American).
The resulting model has allowed Telenor employees to visit a three-dimensional
model of the structure and its surroundings and contribute to the design. The
design could thereby be modified or corrected before construction began (when
design changes get costly). In 1999 alone, more than 3,700 people visited the Visionarium
to see the Fornebu design. This democratic design concept was recognised as
“Best Technology Implementation in an Architectural Design” at the Proactive Engineering
Success Awards in Philadelphia in 1999.
Oslo’s municipal government and private sector parties have resolved to build the
Fornebu area into a hub for IT, telecommunications, hi-tech and consulting activities
– Silicon Valley at a Norwegian latitude, if you will. Plans have already been made to
construct a small IT community called IT Fornebu. Telenor takes pride in its role of
helping to establish a new centre for next-generation competence in Europe.
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