The programme for the National Museum for Pop and Rock Music was twice as big as the protected structure designated to house it. Architects Pir II solved the problem with a strategy of clear contrast and bold volumes.
Rockheim is located at Brattøra, and is one of the first projects of a larger urban transformation effort.
The programme was twice as big as the total area of the existing warehouse. The solution was the added box on top. A new performance stage is located in the adjacent box.
The starting point for Pir II’s competition-winning project is a flour warehouse from 1920. Given the extensive programme, the additional area was located in separate boxes: one on the roof and one alongside. The original roof structure was demolished, but the intact parapet traces the outline of the original volume.
Public functions are located in visible areas on ground level or at the top, while staff areas are on the middle levels. The new volumes are clearly separate from the existing. The top box is covered in glass panels printed with album covers from the history of Norwegian pop music, illuminated with shifting colours at night. The lower box, a music venue, will be covered with climbing plants. Inside, the smooth new elements contrast the rough concrete of the existing structure.
Landscaping: Between Rockheim and the old Customs House in the Brattøra harbourside district of Trondheim, Agraff AS have designed a new robust and flexible urban park. The area is both an extension of the activities of Rockheim, and part of a new public space, an axis opening up Brattøra to the fjord.
The whole park is covered in one sheet of undulating concrete, with expansion joints picked out in red. Groups of trees and red fibreglass seating and skating elements create smaller places for a number of activities. A green and red “A-ha” steel screen cuts the area off from a busy through road to the southeast.