MOHOLT STUDENT HOUSING AND KINDERGARTEN
Type Invited competition 2013, 1st prize
Team MDH Architects and Arne Henriksen Architects
Role Consultant landscape design
Client SiT, Studentsamskipnaden in Trondheim
Size 145.000 m2, 63.000 m2 new build
Project Start 2013
Status Completed
The student city of Moholt was built in the characteristic style of the 1960ies. In present day opinion it seems as an uninspiring landscape devoid of natural meeting places and lost in the time it was built.
With simple design interventions we bring Moholt back into present time by preserving the best kept buildings while demolishing carefully selected parts of the area in order to create room for new buildings introducing new ways of living and creating a varied neighbourhood with life throughout the day. Almenningen, a blanket square stretched out between the new tall rise buildings creates a city centre and a place to meet in Moholt. New functions, such as a library, barbecue areas, laundry and comfortable bespoke seating throughout provides the square with content and purpose for students and visitors.
From the Almenning a custom ramp and stair solution leads up to the kindergarten and its playground with great views over the Almenning and the surrounding Trondheim area. The playground has a variety of areas with different functions scattered around the building and uses the natural sloping landscape to create exiting ways of play for the children.
The new student city of Moholt is one of the largest in Trondheim with approximately 1600 apartments, 2 kindergartens, library, offices and commercial buildings.
Close collaboration between the student council of Trondheim, the entrepreneur, architects, engineers and us as the landscape consultants has moved this early phase tender project from a landscape lost in the past to an attractive and contemporary part of the city, already winning national awards. Since the competition phase the project has changed a great deal, but the spirit from the competition has been preserved.
Natural materials and bespoke solutions for terrain drops, seating, paving and signage have challenged the entrepreneur but also added personality and atmosphere to the area. Everything has been carried out with attention to the climate zone of Trondheim from securing areas for snow storage, adding robust yet interesting plantings and using terrain, plantings and buildings to create sheltered pocket spaces prolonging the outdoor season.
