Sommerlyst School

North of the arctic circle, Trespa® Meteon® panels brave the elements

Tromsø, Norway’s northernmost city, is located on an island well above the Arctic Circle. Tromsø has a population of nearly 80,000, and at such an exceptionally high latitude, there are only two other cities of similar or larger size anywhere in the world. Therefore, when Knut Brandsberg-Dahl of Filter/Arkitekter in Oslo decided to take part in the competition for a new school building, he was aware that the project would be unusual in more than one way.

“We are a fairly small architectural firm that was founded in 1999, with two partners, Thomas Lærdal and myself, and a total of ten architects. Although we do housing projects as well, public buildings feature prominently in our portfolio – and among them, educational buildings are certainly a forte”, summarises Knut Brandsberg-Dahl. “This focussed expertise is important, because all larger public projects are competitions, and we need both good ideas and excellent credentials to win them. The Sommerlyst School in Tromsø was no exception”.