PREIKESTIEN
FACTSHEET
PLACE: Refsvatnet, Norway
AREA: 800 m2
YEAR: 2024
CLIENT: Stiftelsen Preikestolen
TYPE: Visitor Centre
STATUS: Open international competition, proposal
COLLABORATORS: SO-LA landskapsarkitekter
TEAM: Audun Hellemo/Kristin Hilde, Ole Rydningen, Patrick Warshawski
RATING
SCALE (small>large)
STATUS (idea>built)
COMMERCIAL ($>$$$)
Proposal for a new visitor centre for Preikestolen – the pulpit rock being one of the most spectacular natural wonders of Norway. The visitor centre provides facilities for visitors at the start of the hike with cafe, shop and restrooms in an intimate spatial setting that both gives shelter and opens up to the spectacular view of the nearby lake. By linking two new public spaces – the entrance plaza where the hike starts and the welcome back plaza where you return after the hike – with a more intimate street, the different programs of the visitor centre attach to the visitor experience. In this way, the visitor centre becomes an integrated part of the hiking experience, providing efficient logistics to the large number of visitors while maintaining a village experience different from the large parking lots in the area today.
The visitor centre establishes a clear meeting point at the start of the hike, a new public space that differs from the extensive parking areas.
Instead of seeing the visitor centre as a building, the program is organized as pit stops on a hike, where visitors stop by according to needs and interest.
Site plan showing the two public spaces linked by the visitor centre street
The size of the program clogs the situation
Existing path is used as the organizing principle with the program around it
The volumes are shifted and linked to the two new public spaces
The volumes are adjusted to the topography and the views
Heights of buildings are adjusted to the programmatic requirements
A common roofscape keeps the project together and creates sheltered outdoor spaces
Plan with numbers indicating the sequence of experiences (below)
Arriving at the visitor centre from the parking lot, the visitor centre establishes a new meeting point and shows a clear direction for the hike ahead.
Shop, cafe, meeting facilities and restrooms open up towards the public street through the visitor centre, gradually opening up to the view as you walk through.
Covered outdoor spaces provide shelter regardless of opening hours
Returning from the hike, visitors are welcomed by the cafe overlooking the lake with spectacular views and integrated benches, and nets for resting in the sun.
