Lagunen II: Redefining the Relationship Between Climate and Urban Functions
Design Responsive to Climate and Community
According to the architects, in Bergen, one of Europe’s rainiest cities, the Danish firm BIOSIS executed the Lagunen II project as an expansion of Norway’s largest shopping center.
Adapting to the Urban Environment
The expansion spans 15,000 square meters and aims to redefine the role of the contemporary shopping center. Rather than serving solely as a traditional retail space, the area is designed as an open, luminous urban environment that interacts directly with the local coastal climate while respecting the daily rhythms of the surrounding neighborhood.
Towards a Sustainable and Integrated Environment
This design reflects a philosophy that combines environmental adaptation with social functionality, aiming to enhance visitors’ experiences by integrating natural light and open spatial flows, making the center more than just a shopping destination, it becomes an integral part of the city’s urban fabric.
Turning Weather into a Design Catalyst
Instead of viewing heavy rainfall as a limitation, BIOSIS embraced Bergen’s rain as a driving factor to guide the architectural design.
The Suspended Roof: Protection and Light
The bold suspended roof serves as the project’s signature; it acts as a wide canopy protecting public spaces, while the warm wooden cavities diffuse soft light toward the city. In this way, a microclimate is created that provides shelter for users, allowing street life to continue and thrive even during prolonged periods of rain.
Blending Interior and Exterior
Traditional boundaries between interior and exterior fade through the use of transparent façades, deep extensions, and porous ground-level fronts. This integration allows residents and visitors to move seamlessly through public squares, cafés, and pedestrian streets, emphasizing a connected and open urban experience.
The Central Courtyard: Heart of Natural Light
At the core of the expansion lies a luminous central courtyard that draws daylight deep into the building, ensuring abundant natural light even during Bergen’s short winter days. This design reflects a precise architectural understanding of the city’s environment and climate.
Vertical Organization of Programs
Around the courtyard, programs are organized vertically in a way that mirrors intensive use and public space interaction:
- Lower and middle floors: House retail shops, restaurants, and cafés at street level, creating continuous, multifunctional activity.
- Upper floors: Feature flexible office spaces that balance openness and privacy while maintaining visual connectivity and vibrancy below.
Enhancing Interaction Between Functions
Shared facilities are designed to encourage interaction between different activities throughout the day, reflecting a vision for a dynamic urban environment that supports a balance between work, shopping, and social life.
A Multi-Use Urban Hub
The result is an urban environment that goes beyond traditional retail patterns. By integrating workspaces, hospitality, restaurants, and entertainment venues within a cohesive framework, the Lagunen II project transforms into a vibrant, multi-use core that serves the surrounding residential neighborhood.
Supporting Continuous Activity
The design encourages activity from morning until evening, making the building an essential part of residents’ daily lives rather than a standalone commercial entity. This approach reflects a shift in the concept of modern shopping centers toward social and functional sustainability.
Climate Responsiveness and Sustainability
Attention to climate extends throughout the project. Horizontal aluminum fins, some made from recycled materials, provide precise sun protection, reducing reliance on air conditioning and enhancing thermal comfort.
Blending Nature and Architecture
Planted balconies and green walls enhance biodiversity and mitigate the visual mass of the building. The design gives equal priority to light, air, and environmental performance alongside functional programs, making the interior experience connected to the surrounding environment.
Long-Term Efficiency
The project aims for an A energy rating and BREEAM In-Use certification, reflecting its focus on long-term sustainability and operational efficiency, positioning the building as a model of environmentally responsible urban design.
Enhancing the Social Role of the Center
Knut Eliassen, CEO of Lagunen Storsenter, points out that the project’s architectural approach reinforces the shopping center’s social role, emphasizing that Lagunen II was designed not merely to attract shoppers but to act as an active element in the daily life of the surrounding neighborhood.
A Model for Multi-Functional Urban Life
With more than 200 businesses across the original center and the new expansion, Lagunen now welcomes millions of visitors annually. The design has positioned the new extension as both a regional destination and a community gathering point, illustrating how large-scale shopping centers can adapt to urban and climatic changes.
Design in Harmony with the Climate
By designing with the weather rather than against it, BIOSIS presents a model showing how multi-use architecture can be flexible, open, and socially rooted, contributing to a more sustainable future and fostering a stronger connection between the building and the community.
✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight
The Lagunen II project can be seen as a model demonstrating an attempt to integrate the local climate with multiple urban functions within a single framework, with several points worth noting. On a positive note, the project reflects a clear understanding of the importance of natural light and open public spaces, enhancing the visitor experience and creating visual connections between interior and exterior.
However, questions remain regarding the effectiveness of this integration in other contexts or cities with different climatic and cultural conditions, as architectural solutions heavily reliant on natural light and a central courtyard may not be equally applicable in denser environments or areas with less daylight. Additionally, the vertical organization of floors and functions may pose challenges related to privacy and visual comfort, particularly on upper levels that combine offices with active spaces below.
On the other hand, the project draws architectural interest through its integration of nature and transparent façades with biodiversity and the urban environment, which can be considered a starting point for rethinking future multi-use projects. Yet, the heavy reliance on a design tailored to the local climate may limit the project’s long-term flexibility, especially with changing climatic conditions or evolving needs of the local community.
Overall, Lagunen II provides important lessons on the interaction between climate and urban functions, while also highlighting the need for more diverse and flexible design strategies that can be applied in different urban contexts, balancing social activity with environmental sustainability.
