© Norsk Teknisk Museum/Sparebankstiftelsen, photo by Teigens Fotoatelier, 1969
Oslo’s Y-block

After starting a compaign in 2015, Docomomo International asks for your attention and consideration regarding the threat the Y-block in Oslo, Norway, is facing.

The building was designed by Erling Viksjø, with contributions by Carl Nesjar and Pablo Picasso, to complement the monumental high-rise H-block, also by Viksjø. Both buildings are part of the government quarter of Oslo.
The Directorate for Cultural Heritage proposed in June 2011 to list both buildings as protected monuments. That process was brought to a halt on 22 July, when the building was whitness to a terrorist attack.

Highlithing the special features of the building, in the petition can be read:
“The Y-block is one of Viksjø’s most beautiful buildings that is constructed in Naturbetong, a special concrete casting technique he developed together with engineer Sverre Jystad that was patented in 1955/-57. The possibilities that lay in this new material with sandblasted surfaces were decisive for Picasso’s contribution and lead to a 17-year long collaboration with the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar. The development of Naturbetong with its integration of art is a unique contribution to Norwegian and international modernism. Only one more building worldwide, the House of Architects in Barcelona, have this kind of integral art by Picasso and Nesjar in public space.”

The architectural and artistic value of the buildings are, therefore, well documented and unquestionable. However, the Norwegian Government is again putting forward the demolition of this historic building.

A petition to save the Y-building can be signed here

Docomomo International supports the ongoing efforts by ICOMOS, ISC20C and ICOMOS Norway, in the sense of protecting and fighting for the preservation of the Y-Block.

For more information provided by ICOMOS-ISC20C, please see: here

To keep up with this campaign please visit ´Save Oslos Y-Block´ facebook page: link