The desire to understand the natural world has always been at the heart of human innovation but has gained critical urgency as globalism accelerates the cycle between our impact on the world and the world’s impact on us. The new veterinary building opened in late 2021 and was conceived with this cycle in mind. The 63,000 square meters building, the largest public building in Norway, located at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences NMBU’s Campus Ås, brings together both research facilities and teaching space for veterinary medicine. The new Veterinary Building at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences - Campus Ås opened on 1 September 2021 for 690 students and almost 855 employees.The Veterinary Building at Campus Ås is in fact eight distinct but linked buildings, uniting previously disparate resources, some of which were in Oslo, 30km to the north of NMBU’s main campus. Developed in collaboration with Multiconsult, Fabel Arkitekter, Link Landskap, and Erichsen + Horgen, the project is one of the largest and most complex construction projects ever undertaken in Norway. How do you design world-class research and learning facility, where people and animals can co-exist in a potential infectious and hazardous environment? The Norwegian government has set out to become one of the leading nations in education and research in biosafety and the spread of infectious diseases, and the new Veterinary Building at the Norwegian University of Life Science is designed to fulfil this ambition. The project is a bridging of gaps between great and small, hazardous and safe, clinical and human, isolated and connected. Despite the scale of the volume, which packs over 2,400 rooms into the building’s 63,000m2 of occupiable floorspace, the interiors at the Veterinary Building at Campus Ås feel almost cozy. The building rarely rises over four stories and is subdivided into eight wings which are themselves distributed between the building’s two primary programs: the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and the Norwegian University of Life Science. Situated in an open landscape of soft hills, the long and low profile of Campus Ås allows it to fit in to its campus surroundings while still standing out. The façade is built up of over 300,000 hand-cut bricks, each coal fired to give them an individual sheen and texture. The reddish-brown hue of the bricks also match the surrounding campus structures, some of which date back to the campus’ foundation in 1859. Native plantings surround the bulk of the new building and can also be found up above, where sedum roofs support a prosperous insect habitat.
The desire to understand the natural world has always been at the heart of human innovation but has gained critical urgency as globalism accelerates the cycle between our impact on the world and the world’s impact on us. The new veterinary building opened in late 2021 and was conceived with this cycle in mind. The 63,000 square meters building, the largest public building in Norway, located at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences NMBU’s Campus Ås, brings together both research facilities and teaching space for veterinary medicine. The new Veterinary Building at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences - Campus Ås opened on 1 September 2021 for 690 students and almost 855 employees.The Veterinary Building at Campus Ås is in fact eight distinct but linked buildings, uniting previously disparate resources, some of which were in Oslo, 30km to the north of NMBU’s main campus. Developed in collaboration with Multiconsult, Fabel Arkitekter, Link Landskap, and Erichsen + Horgen, the project is one of the largest and most complex construction projects ever undertaken in Norway. How do you design world-class research and learning facility, where people and animals can co-exist in a potential infectious and hazardous environment? The Norwegian government has set out to become one of the leading nations in education and research in biosafety and the spread of infectious diseases, and the new Veterinary Building at the Norwegian University of Life Science is designed to fulfil this ambition. The project is a bridging of gaps between great and small, hazardous and safe, clinical and human, isolated and connected. Despite the scale of the volume, which packs over 2,400 rooms into the building’s 63,000m2 of occupiable floorspace, the interiors at the Veterinary Building at Campus Ås feel almost cozy. The building rarely rises over four stories and is subdivided into eight wings which are themselves distributed between the building’s two primary programs: the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and the Norwegian University of Life Science. Situated in an open landscape of soft hills, the long and low profile of Campus Ås allows it to fit in to its campus surroundings while still standing out. The façade is built up of over 300,000 hand-cut bricks, each coal fired to give them an individual sheen and texture. The reddish-brown hue of the bricks also match the surrounding campus structures, some of which date back to the campus’ foundation in 1859. Native plantings surround the bulk of the new building and can also be found up above, where sedum roofs support a prosperous insect habitat.
