OCCAS hosted the symposium “Heritage Values in Growing Cities” at AHO. Organized by Thordis Arrhenius and Lothar Diem in collaboration with Oslo municipality’s heritage management office, the event was conceived as part of officially celebrating the centenary for Norway’s Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

The symposium addressed questions on current practice in heritage management in relation to the instrumental challenges Oslo and Norway is facing today. International and local contributions discussed experiences, trends and challenges in the contemporary field of preservation and urbanism in relation to the re-use, re-programming and alteration of specifically large scale structures in the built environment. Cases discussed ranged from the housing structure Park Hill, Sheffield to the industrial site in Odda, Norway; OMA’s project on the Whitney Museum in New York, a project for Erciyes University in Turkey by Asiliskender/Arolat, and Oslo’s suburban housing projects in Lambertseter.

In five sessions, papers were presented and commented by:

– Siri Skjold Lexau (UiB): Transformation projects. From production site to postindustrial “architexture”, commented by Erik Collett (OAF);

– Jorge Otero Pailos (OCCAS, Columbia University): Architects in heritage: Context and supplement, commented by Thordis Arrhenius (OCCAS);

– David West (Studio Egret West): Falling in Love Again: Park Hill Sheffield, commented by Erik Fenstad Langdalen (AHO);

– Rikke Stenbro (NIKU): Suburban structures in the outskirts of heritage, commented by Lothar Diem (OCCAS);

– Sidsel Hindal (Arts Council Norway): Hus sier ingenting. Folk snakker. Bygningenens utsagnskraft, commented by Mette Bye (STFK).