Change to english

New Nordic Pavillion

The pavilion at Oslo National Museum brings New Nordic from the Plate to the City

Curious for more?

Aaste Gulden Sakya

Project Manager, Landscape Architect

+47 93034071

ags@sla.dk

Location

Oslo, Norway

Year

May 22 — September 14, 2025

Client

Nasjonalmuseet Oslo

Role

Landscape Architect

Partners & Collaborators

Dyvik Kahlen, Skaaret Landskap

Challenges

Typology

The “New Nordic” exhibition at the National Museum in Oslo takes visitors from the Michelin kitchen out into the urban realm. On the museum square, a specially designed pavilion offers a taste of New Nordic City Nature.

SLA and Dyvik Kahlen made a specially designed pavilion for the museum square that takes visitors from the Michelin kitchen out into the urban realm – offering a taste of New Nordic City Nature.

The planting features local species from the Oslo region – many of them edible, and among those used in New Nordic cuisine.

The pavilion consists of four main elements: a long wooden shelving structure, a large roof, a beach landscape, and a forest landscape. The planting features local species from Oslo – many of them edible, and among those used in New Nordic cuisine.

The pavilion’s roof hosts coastal vegetation found along Oslo’s shores and islands, including sea kale, angelica, and wild garlic. On the other side of the pavilion is a hilly landscape covering a root cellar. The Oslo forests inspire the vegetation here and includes rowan, heather, pine, and ramson.

“Just as the food movement has shown the value of the local and rooted, we aim to do the same in the urban realm – with nature as co-creator. It’s not just about aesthetics, but about building places that strengthen biodiversity, make our cities more resilient to climate change, and support people’s connection to nature.”

— E.C. Forfang, Lead Designer and Associate Partner, SLA

Throughout the summer 2025, the pavilion will host a large program of events, including foraging tours, lectures, and meals prepared by renowned chefs. The events aim to provide opportunities for learning, experience, and reflection.

“This pavilion doesn’t just look back at the past 20 years – it also points ahead. In many Norwegian cities, urban space design is still marked by old habits, with little room for local and wild nature. Here, we hope to inspire a new kind of urban nature – more sensuous, more place-specific, and more life-giving,” says E.C. Forfang, Lead Designer and Associate Partner, SLA.

Fundamentals

Come explore the fundamentals of our office together with us

fund. 26

Sound

“Sound. The soundtrack of our lives often passes us by without us noticing. But I have begun noticing the poetry of the noises around me. The rhythm and the song of the poet. The calling…

Read more

fund. 20

Sakuteiki
– The Book of Garden

Sakuteki – The Book of Garden is a manual, a textbook for Japanese gardeners in the 11th century. This introduction sounds like this: “In making the garden, you should first understand the overall principles. According…

Read more

fund. 27

White

“In the beginning was chaos. While the universe began to expand after Big Bang it also decreased in temperature. It became more and more ordered. With that order, the Universe changed its background colour toward…

Read more

fund. 19

Essay: The Bark Room

“Bark is both living and dead, growing and cracking, a shell, a protective layer and an integral part of the wood’s tissue. It’s the bark structure and the way it peels, which separates the different…

Read more

fund. 25

Roots

“A tree consists of three parts: Its foliage, its trunk, and its roots. All three parts are important for the aesthetic feeling of nature. But of these three I find the roots most intriguing, most…

Read more

fund. 26

Atmosphere

“Atmosphere is a thin film of enclosure around our world. Without our vaporous, water filled atmosphere, life on Earth – or indeed life anywhere – would not exist. But atmosphere is also what you sense…

Read more

fund. 12

Mist

Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where warm, moist air meets sudden cooling, such as…

Read more