Projects
Bliss
We are Bliss; we create spaces and deliver dreams;
Our hallmark is simple; innovative, intelligent and efficient thinking that delivers elegant, contemporary home and work environments; Spaces for Life
We are a fusion of professional and entrepreneurial cultures with a history forged by technical and creative intelligence and underpinned by decades of professional property experience. Our repertoire incorporates striking work spaces, homes of significance and vivacious retail and leisure destinations.
We spend our lives in built spaces, so why settle for a place less ordinary?
Naust paa Aure
Traditionally the Norwegian boathouse (naust) was a place for the family to store their boat and fishing equipment. The buildings had a rectangular plan to suit the shape of the boat and were typically placed just above sea level at high tide. The gable facing the sea was fitted with two large doors that would enable the boat to be moved in and out.
Because of the practical need for storing fish and drying up equipment, the nausts were never made airtight or insulated. Even though storage of the boat still is the main use during the winter, these buildings transform into recreational spaces in the summer.
The Naust paa Aure is located in Møre og Romsdal county, a remote area of Norway. Originally there was an old naust at the site which had to be torn down because of its bad state. The distinct qualities of the old naust became key aspects when designing the new building. The basic shape and size, the climatic adaptation and the material use has roots hundreds of years back through the building tradition of the Norwegian fishermen.
Farris Bath
The modern spahotel Farris Bath was built on historical grounds, at HRH King Haakons’ “Farris Spring”. This natural source and the “Farris Mineral Water” became well known among doctors and wealthy people during the 19th century, for its positive health effect. It was sold both as bathing water and in bottles for drinking.
Farris Bad Spa Hotel is mainly designed and built with local manpower and raw materials (ex. local beech and “larvikitt” stone), and with great respect for both the local- and the global environment.
The building itself gives an impression of transparency, and is a great ambassador of Nordic engineering, architecture and craftsmanship. It seems to be floating in the air above the beach, streching its long arms out into nothingness.
The building has a rectangular shape, with an atrium that opens south towards The Larvik Fjord. It consists of two twofloored wings, and being perched on stilts, half the hotel is literarily situated "in" the water. Dividing the levels and lifting them up increases the sense of purity and closeness to nature which is the very essence of spa.
The Nansen Park, Fornebu
The total transformation of the former Fornebu International Airport into a green and active public Park by the Oslo Fjord. The Nansen Park, named after the great Norwegian explorer, Fridtjof Nansen, is now the beating heart of a new living- and recreational area, literarily on the waterfront of the peninsula Snarøya just outside of Oslo.
Water is the main visual element, with a new large pond in the centre. The Nansen Park has a clear eco-profile, visible through the use of local vegetation and eco-friendly Kebony wood in all the installations.
Kragerø Spa & Resort
Spas are a quite new phenomenon in Norway, and have only recently been defined with its own architectural language: Lund Hagem Architects from Oslo have shown the “Norwegian way” by designing Kragerø Spa & Hotel Resort.
The plot was already decided when the architects started their work. The spahotel was to be built in the hillside of a very undulate and wooded area. This added an extra sting of challenge, as the large project should contain more than 230 rooms and separate apartments, preferably with a view, it should also have a full spa department, in addition to an easily accessible 18-hole golf course.
The architects found the solution in building the hotel as a semi-levelled quadrate, constructed on and in the small hill towards the fjord, with the landscape and parts of the golf course drawn in underneath the body of the construction. This way they could meet the demands of a main view towards the picturesque village of Kragerø, facing north, at the same time as the apartments should be facing south to get maximum benefit from the sun.
The buildings are semi-transparent, built in different, separate levels. Some of them have been drawn into the terrain and “disguised” with traditional grass roofing. An all-year-outdoor spa area has been possible using open facades in addition to outdoor sauna, pool and jacuzzis. The pool continues from the indoor part and out in the open, and you can literarily swim on the edge of the hill.
- It was very interesting to design a project this size into the landscape. It was almost like creating a small town, says architect Einar Hagem.
Kragerø Spa & Resort Hotel has set an example of how to combine a natural choice of high quality materials, in creating a quiet and relaxing environment for many people at the same time. The appearance is light, natural, Nordic and elegant.
Windy Dubois SR52 Black Bird
“Windy Boats www.windy.no and Hans Jørgen Johnsen have joined forces with world renowned yacht designer Ed Dubois http://www.duboisyachts.com/ArchitectureAndDesign/
to produce a stunning new 16.10 metre Super Tender:
– The “Windy Dubois SR 52 Blackbird”.
Combining the exceptional design flair of Dubois with the superb build-quality, production capability and performance of the Windy brand, the elegant yet uncompromising SR 52 is guaranteed to turn heads as it delivers guests ashore in unprecedented style, speed and comfort.
Sporting triple IPS 600 Volvo Penta diesel engines, the SR 52 shall boast a top speed of 46 knots, and cruising speed of 40 knots. It is also told to deliver effortless maneuverability and stability at low speeds, thanks to Volvo’s joystick control.
With a 4.5m beam, the cockpit offers generous seating including three separate racing chairs at the helm and three standing sports chairs with bimini shade.
The open, walk-around teak deck also features a raised foredeck, and additional seating, sun lounger and hydraulic bathing ladder aft – perfect for race spectating, swimming or picnicking at anchorage. A head with shower is located below decks, along with a double berth.
One of the new generation of leaner, greener Windy models, the SR 52 employs vacuum injected moulding to produce a lighter, more fuel-efficient hull with a range of 450-480 miles. The sleek lines and rakish sheer of the SR 52’s distinctive hull will deliver an exhilarating but stable and dry ride”.
Villa Malla
Total refurbishment of an old beach hotel and the surrounding area, in the Oslo fjord, about an hour’s drive south of Oslo. Villa Malla has been transformed into a contemporary international restaurant and place for the public with an exotic touch. It has a very popular outdoor recreational area at the very seafront, with a sandy white beach and exotic palmtrees.
- The owners like to refer to it an open space for the public, to make people understand that this great place is for everybody. You can choose whether you want to bring your own food while you spend an hour or a day, or enjoy what their international kitchen can offer you.
The restaurant and conference centre in combination with the palm beach, the port and the helipad, make Villa Malla an attractive and easily accessible destination. The owners are famous chefs with som many years in the game that they never doubted any do's and don'ts during this huge, constantly ongoing refurbishing project.
- We know how we need things to be able to work, and to make our guests happy, owner Sonja Lee says.
- This is the 7th place we have built from scratch. Functionality is extremely important in a long and busy season, but we also both have a need of being surrounded by beautiful and artistic materials.
Solvik Boats
Pål Vedner was inspired to reintroduce charm, elegance and atmosphere into boat life after a trip to Italy.
He teamed up with the naval architect Øystein Jaer, and together they made a beautiful traditional looking shoreboat, with hidden forces and surprising qualities. They hope to meet the demands of the modern boat owner - merging the best, from old times and new.
-It all comes down to wanting to enjoy boat life like we did in the old days, rather than just using the boats for transportation.
Pål Vedner first thought of the idea in the summer of 1999 in Portofino, Italy. He was really enjoying a boat trip in an open, italian “gozzo”, and started wondering where and how he could find boats like that in Scandnavia. He soon realized that there weren't any. Times had changed, and the nordic coastline is filled with speedboats; According to Vedner and Jaer, many of them lacking aesthetics, comfort and style.
The two entrepreneurs decided to take a grip, and the 22’ shoreboat was launched in the summer of 2009.
Solvik is being produced at a small wharf on the island of Nøtterøy, an hours drive south of Oslo, along the Oslo fjord.
The result is astonishing. People literarily turn their heads and gasp at the beauty and speed of this new "Queen of the Norwegian shores".
Helle School
This is a new elementary school for 280 students, built to replace two existing schools.
It is situated in a natural and undulate area with great possibilities for outdoor activities
"The main building is long, and streches its two arms out to embrace the students and other visitors to the school”, according to the architects.
The fasade is divided by a combination of big areas of stained glass, environmentally friendly Kebony cladding, stone cladding and coloured wooden laminated plates. All the classrooms face southeast, all assembly rooms face northwest.
The surrounding nature is being used actively by Helle school. Gangways from the back side of the building give the students easy access to the forest, where they are met by outdoor classrooms with benches and decking
Kebony – Naturally Norway
The “Kebony - Naturally Norway” Show Garden is the combined vision of designer Darren Saines and revolutionary Norwegian wood company Kebony.
Darren’s design philosophy was to create a nature-inspired garden grown to flourish in and resist the diverse Nordic climate with plants chosen for their unusual natural shapes and structures. The garden was designed to reflect the unique landscape of Norway - from flora and fauna to fjords.
The stunning Norwegian flora illustrates an undulating valley region with deciduous and evergreen trees. The planted areas was defined by natural stone with a centrepiece of a dramatic 40-year-old stunted pine tree set in natural larvikitt – The Norwegian national stone.
A sleek central pavilion with a ‘living cube’ is a space that adapts to the seasons, immersing the senses outdoors. Designed as an extension of the home for use throughout the year the structure features intriguing applications – a discreet kitchen, shower and even day bed. An undulating water feature surrounds the pavilion reflecting the tranquil Norwegian fjords.
Creative, yet subtle solutions to protecting the environment are intrinsic to the design. Kebony wood is used as a sustainable alternative to tropical timber for the decking and pavilion structure while energy is created from bio ethanol burners.
Recycled glass was used within the living cube, tinted to provide unusual lighting effects, and self cleaning for low maintenance. Natural slate was applied to terraced areas and granite from Southern Norway for its unique pearly façade. Even the boundary walls were constructed from an eco-product called Durisol, blocks made from 80% recycled wood, linked together like Lego.
360º Virtual tour here.
Knarvik Kindergarden
Mr. Thomas Tysseland has designed a new kindergarden for 150 children. The property of 8000 m2 is situated in a wooded, undulate area, and the kindergarten was to be integrated as much as possible into the terrain. M3 architects have a policy of, and long experience in working with “passive houses” with highly sustainable materials.
- The topography, and the fact that this was to be used by children, gave the inspiration to use the principals of Rubik’s Snake in the design of the buildings. When you twist the plastic snake, you get a unique shape each time. This generates a million different possibilities based on just one original form.
Tysseland often finds himself looking for inspiration in toy shops, as he thinks that “great toys and great buildings have a lot in common”.
The body of the main building consists of a “box” of 8 x 8 x 8 meters, and the other buildings are carefully snugged in towards it. The shape of the main building has been “twisted” only once, to lift one of the corners’ vertical 2 meters upwards. The other buildings have been twisted in separate ways, giving the children a design experience according to their scale. The waving roof shape also draws a parallel to the shapes of the surrounding area, and takes up the natural line of the mountains nearby.
On the facade a variation with vertical and horizontal panels draw the lines for windows and cuts. The Kebony cladding will turn grey and supports the natural expression of the buildings. The windows are random and custom fields of varying portrait/ landscape panels.
Glass-/Wood Railings
Sissel Tonstad, Holmen Treindustri AS.
- The Kebony Railing Project is a direct result of requests from our customers who want a strong, beautiful, lasting and maintenance free railing. The use of wood in combination with our glass solution gives a much softer look than the traditional glass railings with metal frames.
100% Norway
The young designduo StokkeAustad won the pitch for designing the 100% Norway exhibition stand for the London Design Festival 2009. The exhibition was curated by Henrietta Thompson (Senior editor, Wallpaper*) and Benedicte Sunde (curator at DogA - The Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture), aiming to showcase the width of Norwegian design.
In addition to being typical Norwegian, it was important that the stand was reusable, implying easy to assemble, disassemble and transport.
Jonas Ravlo Stokke and Øystein Austad found their inspiration in the traditional Fish flakes: Well known scaffold-structures, common along the northern Norwegian coastline, meant for drying fish. This large structure is completely open to the audience to enter and exit easily, at the same time as it provides a defined space for the exhibitors. Being so tall, (The construction is 16 x 9 x 7 meters large) it is a great signpost for the “100% Norway” logo, as well as easy to notice from quite a distance.
The Flake-structure itself is designed completely collapsable. When not in use it fits on two standard pallets for transportation and storage.
Press
The design festival attracted a lot of attention in the UK press, including large articles in the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph. Wallpaper* also produced a 24 page special on Norwegian design and architecture in its October issue.
To see a video report from 100% Norway by the Luxury Channel, click here.
Also read more here
Cantilevered Bench +
Kebony wanted to explore and demonstrate the potential of their material used in outdoor furniture, and challenged StokkeAustad to design a bench.
Jonas Ravlo Stokke and Øystein Austad replied by creating a whole outdoor seating system with great flexibility. The round concrete base allows for the seat to be turned until fastening in its final position. The different modules are easily attachable, and can make a variety of decorative and functional arrangements in any public area. The steel frame comes in many different colours, and the concrete base gives a solid foundation both visually and as a functional anti-theft.
The benches are to be produced in 2010.
Read more in Dezeen.
"Spine"- Furniture concept
The vertibrae are the building stones of the Spine. Key words are flexibility, movement, stability and protection. This was the inspiration to the furniture concept “Spine”, made of concrete, steel and Kebony Wood.
“Spine” has been designed to meet the needs of more solid and durable furniture for public areas. The concept concists of four hollow concrete sitting modules ; Two large and two smaller. The smallest come with a free choice of backrest and a seat adjusted to fit the human body. The two larger modules have a fitted seat in Kebony for increased comfort, warmth and aesthetics. Kebony plates are also fitted in between the modules to make the cleaning easier.
Concrete is durable, maintenance free and very beautiful. Kebony is environmentally safe, very hard, dimensionally stable, maintenance free and resistant to microbiological decay.
The materials work very well in combination, and is a successful choice for beautiful, contemporary and long lasting furniture.
The choice of materials make Spine very functional both indoor and outdoor. The prototypes show the combinations of: Untreated concrete/Kebony SYP, and white marble concrete/Kebony maple.
Combining the modules in different ways make organic forms that create dynamic in any public space. The concept offers a large potential of making different shapes and installations, and is very flexible whether you want to create large social meeting points or small, intimate spots. The user can sit from both sides, which makes the result even more sculptural.