At the very heart of Kristiansund, C.F. Møller Architects has designed the city’s next cul-tural hub – the combined location of various cultural institutions that will vitalize the street environment and create a new urban meeting place for the public.

The new Opera, Museum and Culture house will implement and activate two of the city’s most important landmarks: Folkets hus (the community center) and the old Langveien lower secondary school. These buildings have set the theme for the design of the new complex, and their preservation and renovation are a fundamental aspect of the project.

The horizontal character of the building connects the various building masses and breaks down the opera house’s dimension through gradual volume downscaling from the stage tower. The project’s ambition has been to create a well-integrated and low-key signal building that differs, but also adds something new, to Kristiansund’s brief, yet rich, archi-tectural tradition.

In addition to the imposing Opera in Kristiansund with history back to the 1880s, the complex will include a museum, cultural school, library, restaurant, and café. These op-erators will be merged into a creative and dynamic environment around the opera’s main auditorium.

At street level, the building will interact with its surroundings through the availability and exposure of its content. Adjoining streets and squares will be upgraded, to achieve dy-namic and vital urban spaces.