Barcode Project

The Barcode Project is a section of the Bjørvika portion of the Fjord City redevelopment on former dock and industrial land in central Oslo.

A line of apartment buildings will be between Dronning Eufemias gate and the Oslofjord, where the new Oslo Opera House has already been built.

The Barcode buildings occupy areas B10 through B13 of the general plan for the Bjørvik neighborhood that was adopted by the Oslo City Council in 2003—in the Bispevika section, east of the mouth of the Akerselva River.

The stated purpose of choosing such dissimilar building forms is to avoid a massive wall between the fjord and the buildings behind the Barcode, and that the Barcode principle, with segmented construction, will contribute to openness, light penetration, and transparency in the built-up area.

[2][26] Some are enthusiastic about the fresh architecture,[27] the "champagne apartments,"[28] and the unmatched opportunity to reshape the urban landscape and relieve pressure on a rapidly growing city without diminishing existing green space.

In addition to the disruption of the very large building site, the project has been described as hostile to the urban life of the city: unbalanced in favor of private business space and with too few shopping and eating opportunities for the public, and narrow, corridor-like passages between the buildings.

[34] A petition campaign in opposition to the building of the high-rises received over 30,000 signatures in 2007, and according to a survey by Aftenposten in December of the same year, 71% of the population of Oslo opposed the project.

[36] During work on the Barcode project, the remains of at least nine wrecked ships were uncovered, up to 18 m long and provisionally dated to the first half of the 16th century.