Olaf Nordhagen

Johan Olaf Brochmann Nordhagen (16 March 1883 – 6 November 1925) was a Norwegian educator, architect, engineer and artist.

He was a son of painter and artist Johan Nordhagen (1856–1956) and Christine Magdalene Brochmann Johansen (1858–1933).

[3] [4] Nordhagen was educated as an engineer at Christiania tekniske skole in Oslo and worked as an apprentice to architect Bredo Greve for several years before studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Art while also assisting Martin Nyrop with his designs for Copenhagen City Hall.

His breakthrough, however, came when he won the competition to build the Bergen Public Library (Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek) in Art Nouveau (Jugendstil), for which he also won the Houen Fund prize (Houens fonds premie).

His tendency to reinterpret Gothic designs rather than seek a faithful reproduction of the original was controversial at the time but was carried out.