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. It consists of a row of new multi-purpose high-rise buildings, that was completed in 2014. The developer is marketing the project as "The Opera Quarter." There has been intense public debate about the height and shape of the buildings.

Oslo S Utvikling AS (abbreviated OSU) is responsible for the development of the Barcode. OSU is a subsidiary of Entra Eiendom AS (government property management organization), Linstow Eiendom (privately owned) and ROM Eiendom AS (the Norwegian State Railways' property management arm).

The Barcode buildings are between Dronning Eufemias gate (Queen Eufemia's Street), which will be the main east–west thoroughfare in the Bjørvika neighborhood and is a stretch of what is currently Bispegata, and Trelastgata (Timber Street, a new street that during planning was also called Sporgata, Track Street), which will run alongside the rail lines to Oslo Central Station on the northern edge of the development. 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 general plan was based on an international competition to plan the new Bjørvika, which was won by Dark Architects (of Oslo), a-lab, and MVRDV (of Rotterdam).

The general plan specified five high-rise buildings, the tallest in area B11, closest to the Station Common (a new public square and bridge giving access to Central Station), rising to 100 m above sea level ("contour 100") and having approximately 24 floors. The other towers were specified to be lower in height: 70 m in area B13, 78 m in B10, and 81 m in B12. The buildings were described as a geometric system of volumes based on penetrating strips of empty space. The building plan for the Barcode buildings was approved by the city in March 2008 with few changes from the 2006 proposal.

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