Olav Selvaag

Olav Selvaag
Olav Selvaag in 1953
Born	Jens Olav Walaas Selvaag (1912-12-17)17 December 1912 Vanse, Norway
Died	14 January 2002(2002-01-14) (aged 89) Oslo, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Alma mater	Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Occupation	Engineer/contractor
Years active	1936–1986
Known for	Pioneering residential construction in urban areas
Spouse(s)	Andrea (“Dea”) Marie Brøvig
Children	Cecilie Nustad, Kari Lene Selvaag, Ole Gunnar Selvaag
Parent(s)	Ole Walaas Selvaag (1870–1930) and Kathrine Amalie Samuelsen (1884–1970)

Olav Selvaag was a Norwegian engineer and residential contractor, known for his innovative approach to designing and building affordable housing in the post-war era.

Selvaag grew up in the small community of Lista near the southernmost point of Norway. His father, Ole Walaas Selvaag, was a medical doctor who rose to prominence as a public health official at the district and county level; and was also a member of parliament for the Liberal Party. Olav's mother was Kathrine Amalie née Samuelsen, a home economics teacher.

As a result of his father's political and professional prominence, the young Selvaag was early acquainted with politicians and statesmen of his time. After having earned his examen artium, he enrolled at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (then known as the Norwegian Institute of Technology), where he was in the first class that learned structural engineering with reinforced concrete.

Upon his graduation, Selvaag worked briefly as a consulting engineer in Moss. In 1936 he was accepted into an engineering job at a small contracting firm run by Fredrik Ringnes, leaving 14 other applicants behind him. Selvaag brought much-needed structural engineering expertise to the firm, and Ringnes seemed to appreciate this, increasing his salary after only 10 days and delegating more and more of the leadership responsibilities to him. In 1943, Selvaag was made a full partner at the firm, and in 1956 Selvaag bought out Ringnes's interest and renamed the firm with his own name: Selvaagbygg. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II, Selvaag and Ringnes were among the very few firms of their time to immediately take a principled stand against performing any construction project for the occupying powers. Both were active in the resistance. Ringnes had to go undercover toward the end of the war, and Selvaag managed weapons stores for Milorg.

Selvaag gained his reputation as an innovator in the austere post-war years, when he wrote an open letter (with drawings) to the Norwegian parliament (with copies to twelve leading newspapers) severely criticizing residential regulations and codes for their inefficiency, and claiming that three times as many residences could be built with the same amount of materials and effort. Challenged to prove his point, he first built a test home in the Ekeberg section of Oslo, the so-called Ekeberg House, and exhibited it on September 3, 1948.