This project is an investigation of leftover spaces in Oslo. Through an analysis of their past and present, and a speculation for their future, the aim is to shed light on these often overlooked spaces and look at them through a different lens – one that utilizes architecture to contribute to a more public and non-commercial Oslo.

Through small-scale architectural interventions, the project focuses on seven “in-between spaces” — pockets of the city that are frequently passed through but not so often thought about. The backbone of the project is the attempt to combine the needs of the citizens (animals as well) with the public space. Through looking at what already exists in the space; structures, urban objects, trees, plants, surfaces and infrastructures, and three different strategies; maintaining, transforming, and curating, the project imagines an Oslo that makes more room for public spaces.

As a starting point, I studied the past and present life of the demolished freestanding kiosks of Oslo. I then became interested in the architecture of the street; small structures like public toilets, urinal stalls, telephone booths and ticket offices, and urban objects like benches, lampposts and bollards. When the city lost its kiosks, drinking fountains and urinal stalls, brief interactions and the sense of care for the human-scale also became absent. It creates a more fragmented urban experience, where basic needs are often tied to commercial spaces, limiting who can fully participate in the public Oslo.

The project developed from being only about the kiosks to being about the everyday things that meet us everyday on the street. Through model-making, drawing, sketching and studying references, as well as the history of the different sites and structures, I have explored the objects of the public space, how we can rethink them, and the different ways inclusivity can manifest as
architecture of the city.