Lead. Bestumkilen is one of the last underused coastal sites in central Oslo — an abandoned marina between a working royal yacht harbour, a major city park, and high-end residential blocks. The study asked what comes next, and how to bring a piece of the western waterfront back into public use.

Site & brief. The 40,000 m² site sits at a rare juncture in the city: the royal yacht marina to one side, a sizeable urban park to another, dense residential blocks behind. The client's emphasis was on opening the waterfront to the public — programmes for leisure and recreation, not another residential parcel.

Idea. Two civic anchors turn the site from a former marina into a destination: a high-school campus and a municipal swimming pool. Both draw daily public traffic, both benefit from a waterfront setting, and together they argue that the future of Bestumkilen is civic rather than commercial.