Deichman Bjørvika: Six floors, a sea of possibilities

Each floor of the new public library in Oslo has a different atmosphere, a different function and different possibilities. There is something for everyone. Let’s take a little tour of the new building which will open June 18 2020.

Illustration: Lundhagem and Atelier Oslo

1st floor

Starting on the first floor, you’ll find lots of life and activity. You can visit our restaurant or cafe – or if you want, go up to the mezzanine with a coffee to read the newspapers and magazines!

Downstairs

When you are ready for new experiences, you can decide whether you want to go downstairs or head to the upper floors. Downstairs you will find a cinema, and there will also be an auditorium for 200 people. You can also have a drink at the bar which will be open during events.

In addition, the library's hundreds of thousands of books, which before now were stored in closed magazines, are finally accessible, so you can now browse the shelves and look for what you need. Maybe you will find something totally unexpected and surprising to leaf through.

2nd floor

On the second floor you will enter the world of storytelling with fiction for children and adults alike. Here you will find activities for the youngest readers, and also experience talks from authors and other literary events.

In the children's section there will be a number of fun niches for children to enjoy. - Illustration: Scenario interiørarkitekter

3rd floor

On the third floor you will find a whole universe of music, movies, comics, games and fabulous prose. You will also find a workshop where there is access to 3D printers, sewing machines, vinyl cutters, textile printers, large format printers, soldering irons and much more.

You can also borrow tools such as drills, jigsaws, angle grinders, laser meters and sanders.

In addition, you will find movie stations, music stations, audio studios, a mini cinema, a games room and a small stage.

The workshop - Illustration: Scenario interiørarkitekter

Film Stations - Illustration: Scenario interiørarkitekter

4th floor

The fourth floor is full of classrooms, group rooms and study rooms if you need a place to read quietly.

Do you want to hold a meeting for your study group here? Then we have room for you.

You will also find books on art, architecture, health, technology and natural sciences.

Plenty of study areas on the 4th floor. - Illustration: Scenario interiørarkitekter

5th floor

At the top, on the fifth floor, you will find study areas, a reading room and rooms where you can just relax and reflect.

There will also be a department for social science, history, psychology, philosophy and religion. You will also find literature about Oslo and the original Deichman collection.

Illustration: Lundhagem and Atelier Oslo

The Future Library

In addition, we have the art project Future Library which has been given a very special custom-made room on the 5th floor, where original texts from 100 authors will be stored. Every year, between 2014 and 2114, one author will be invited to contribute a new text.

Karl Ove Knausgård will hand over his contribution to the Future Library in 2020. He will be Future Library author number six, and the first to put his manuscript in this magical room at Deichman Bjørvika.

Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Sjòn, Elif Shafak and Han Kang have already written texts for the Future Library. Each year a new author will deliver a new text, and in 2114 these texts will be published in book form. Only then will anyone have the opportunity to read them.

In the meantime, you and your descendants will be able to see and reflect on the unread manuscripts in Deichman Bjørvika's Future Library room.

In Nordmarka, in a forest just outside Oslo, a thousand trees have been planted. These trees will become paper for a special book anthology that will be printed one hundred years from now.

Scottish artist Katie Paterson is behind the unique art project "Future Library".